Tag Archives: innovation

Drawings for an elevator of 200,000-bushel capacity with bin plan and schedule

by baggyparagraphs

The present drawings that are reproduced from records of the Tillotson Construction Co., of Omaha, show details of a 200,000-bushel, single-leg, reinforced-concrete elevator

To the left above, seen at the scale of one-eighth inch to one foot, is the cross-section of the structure. The main house has eight tanks (silos) with internal diameter of 15 feet six inches and achieves a height of 120 feet. The cupola is 30 feet six inches high. At the bottom, we see a depth of 15 feet three inches below the main slab.

In the cupola, we see notations for the distributor, distribution floor, and automatic scale.

Below, numbers of the large tanks and smaller interior bins are noted. The driveway and rolling door are shown above dump pits Number One and Two. The driveway is 12 feet wide, the door is 13 feet high, and a 17-foot distance extends between driveway floor and driveway roof.

Other notes in the lower-right indicate the work floor, back pit, and a track conveyor to be installed at a future time.

Outside the elevator’s wall is a load-out spout for rail cars and the inscription “Track,” showing where a car draw up to be filled.

Ratings for the bin schedule are cut off due to the limitations of our scanner bed and the 11×17-inch sheets that were copied from blueprints by Uncle Tim Tillotson.

The schedule has the large tanks, Number One through Seven, at 16,880 bushels each. Number Eight is 15,495 bushels. Internal bins nine through 20 range in capacity from 3,980 bushels (Number 19) to 6,665 bushels (12 and 14).

The whole structure sits on the slab measuring 48.5 x 62.0 feet.

Number 21, which can barely be seen in the Bin Plan, is an ovalized chute that stands just outside the accommodations for the electrically operated man lift. “Down” is inscribed to the left of the lift, and “loader” and “up” are to the right.

The Bin Plan and Work Floor Plan are shown at the scale of three-sixteenths inch to one foot.

From the bottom, notes in the Work Floor plan show “Trucks” entering in the direction of the arrow to the two dump pits. Additional notes say “Rails for the 7 1/2 H.P. overhead Electr. Truck Lift” and “12′ wide x 13′ high Overhead Steel Curtain Type Door (Opp. end same).”

At far right, notes say “Track Door” and “RR Siding.”

The stairway inside Number Eight is indicated with the note “Down to Bsm’t.” And this stairway is the reason for the tank’s capacity of 15,495 bushels as opposed to the 16,880 bushels of the others.

Drawings for an elevator of 250,000-bushel capacity with bin plan and schedule

by baggyparagraphs

Here in sharp detail, at the scale of one-eighth-inch to one foot, we have drawings for a 250,000-bushel Tillotson elevator. The bin plan gives capacity at 252,300. Tillotson Construction Co. built many elevators of this capacity, although we can’t determine how many of them adhered to the drawings we see here.

The level of detail is exceptional. In the cross-section, we see a stairway and its railing, an interior ladder (apparently in the manlift channel), basement window sash, 7.5-horsepower Ehrsam truck lift and hand-operated rolling curtain door, port for inspection of the leg, and the 72×14-inch head and boot pulleys. A note on the lower left says “Future 3 hp – 14″ conveyor,” and broken lines indicate its course. Another note to the left indicates “10[-inch] well casing”. Another note near the top of this channel says, “Rad. Dist. to 3 bins & Loading Spout & Driveway.” This we take to mean radial distribution.

The “car” at far left presumably represents a rail car.

The drawform walls of the tanks (silos) are 120 feet high.

The cupola is 40 feet high and 50 feet 3 inches long. We learn that inside it, a 40-horsepower Howell head-drive turns the head pulley at 42 revolutions per minute. The leg’s 14-inch, six-ply belt has cups of 12×6 inches for a leg capacity of 6,300 bushels per hour.

Another note and a zig-zag arrow indicate “Top of Manlift Travel” and two-horsepower Ehrsam manlift.

