The Washington herald., 1914-11-06
GREAT EnaIHEERIEg PEAT.
innsnss ar.is EIev.tar whfeA
Toppled over Put on Feet.

A~DLtca ON1E %A~ =.
Just about year age an immense
grain elevator ewned by the Canadian
Pacifc Railway. storing 100000 bushels
OF wheat. sank In the soft mud OF the
Manitoba prairie ct North Transcona.
near Winnipeg. and keeled over until 4
was n degrees or plumb!
The other day the success OF an ex-
pertinent new in engineering history was
announced when the big concrete ele-
yator was tumbled back again into an
upright position without a single crack
in It's entire structure. The building. en-
pty. weighs ao.ooo tons. When filled. a.
II was at the time Of the accident. its
weight Il 5oooo tone. The engineers had
the fact that underneath the building
Was a depth Of nifty feet Of unstable blue
clay covering bedrock.
The so-caiIed elevator disaster" which
was reported all over America. occurred
on the afternoon OF Saturday. October
i8 1913. The elevator was finally righted
on the morning OF Saturday. October n,
1914
A fact worth mentioning Is that the
building as repaired IL better than the
building as II was originally. as It's foun-
go down to bedrock. There are seventy
Of these pillars in all. Work is now going
on filling Up the great wheat storage
warehouse with the produce of the
prairies.
The great elevator Is made up of
sixty-five concrete bins. each of them 100
feet In height. These are ranged in FIVE
rows and the elevator now rests on FIVE
rows OF piers. fourteen piers TO the row.
All Of the bins reach bedrock.
The case Of the Manitoba elevator is
interesting for one reason. because when
the accident occurred many leading en-
gineers IN various payts Of the world
declared that the damage could never
be repaired. The weight OF the con-
crete structure and the soft clay under II
were pointed to as reasons. and it was
further thought that the concrete Of the
building would crack to pieces II efforts
were made to right it In order to
straighten the elevator up. entirely new
methods in engineering had to be de-
vised and applied.
When the building sank IL was loaded
almost to the capacity with grain. The
first step necessary was to remove this
load. and In order to do this holes were
cut in the concrets sides OF the bins. The
structure was then braced up as well as
possible to prevent further sinking. and
on December /, 1918, the work Of straight
ening IL was started.
OF the building. Il was allowed by the first
process 20 settle back until II was only
IS degrees out Of the plumb. In the mean
time gangs OF excavators were al work
running parallel tunnels under the eleva-
tors. and sinking shafts TO bedrock which
were later to be occupied by concrete
piers. In order TO sink many Of these
piers u was found necessary to get in
side the concrete bins and bore holes
through the bottom. Through these holes
the excavations were made and the con-
crete laid. The earth from the exeava-
tions was carried away on belt conveyors
and dumped into waiting wagons
The great problem before the engineers
was to raise the elevator to its original
level, as well as bringing II to an up
right position. After Il had been straight
ened TO IS degrees Jacks were introduced
on the low side and the building was sup
ported in the center by an oak rocker or
''grillade." This was made by putting in
a strong circular pier OF cement topped
with oak timberS BY jacking up in turns
on the various rows of concrete piers,
the huge structure was gradually brought
back to its original level in a vertical
position.
In order TO raise the great weight spe-
cial jack screws Of herculean proportions
wens necessary, and during the progress
OF the work there we're more than 90 of
these resting on the tops OF the founda-
ton piers. A gang OF men was appointed
to handle each battery Of screws and
they were worked in unison.