The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

670 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL The illustration represents the collapse of the end wall of a silo warehouse at Isleworth on the Thames. The brickwork of the wall and the grain contained in the five end silos were all deposited on the adjacent ground. Granaries at the Liverpool Docks.1—These granaries were probably the first of any note to be erected in this country and fitted with mechanical appliances for handling grain, and although they are not silo warehouses, they are here described on account of their historic interest. In 1868, to meet a want that had been long felt in the port of Liverpool, there were erected for the storing and conditioning of grain, large blocks of warehouses fitted with mechanical appliances designed by and executed under the supervision of Mr Lyster, the docks engineer. Although Fig. 943. Transverse Section through Portion of Liverpool Dock Granaries. erected for this particular object, the warehouses were at the same time so designed and con- structed that they could be used as ordinary goods warehouses, a large portion of the ware- house plant being available for the handling of general goods. The plant of these ware- houses is designed for loading and discharging grain in bulk or in bags, also for transporting grain into different parts of the building and for ventilating it. The largest vessels can lie alongside, and can be discharged either directly on to the quay, or their cargo can be conveyed to the top of the warehouses or to any of the floors. Proper accommodation for rail and road traffic is pro- vided, and goods are discharged or loaded direct from or into wagons or carts. The ware- houses on the Liverpool side are situated at the Waterloo Docks, and contain an aggregate storage area of 11^ acres, including the quay floor. Those on the Birkenhead side are erected on the margin of the great float, and have an area of 11 acres. The warehouse plant is similar in principle and construction at both warehouses. The dock around which the blocks of the river are situated is 570 ft. long, 230 ft. broad Three sides of the dock are occupied by separate warehouses on the Liverpool side of at one end, and 180 ft. at the other. blocks of warehouses, connected by gantries. The blocks on the east and on the west sides are 650 ft. long and 70 ft. wide, while the blocks at the north end are the same width and 185 ft. long. Each block contains five stories, as shown in the transverse section (Fig. 943). Above the top or fifth storage floor, and partly in the roof, some of the machinery is erected, while below the quay level are wells and arched subways to receive machinery. There are five discharging berths for large vessels, namely, one at the north block and two at each of the east and west blocks. Additional accommoda- tion is also provided for small vessels. In the centre or north block is placed a steam engine of 370 H.P. which, in addition to driving the whole of the warehouse plant, supplies power for working the dock machinery and the bridges over the entrance. 1 From a paper by Percy Westmacott, Proceedings Inst. Mechanical Engineers, August 1869.