The Handling and Storing of Grain,with Special Reference to Canadian Methods

Few people have either the time or inclination to investigate the means by which the raw material of which their bread is made comes from remote places at the rate of half a million tons a month; but it behoves one to remember that had the machinery to cease functioning from any cause for a time reckoned in weeks, famine would inevitably result. Although by far the largest importer of wheat, Britain has safe storage facilities for a relatively small tonnage. Adequate storage facilities, which can be provided at no great cost, are as necessary near the centres of consumption as they are near the centres of production.

Hitherto papers on the subject read before the engineering Institutions have been restricted to a consideration of the machinery and methods employed in the unloading of parcel cargoes at British ports. The author deals with the equally important methods practised in, and the machinery used by, one of the principal grain-exporting countries. The movement is traced step by step from the farm, through the country elevator, past the inspection point and on to the terminal elevator, thence through the transfer elevator and on to the ocean port for shipment. Canadian methods are described because Canada excels in the art of grain handling, and it is the ambition of other countries to follow her example.

The grain-handling problem in Canada is that of collecting several hundred million bushels of uncleaned wheat in small quantities from 250,000 or more farms scattered over a very large area, and of rapidly delivering at minimum cost, inspected, graded, cleaned, and conditioned wheat at the shipping point, 1,700 miles distant from the centre of production when the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence route is not icebound, and a substantially greater mileage when this waterway is closed. The trade is regulated by the Dominion Government under the Canada Grain Act, and grain on the move is inspected and graded by Government officials. Weighing is likewise supervised. Elevators are operated under licence, and as the grain is being spouted into the holds of oceangoing vessels it is again sampled for certifying of the grade.

After brief reference to the method of handling and to certain sections of the Grain Act, the author describes the functions of country, terminal, and transfer elevators. Typical plants of each kind are illustrated, and special consideration is given to a number of the problems connected with the design, construction, and operation of terminal and port elevators. The receiving, distributing, storage, and shipping sections of the elevator are described in detail; the influence of these on design is discussed, and several of the mechanical and electrical problems are noted. Without exception modern elevators are of reinforced concrete and the “moving forms” used in their construction are described. Itemized costs of elevator buildings are given in an Appendix.