Elevated grain bins

[sirenwerks]

Does anyone know when elevated aluminum grain bins started common use in the US?

[nkalanaga]

I'm not sure what you mean by elevated grain bin, but the common corrugated grain bin has been around for over a century, and really took off in the late 30s.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/butler-manufacturing-company-history/
"Founded 1901

Emanuel Norquist, along with brothers Charles and Newton Butler, founded Butler Manufacturing Company in Kansas City in 1901. A few years earlier, Charles and Emanuel had worked together on building an improved livestock watering tank, and, during the early 1900s, along with Newton Butler, the men designed and built several agricultural products, particularly grain storage bins. The company enjoyed success selling such merchandise locally. By 1908, Butler's headquarters included a staff of 14--six women and eight men. Sales boomed throughout the 1910s and 1920s. "

"Government Work in 1939

The year 1938 turned out to be a very good one for crops, and 1939 was even better. As bumper crops were harvested, the nation's storage capacity was stressed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), realizing the urgency of the situation, announced in July 1939 that it would accept bids on 30,666 steel storage bins. Incredibly, USDA officials required that all bids be submitted within 30 days and that the bins had to be delivered by the manufacturer within 60 days of receiving an order. "

[wazzou]

Incredibly, USDA officials required that all bids be submitted within 30 days and that the bins had to be delivered by the manufacturer within 60 days of receiving an order. "

Not much has changed in US Government contract bidding then.

[sirenwerks]

I'm not sure what you mean by elevated grain bin, but the common corrugated grain bin has been around for over a century, and really took off in the late 30s.

Same basic design as the corrugated bin, but raised on trusses and with an conical bottom that funnels grain to the outlet, rather than installed flush to the ground.  Like this:

[nkalanaga]

After looking at the "resin pellet" silos our factory recently installed, I suspect that at least some of the "elevated" bins aren't much different from the "ground level" ones.  Our silos look solid, but if you open the access door, they have the conical bottom and outlet attachment.  Our unloading is pneumatic, rather than a mechanical conveyor, but the bottom of the silo looks much the same.

Somebody, not long after the bins were introduced, probably got tired of working on his conveyor in a cramped bin, and replaced the bottom corrugated panels with homemade supports.  Eventually, a dealer or factory rep saw one of the custom jobs, and decided it would make a good option.  I wouldn't be surprised if this was an option by the late 30s, but most farmers found the conveyors reliable enough, so kept the solid sides to keep dirt, snow, rain and critters out of the works.  Solid sides might also be cheaper, and maybe easier to install, but I have no experience with that.

[C855B]

There is also the issue of drying the grain. The cone-bottom silos like shown above typically don't have provision for blowers, and are designed to store pre-dried grain or other dry commodity (like resin pellets?). The solid-bottom versions have a slightly conical perforated floor with a duct and vent system connected to anywhere from one to six axial fans around the perimeter. You can't put un-dried grain in that style of raised bin, it'll rot.

[Missaberoad]

Very interesting question... I don't have the full answer but here is what I do know...

- Butler made the first steel grain bin in 1907 with flat galvanized sheet metal.

- The first corrugated steel granary was designed and built by Westeel in Winnipeg in 1926, these were flat bottomed with wooden floors.

- In 1965 Meridian mfg started making their smooth solid steel hopper bottom bins under the Friesen brand name. Their website claims they're the first of their kind, Not sure if that means hopper bottom or smooth steel.  Lol

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0_gZpY4MHTM/TvjiWYixFoI/AAAAAAAAEtc/_0RVnwggoxU/s1600/blogcarberryeastmarquette7.jpg

- Twister bins has been making hopper bottom Corrugated bins since its inception in 1976.

- Many Canadian Grain elevators rebuilt in the late 70's and 1980's had large hopper bottom bins added (typically Westeel) Prior to this they were not found on Canadian elevators.

http://www.traingeek.ca/gallery2/d/16246-2/ninga-grain-elevator-20140808-12.jpg

From a quick check I can't find or remember any older photos of a hopper bottom bin, so mid 1960's with its origins dating from earlier feed bins would seem correct to me.

Too things to note, many hopper bottoms are custom made by either farmers or local companies and have older bins set atop them.
and there is still a good mixture between flat bottom and hopper bottom bins with flat bottoms dominating up to the turn of the century (and still being predominant on smaller farms)

[basementcalling]

Wish we had an n scale model.

That said, shop.owner Wilmodels on shape ways has one sized for scotch tape roll centers.

[BCR 570]

Bryan:

I looked into this type of grain bin for several of the grain elevators at Dawson Creek which I will be modelling.  I ended up getting a few silo bodies 3D printed and will add the vertical girders with styrene.  From a study of photographs, it looks like these type of bins were added to the elevators in questions in the early 1970s or early 1980s.

I think that IMEX may offer something similar, and I have seen one on Shapeways in N Scale.  Of course Walthers did one in HO Scale as part of their modern grain series, which they should also have done in N Scale.


Tim

[cfritschle]

Bryan,

Small elevated grain bins with the conical bottoms (usually referred to as grain mixing bins with 100 to 500 bushel capacity) have been used at feed mills and livestock feeding operations (from chickens to cattle) at least as early as the late 1960s.  These were frequently used to hold different grains for mixing into blended feed rations, and they were not intended for long term storage.

The reason I know they were around in the late 1960s is because that is when I started delivering grain to those businesses.

Most of the large metal bins (capacity in the thousands of bushels) used for long term grain storage had conical concrete bottoms that were below ground level.  And as Mike pointed out, these bins could also have a systems of ducts on and/or within the concrete if the grain being stored needed to be dried/aerated to preserve the quality.

Carter

[nkalanaga]

Carter:  Thank you.

Those big bins are another thing we could use in N scale, although they're probably a little too new for me. 

[basementcalling]

Learning a lot from this thread. What other products beside grains are stored in "Butler Bin" style silos?

[cfritschle]

Carter:  Thank you.

Those big bins are another thing we could use in N scale, although they're probably a little too new for me.

What's your cut-off date?  The bins I remember from the late 1960s were not necessarily new.  I had some flat bottom galvanized bins (bolted together "flat" panels) that had dates from the 1930s written in them on my old farm that had been a dairy.

Carter

[nkalanaga]

Carter:  The ones I'm thinking of are the really big ones at grain elevators, the kind that can store at least a small trainload of grain.  They might go back further than I think, but I don't remember seeing  them around Pasco in the 70s.  On the other hand, there wasn't much elevator construction around Pasco then, as the elevators were long established, and grain acreage wasn't increasing much.

I modeled one in Wall, SD for my Montana elevator, using the plastic core from a roll of microfiche film, and Evergreen 0.02 inch spacing scribed styrene.  The prototype was as tall as the old wood/aluminum elevator next to it, and bigger around.

[BCR 570]

For the large flat bottom bins on my layout I have used the kit offered by Rix Products.   They offer the bins in two heights as well as an extension kit.

Tim