Barns

Early Grain Elevators have several similarities with their contemporary Barns, as do Warehouses. See the sibling webchapter on Barn types for examples, especially the Yankee/English Barn.

An example "Grain Barn" or "Grainery" on the Illinois & Michigan Canal is essentially a specialized Barn, appearing before the development of the full-fledged grain elevator.

Mills

These have a long evolutionary span, gradually increasing and updating storage space to converge with the functions of grain elevators.

---

Grain Mill or Grist Mill

These have a long evolutionary span, gradually increasing and updating storage space to converge with the functions of grain elevators.

---


Flour Mill

...A refined version of the Grist Mill(?) Later versions are often annexed to or integrated with a concrete grain elevator for a composite facility: Flour Mill Grain Elevator (Carney).

---


Feed Mill

• Examples

In these, grains are mixed and/or ground into livestock feed.

(The first and last images may not originally have been Feed Mills.)

---

Combination Mill / Grain Elevators

These are mills that have increased and updated their storage space to converge with the functions of grain elevators.

---


Combination Flour Mill / Grain Elevator
or Flour Mill Grain Elevator (Carney)

A Flour Mill annexed to or integrated with a grain elevator, for a composite facility. Later ones are usually concrete.

The first photo is a small-town elevator that received an added mill. It is discussed at the Wooden Square-Bin Grain Elevator Examples. ...Though it may have been primarily a Flour Mill only...

---



Combination Feed Mill / Grain Elevator
or Feed Mill Grain Elevator (Carney)


Examples

Usually a combination of a small square-bin grain elevator and a warehouse-barn for a composite facility.

Warehouses

..

[Grain Flathouse]

Single-story, warehouse-like building often as a wing in an elevator complex...Use to store grain horizontally...? Probably direct descendants of the mid-nineteenth century Grain Warehouse.

"Ag Bag" hay and silage storage 'superbag'

Large synthetic tube-like bags used for weather-proof outdoor storage of crops.

Silos

Silos began in-ground and appear to be returning. Starting as storage pits, they grew into half-pit-half-tower, into full tower, but now the horizontal silo seems to be increasinfly popular.

---

Horizontal, Trench, or Bunker Silo

Far different in form but similar in concept (and name), so I include it with the Tower Silo Types.

The recent alternative to true silos: a long, large concrete trench to pile (bulldoze) silage and then often cover with a tarp. Land-gobbling but cheaper and convenient for modern agribusiness. Actually a return to the pits and trenches of pre-tower silo storage.

Images borrowed from Michigan State University's Winter 1999 LCS 643, FoodAnimalFundamentals online class notes, by instructor Thomas Herdt.

---


Earthen Trench Silo

Probably the most traditional, recalling even the storage pits of prehistoric and historic Native Americans: a hole in the gound.

---

Bunker Silo

A Horizontal Silo formed on ground level by bunker-like walls.

---


Concrete-Sided Horizontal Silo

Walls of concrete panels (and sometimes poured-in-place, or highway crash-wall 'K-Bars'?).

---


Wooden-Sided Horizontal Silo

Walls of wood.

---


Pile Silo

The most primitive, simple - and wasteful - of all: a pile on the gound.

---


Bag Silo

Using a package on the ground in the form of a modern giant plastic 'Ag Bag,' instead a structure.

---

Tower Silo

The farm Tower Silo (and later the large [Round] Grain Bin) show parallel development with the Grain Elevator. Their cross-sections, construction materials, and size match each other; furthermore, silos, grain bins, and individual grain elevator bins have become interchangable.

---

Square Silo

The earlier, rectangular version of the farm silo.

---

Wooden Square Silo

---


Stone Square Silo

Images borrowed from Wisconsin Barns: Stories in Wood & Stone. That's an Alpaca (?) grazing in the second.

---


Polygonal Silo

The transitional six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided (and more sided) version of the farm silo.

---

Round Silo

The later, circular version of the farm silo.

Images borrowed from Wisconsin Barns: Stories in Wood & Stone.

---

Wooden Round Silo

---


Stone Round Silo

---


Tile-Block Round Silo

---

Concrete Round Silo

---

Concrete Block Round Silo

---

Concrete Stave Round Silo

---

Slip-Form Poured Concrete Round Silo

---

Steel Round Silo

---

Steel Panel Round Silo

---

"Harvestore" brand Steel Panel Round Silo

The Harvestore is a brand of the "Engineered Storage Products Company" (ESPC) based in DeKalb, Illinois. On their website are specs of the silo construction.



"The famous cobalt blue, glass-fused-to-steel HarvestoreŽ structures first appeared in North America in 1949. Today, Engineered Storage Products Company (ESPC) also manufactures a complete line of products that includes bottom unloaders, manure storage structures, manure pumps and agitation equipment and Harvestore Branded service parts. ESPC agricultural products are distributed through a network of independent authorized dealers throughout North America and in Europe. Engineered Storage Products Company also supplies storage structures for municipal and industrial applications. Applications include storage of potable water; waste water; waste treatment, and storage of free-flowing dry industrial materials."