Detail drawings inside the cupola show the intake and exhaust for the three-horse exhaust fan. Made of 14-gauge steel, the spouting is 10 inches in diameter. Another notation and additional broken lines indicate “Future 2,500 bu. Hopper Scale.” This is near the automatic scale and the grate platform.

Other plans–each with its own details–are for the roof and the cupola floor, bins, foundation, and work floor and driveway.

Drawings for an elevator of 254,000-bushel capacity with bin plan and schedule

by baggyparagraphs

The drawings we have in hand from Tillotson Construction Co. include this plan for a 254,000-bushel reinforced-concrete grain elevator.

While the company built a number of elevators rated at 250,000 and 252,000 bushels, these were likely based on different drawings.

Otherwise, the records show just one elevator of 254,000 bushels–that’s 254,104 bushels, to be exact. It was built in 1950 at Palmer, Iowa.

A 252,000-bushel elevator went up the year before at nearby Pocahontas, Iowa.

The Palmer job was a single-leg elevator with 115-foot-tall tanks (silos) and a cupola measuring 23x60x40 feet. Fully loaded, its gross weight was 12,975 tons.

A dryer bin was included at the time of construction.

Drawings for an elevator of 314,000-bushel capacity with bin plan and schedule

by baggyparagraphs

Records show that Tillotson Construction Co., of Omaha, built a few reinforced-concrete elevators with capacity of more than 300,000 bushels. The drawings posted here depict the outlines of a 314,000-bushel elevator with two legs.

The first was a twin-leg, 350,000-bushel job on an original plan at Farnsworth, Tex., in 1945.

Next–310,000 bushels, also on an original plan–came four years later, in 1949, at Dalhart, Texas.

1950: Canyon, Tex., and Bellwood, Neb., on a shared plan for 320,000 bushels. That same year, Rock Valley, Iowa, came close at 296,130 bushels. And the Vinton Street terminal, in Omaha, was completed at 382,880 bushels.

1951: Sunray, Tex. added a 550,000-bushel annex with 14 tanks (silos) of 20 feet in diameter. Hereford, Tex., welcomed a 300,000-bushel elevator on its own original plan, and York, Neb., did the same–also an original plan–with 336,000 bushels that same year.

1953: Cherokee, Okla. (original plan) 309,400 bushels; Ralston, Iowa (original plan) 537,500-bushel annex with eight tanks of 28 feet in diameter reaching to 115 feet in height; Estill, S.C. (original plan) with 10 tanks of 18 feet in diameter reaching to 120 feet. (The year earlier, Tillotson had built 225,000 bushels of storage at Estill.)

1954: Orienta, Okla. (original plan) 312,000 bushels with 10 tanks of 20 feet in diameter towering 114 feet nine inches; Bellwood, Neb. (original plan) 340,000 bushels with 10 tanks of 20 feet in diameter and 130 feet in height; Iowa Falls, Iowa (Bellwood plan) 321,000 bushels of 122 feet (no other information is included in the records); Glidden, Iowa annex of 331,000 bushels (incomplete entry); Ensign, Kan. annex (original plan) 319,830 bushels with 11 tanks of 19 feet in diameter and 118 feet in height.

Tillotson built no elevators of such great capacity in 1955, the year our records end.

Drawings for an elevator of 300,000- to 354,000-bushel capacity with bin plan and schedule

by baggyparagraphs

Records show that Tillotson Construction Co., of Omaha, built a few reinforced-concrete elevators with capacity of more than 300,000 bushels. The drawings posted here depict the outlines of a 314,000-bushel elevator with two legs.

The first was a twin-leg, 350,000-bushel job on an original plan at Farnsworth, Tex., in 1945.

Next–310,000 bushels, also on an original plan–came four years later, in 1949, at Dalhart, Texas.

1950: Canyon, Tex., and Bellwood, Neb., on a shared plan for 320,000 bushels. That same year, Rock Valley, Iowa, came close at 296,130 bushels. And the Vinton Street terminal, in Omaha, was completed at 382,880 bushels.

