IMPROVEMENTS IN SILOS; be as follows
Year: 1884

page_text: I, JAMES BAIRDEN AFFLECK MOKINNEL, of the town and County of Dumfries,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SILOS; to be as follows:-
"
This Invention consists of improvements in silos, or receptacles for holding cut
grass under pressure to form ensilage or fodder for animals.
The improvements consist in forining the ordinary built-up or earth imbedded
Bilo chamber with a hollow cover or casing which serves to cover the fodder, and
when filled with water or liquid, to apply pressure to the material within the
chamber, and in connecting the cover to a hollow tank or tanks which on being
filled with liquid counterbalance the weight of the cover.
The hollow cover is formed to correspond to the shape of the silo chamber,
which may be round, square, or of any convenient form, and it fits into the chamber
like a loose piston. The upper end of the cover is formed or fitted with a broad
flange all round, and this flange rests upon the top of the walls of the silo chamber
when the piston part is fully down, and it may then be cemented or otherwise
fitted air-tight. The silo chamber is first filled with the grass or fooder, and the
cover brought to rest upon it. The hollow casing is then filled with water or other
heavy liquid, until the weight compresses the grass or other material to the desired
extent. By emptying the water out of the tank, the space through which the
ensilage has been compressed can be re-filled with fresh grass or other material and
this repeated as often as may be necessary.
To facilitate raising and lowering of the cover, which is conveniently made of
iron plates riveted together, it is suspended by chains passing over pulleys or
carrying columns, and fitted with a counterbalancing water tank or tanks. Instead
of the counterbalancing water tanks, weights of iron or other material may be
used, and the silo cover may even be made solid when water tanks are employed
as the counterbalancing weight, the tanks being filled to raise the cover, and
emptied when the pressure is to be applied.

page_text: I, JAMES BAIRDEN AFFLECK MOKINNEL, of the town and county of Dumfries,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SILOS," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
My invention consists of improvements in silos, or receptacles for holding cut
grass under pressure to form ensilage or fodder for animals.
The improvements consist in forming the ordinary built-up or earth embedded
Bilo chamber with a hollow cover or casing which serves to cover the fodder, and
when filled with water or liquid, to apply pressure to the material within the
chamber, and in connecting the cover to a hollow tank or tanks which on being
filled with liquid counterbalance the weight of the cover.
The invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which figure 1 is
an elevation and figure 2 is a vertical section of a modification of the improved
Bilo. The silo chamber A is built of brickwork bound together by hoops and
supported by pillars A' carrying the shafts B on which are fitted the chain
pulleys C, which carry the weight of the hollow cover D and of the counter-
balancing weight E.
The hollow cover D is formed to correspond to the shape of the silo chamber,
which may be round, square, or of any convenient form, and it fits into the
chamber like a loose piston. The upper end of the cover is formed or fitted with
a broad flange D¹ all round, and this flange rests upon the top of the walls of the
silo chamber A, when the piston part is fully down, and it may then be cemented
or otherwise fitted air-tight. The silo chamber A is first filled with the grass or
fodder, and the cover brought to rest upon it. The hollow casing D is then filled
with water or other heavy liquid, until the weight compresses the grass or other
material to the desired extent. By emptying the water out of the tank D, the
space through which the ensilage has been compressed can be refilled with fresh
grass or material and this repeated as often as may be necessary.
To facilitate the raising and lowering of the cover D which is conveniently
made of iron plates riveted together, it is suspended by chains F passing over the
pulleys C, and fitted with a counterbalancing water tank or tanks. Instead of the
counterbalancing water tanks, a weight or weights E of iron or other material
may be used, and the silo cover D may even be made solid when water tanks are
employed as the counterbalancing weight, the tanks being filled to raise the cover,
and emptied when the pressure is to be applied. A doorway A is formed in the
chamber A for convenience in removing the ensilage.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said.
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is,
1. The improved arrangement of silo chamber and movable cover, such cover
being weighted and counterbalanced so that it may serve to apply pressure in

page_text: packing the material within the chamber, and as a covering for the same, substan-
tially as herein described and illustrated.
2. In a silo, the hollow cover D connected to a counterbalancing weight or
weights and adapted to be filled with liquid to apply pressure to the material.
within the silo chamber substantially as herein described and illustrated.
Dated this First day of January 1885.
J. B. A. MOKINNEL