The Harvestore structure is constructed of durable glass-fused-to-steel sheets which are rigidly fastened together using steel bolts with plastic encapsulated heads. Web truss stiffeners on new structures increase the structure's ability to resist lateral wind forces.

The structure is filled from the top and unloaded from the bottom using bottom unloaders. A breather bag system is designed to reduce the amount of air that normally comes in contact with stored feed when compared to bunkers, trenches, and conventional top-unloading silos. Harvestore Branded sealant in all joints and gasketed access doors also help to create a more favorable environment for the storage of medium moisture forages and high moisture grains. Oxygen can access the feed through a two-way pressure relief valve when the breather bag capacity is exceeded, during the filling process, and through the unloader door when it is opened for unloading."

---

• "Brothers share a towering country home" - Newspaper article on a home out of a Harvestore, a silo converted into a residence. Overlook the confused reference to the silo as a corn crib.

[Box] Grain Bins

These are small dependant structures built into buildings such as Barns, Grain Warehouses and Grain Elevators.

---

[Box-Bins]

These are the typical square bins filled with a shovel or scoop. The front wall is usually removable short boards to allow easy filling and removal of low levels.

Granaries

These are barn-like or shed-sized buildings used to store shelled grains.

---


[Shed] Granary

Usually a shed-sized, one-story building with box-bins.

---


Combination Corn Crib / Granary Types

See the listing under Corn Cribs for this hybrid.

---


[Tower] Granary

A single large bin that feeds out by gravity. Its vertical tubular form clearly evolved into the bins of the early Grain Elevator and mature Grain Elevator

[Round] Grain Bin

The large, modern corrugated "Grain Bin," much different from the 19thC built-in relatively small Grain Bin, and closely related to the later Cylindrical Corn "Crib."

---


Steel [Round] Grain Bin

Corn "Cribs" / Corn Barns and Combination Corn Crib / Granaries

Storage for corn (maize) before being removed from the cob (being shelled).

---

Temporary Corn Crib Types

---

Pole & Thatch Temporary Corn Crib

---

Snow Fence Temporary Corn Crib

---

Single-Crib Corn Crib Types

---

Corn Cratch

---

Keystone corn crib

---

Shed-Roof corn crib

---

Side-Drive corn crib

---

Double-Crib Corn Crib Types

---

Center-Drive Double-Crib corn crib

---

Combination Corn Crib / Granary Types

The earliest Corn Cribs bear no resemblence to Grain Elevators, but as agricultural production and buidling technology increased, they evolved convergently (like the silo).

---

Center-Drive Combination Corn Crib / Granary

These increased in size and complexity...

---


'Turreted' Center-Drive combination corn crib / granary

...to rival small wooden grain elevators, the later versions featuring the characteristic rectangular cupola / headhouse.

---



[Ackley-Type] Combination Corn Crib / Granary [or Grain Barn?]

A unique, probably one-of-a-kind design created by a farmer who innovated during the Great Depression and WWII build-up in south-central Ohio.

---

Cylindrical Combination Corn Crib / Granary (masonry)

These also increased in size and complexity to rival small round-bin grain elevators, usually featuring the characteristic square or rectangular cupola or headhouse and conical roofing over the bins.

---

Single-Bin Cylindrical combination corn crib / granary

---

Two-Bin Cylindrical combination corn crib / granary

---

Four-Bin Cylindrical combination corn crib / granary

Corn Bin Types

Sort of a cross between the use of a corn crib, and shape of a grain bin

---

Rectangular Corn Bin

---

Polygonal Corn Bin

---

Round Corn Bin

---

Wood Slat round corn bin

---

Steel Strap round corn bin

---

Wire Mesh round corn bin

---

Corrugated Wire Mesh round corn bin

---

Perforated Steel Panel round corn bin

[Refuse Burner]

These are essentially very wide, but relatively, short chimneys - lookng a bit like a giant masonry barrel. They are used to burn waste materials from grain milling, primarily corn cobs. The design appears to be intended to allow safe burning of the refuse withut risking the danger of fire. The width keeps a draft from sucking burning materials up and out, and the height keeps wind from blowing it out. These are located a reasonable disance from any milling operations.

(The example is in the lower left corner of the above image.)

Coal Tipple

These are sometimes similar in appearance to Grain Elevators, but are used to raise, store, and deliver coal. Unlike Grain Elevators, they do no other processing or sorting (I think...). They are typically sawn timber frame (especially earlier specimens), poured concrete, or steel frame. They may hold other than coal... Many types and much variation...