1951: Sunray, Tex. added a 550,000-bushel annex with 14 tanks (silos) of 20 feet in diameter. Hereford, Tex., welcomed a 300,000-bushel elevator on its own original plan, and York, Neb., did the same–also an original plan–with 336,000 bushels that same year.

1953: Cherokee, Okla. (original plan) 309,400 bushels; Ralston, Iowa (original plan) 537,500-bushel annex with eight tanks of 28 feet in diameter reaching to 115 feet in height; Estill, S.C. (original plan) with 10 tanks of 18 feet in diameter reaching to 120 feet. (The year earlier, Tillotson had built 225,000 bushels of storage at Estill.)

1954: Orienta, Okla. (original plan) 312,000 bushels with 10 tanks of 20 feet in diameter towering 114 feet nine inches; Bellwood, Neb. (original plan) 340,000 bushels with 10 tanks of 20 feet in diameter and 130 feet in height; Iowa Falls, Iowa (Bellwood plan) 321,000 bushels of 122 feet (no other information is included in the records); Glidden, Iowa annex of 331,000 bushels (incomplete entry); Ensign, Kan. annex (original plan) 319,830 bushels with 11 tanks of 19 feet in diameter and 118 feet in height.

Tillotson built no elevators of such great capacity in 1955, the year our records end.

Drawings for an elevator of 50,000- to 100,000-bushel capacity with bin plan and schedule

by baggyparagraphs

“Sorry these are printed with margin on wrong end,” write Uncle Tim Tillotson after copying the elevator plans in his possession.

“Was busy unfolding and folding the old originals for the [printshop] guy because he tore the first print I handed him (on fold line) just unfolding it. They came out of printer 3 feet long. Didn’t realize Boo-Boo till I got home. Too much $ to re-do!”

Nevertheless, we benefit from Uncle Tim’s efforts and from our cropping tool, which lead to this series of posts with all plans from that printing session.

Specifications from Alta, Iowa and drawings of a likely model for that elevator

by baggyparagraphs

In response to a reader’s question, we are posting some basic specifications of the Alta, Iowa, elevator that Tillotson Construction Co. built in 1950. (Plans alter between “Tillotson Contracting Co.” and “Tillotson Construction Co.”

The drawings seen above are Tillotson’s standard plan for a 250,000-bushel elevator with eight tanks (silos).

Capacity at Alta was 246,070 bushels. The eight tanks of 18 feet in diameter sat on a main slab of 60.0 by 73.5 feet. The driveway was 13 x 15 feet.

The walls of the tanks rose 115 feet from the slab, and they were topped by the cupola measuring 23.0 feet wide, 61.5 feet long, and 39 feet high. That brought the structure up to 154 feet–quite imposing.

What were a timekeeper’s duties on a grain elevator construction project?

by baggyparagraphs

By Charles J. Tillotson

Editor’s note: The previous post about Charles Hauber, an employee of Tillotson Construction Co. in the mid-1950s, raises a question: What were a timekeeper’s duties on a grain elevator construction project?

The timekeeper’s duties were often directly proportionate to the project size. On small projects the timekeeper’s duties were performed by the job superintendent. If the size of the job warranted a full-time person, his duties would require him to daily monitor the laborers on the job and their hourly rate of pay, either by requiring each individual laborer to personally check in with him in the morning, thereby “starting the clock” for the labor to be performed for that day.

On larger projects with a given steady number of workmen on the job with constant types of duties being performed each day where personal check-in would take up too much time, the timekeeper would merely check out each laborer’s hours, task, and hourly rate for each workman via personal observation and contact throughout the day.

The timekeeper was also responsible for recording the hours worked by the on-site administration and supervision personnel, but usually the pay rate for these people, including himself, would be held confidential.

In any regard, no matter the job size, the responsibility of the timekeeper was to accrue, on a daily basis the name of each laborer, his hours worked, his job and his rate of pay. This daily tabulation for all labor and supervision personnel would then be transmitted to the accounting department in the Tillotson Construction Co.’s home office in Omaha.

