The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-17

How 1t Is Handled in Elevators and
Loaded for Foreign Markets.


Loaded for Foreign Markets.
Brooklyn Eagle.
That 1897 will prove to be the farmers
year is undoubtedly true, and as ms pros
perity will be felt in every branch OF trace
throughout the country the ms and outs
of the grain business are of general inter-
The grain business is undoubtedly a prin-
cipal industry of this country, and apart
from the home consumption our experts
bring here yearly hundreds of millions OF
dollars of foreign money AS the industry
has grown each year ii has been reduced
to an exact science, and calculations are
made so accurately that the manner IN
which the grain is handled, the lines upon
which it shall reach the seaboard. and
the ports from which it shall be shipped
are determined so nicely as to bring differ
ences of estimate with lis of cent
bushel. The grain is bought months before
it is cut and every purchaser not only
knows the exact acreage in the section
where he operates, but also the entire acre
age it would be possible to plant there Tel
egraphic reports are constantly sent as 10
the condition of the crop, and when 1t Is
ready to be marketed the buyers are on
the ground informed exactly. Until the last
few years operators were hampered by the
fact that there were not enough cars TO
receive the grain but recently thousands
of small elevators have been built in every
locality as well as larger elevators on the
main railroad lines in the grain sections
Chicago and Buffalo have the biggest
grain elevators and most of the Western
crops reach the latter city by the famous
route through the great lakes. From there
dozen trunk lines, beside the Erie canal
carry the grain TO the sea aboard. Whlle New
York is the principal shipping port, grain
is also shipped in large quantities from
Boston. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newport
News. New Orleans and Galveston. Each
OF these ports is equipped with grain ele-
Vators, where the grain is received, stored
that carry it abroad. In New York there
are four railroad elevators which hold
from one and a half to two millions of
bushels each, beside the private elevators
on the BROOKLYN water front.
The process of handling grain is most
interesting one and may be witnessed any
day at the water front The grain arrives
here either in cars or canal boats, and in
either case the process is practically iden-
teal. Grain is shipped by railroad only in
box cars, on account of the fact that it
must not be exposed to the weather. The
car of ordinary size holds LOCO bushels and
is two-thrdS full. The cars have inside
doors of light planking. which are hung
on hinges that slide down rods on each
side: When door is not in use it is raised
to the ceiling where it is hooked and lies
fast. A car to be loaded is run alongside
a bin and a telescope chute is lowered into
one doorway. The grain doors are closed
and valve opened, and the grain pours
into the car When the car arrives here it
is run into the elevator ground floor
man with a crowbar prizes the grain door
open and the wheat rushes into pit along
side the car. Iron gratingS are placed over
the bin to keep out coarse objects and for
the workmen to walk At the bottom
of the pit is an open iron shaft, inside of
which works an endless belt faced with
steel cups set a foot apart. When the belt
is in motion it catches up the grain in
the cups and it is delivered in an almost
unbrOken stream at the top of the build
ing, where the cups tip over as they start
downward. 1t takes half an hour to unload
a car and in different sections of the ele-
Vator the same process is being repeated
AS the grain arrives at the top of the ele-
vators it is directed into one of two hopper
bins, fixed scales and is weighed. One
man watches from four to ;f SIX sets OF scales
six thousand pound weight as the scale is
set. he turns a valve which sends the grain
into another hopper. from which it is again
sent through chute into the great bins
according to how the grain is graded by the
officials of the Produce Exchange. From
this moment the identity of shipment of
grain is lost and it becomes simply so many
bushels of such a grade. From these bins
the grain is taken from storage and for
shipment. It falls into one of the same pits
where it first fell when taken from the car
1t is again taken up by the steam cups on
the endless belt to the weighing hoppers
From here it is sent into barges, no
grain in this harbor is loaded directly from
elevators into ships. The barges lie along
side the elevator docks. and chuteS connect
the hoppers with the hatchways of the
barges. The chutes end in steel telescope
pipes foot in diameter and there are Two
or three chutes from every hopper, with
two pipes in every chute. AS the grain
comes pouring down the hundred feet or
more from the top of the elevator to the
hold of the barge it falls with such resist
less force that if a man should put his avn
under one of these streams of grain 1t
the end of each one of these chutes there is
stationed q man called a trimmer. He is
armed with a big bowled shovel and his
face and arms are protected by muslin to
keep the~dust out. He places the bowl un-
der the stream of wheat and this, turned by
the rounded inside of the shovel, is directed
by the trimmer to all portions of the hold.
A barge holds about 5000 bushels, and in an
hour this is filed A tug then takes the
barge to where the vessel is lying.
The floating elevators have come into
play and the grain is taken out of the barge
by means of the endless chain with the
steel cups dozen men with their faces
protected shovel the grain to keep the ele7
vator supplied, and in an hour and half
the barge is emptied. The grain is then
sent to another set of weighing hoppers and
a second elevator sends it through another
chute into the hold of the vessel. Discrep-
ancies between the railroad weight and
those of the floating elevators are paid for
in cash by the railroads if there is a short
age and collected in cash If the weights are
over With the different landings there is
usually q loss lowing to the dust. but a
loss of more than two bushels in thou
sand would be carefully examined. Wheat
is carried from Chicago by the railroads
and delivered on board a vessel in any por-
ton of the harbor for 20 cents bushel by
the railroads. and the floating elevators
charge 10 cents buShol for loading the
vessels with grain from the barges.