The Accounting Department would then convert this information into the individual payroll checks to be issued to each workman. This was usually on a weekly basis. In many cases, where the job was in a remote area and there wasn’t enough time to transmit the payroll physically, the payroll checks were written on the job site by the timekeeper after receiving the amount of each check via the telephone from the Accounting Department.

The timekeeper’s job was a very important position requiring a person of integrity, honesty, and dependability–for without those key characteristics the possibility of achieving a successful and profitable project couldn’t be accomplished.

The Des Moines Tribune profiled Tillotson Construction Co. timekeeper Charles Hauber in 1955

by baggyparagraphs

By Herb Owens

DALLAS CENTER, IA–Charles Hauber, 21, timekeeper on a grain elevator construction project here, is living proof that “a weak chin” is not visual evidence of a lack of determination.

Seven years ago Hauber’s lower jaw suffered a major injury in an auto accident. A nerve was severed and, as a result, the natural growth and development of his chin was retarded.

Two years ago, Hauger spent a month at University Hospitals in Iowa City, where physicians and surgeons estimated his possibilities fro reconstruction of his lower jaw and chin.

By using bone from his hip, surgeons are hopeful that they can build a normal mandible for Hauber. Through use of cartilage, the youth’s chin would be rebuilt to normal appearance.

Long self-conscious about his receding chin, Hauber developed a plan for accomplishment of normal features. He left Loras College in Dubuque, where he had been enrolled two years studying for Catholic priesthood, to build a bank account for the surgery.

Studies Languages

Surgeons have assured Hauber that a series of operations would be necessary. The surgery will be expensive. When Charles has saved $1,000, he’ll submit himslef for the initial work. The accumulation of savings is slow–but Hauber already has more than $400 in the bank.

Hauber is a most unusual construction timekeeper. He has had three years of Greek and four years of Latin. He has had three years of German and a year of French. He even has had six months of Spanish.

Besides his interest in languages, Hauber is an enthusiastic amateur short story writer. He has written several stories–without ever submitting any to editors for professional judgment. And, as a student of people and human nature, he’s constantly alert for character studies and incidents he can incorporate in fiction writing.

Worked on Elevators

Eldest of six children of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Hauber of Emmetsburg, Charles–known to co-workers as “Chuck”–for two years attended a Catholic seminary at East Troy, Wis., a school conducted by the Society of Divine Word. He also had a year at Epworth College, near Dubuque.

When Hauber first was employed by the Tillotson Construction Co. of Omaha, he worked on an elevator project at Bancroft. Then the crew shifted to the Farmer’s Elevator Co. at Ralston. After a “repair job” at Aurora, Neb., he was assigned to the elevator construction project at Boxholm.

Here the Tillotson company is building the $151,000 addition on the Farmer’s Co-Operative Co. elevator.

Hauber likes his work–but his dreams go beyond a career in construction business. Whether he’ll return to studies for the priesthood, he hasn’t determined. His interest in languages–which he continues to study after working hours–has kindled thoughts of becoming an interpreter. Possibilities as a writer are not overlooked.

Whatever he heads for, be assured Hauber will give it the old college try–and he hopes to have “a determined chin” to show with it.

An Iowa company built an elevator in Ceresco, Neb., imitating Tillotson’s style

by baggyparagraphs

For a small eastern Nebraska town, Ceresco is well-known within its region because of a furniture store, Ernie’s in Ceresco, that advertises widely.

When Kate Oshima visited Ernie’s to look for bargains, she happened to notice a handsome grain elevator with a curved headhouse.

At first we wondered if this was an unrecorded project by Tillotson Construction Co.

But Kate got a photo of a manhole cover that tells otherwise: Grain Storage Construction Co., of Council Bluffs, Iowa, takes credit for the 1959 job.

We find no background information on this company.

But the curved headhouse makes us wonder if Tillotson design talent migrated across the Missouri River to Omaha’s twin city and worked there.

Tillotson’s construction record ends at 1955. From the accompanying photos taken by Kate, this elevator’s style sure looks familiar.