Grain Elevator History: Getting to the top of the Elevator: The Manlift

INTRODUCTION

We are fascinated by grain elevators. We are struck by their beauty. The colourful landmarks are the subject of paintings, photographs, and pictorial books. The hamlets, villages and towns were defined, in part, by their elevators. We searched for them on the horizon as we drove to each community. The names of the community were clearly visible on the sides of the elevator. They were a distant sign that we were close to home. More than that, grain elevators are part of our own experiences of Canadian culture.

The rise of the country elevator was a strong icon for the strength of rural life in Canada and their destruction a symbol for its weakening. In 1934, the number of grain elevators in Alberta peaked at 1,781. Today there are less then 130 standing and few used by the grain trade. Those left are run down.

We are also telling the inside and hidden histories of the grain elevator through first hand accounts. We invite people to tell us their stories by e-mail. The stories submitted appear in the personal experience page.

Disclaimer

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Getting to the top of the Elevator: The Manlift

The "Manlift" with Foot on the Friction Brake

Going to the top of the elevator. There were two ways to the top floor. One was to climb a wood ladder, inside a confined area known as a shaft, with little no light at times and half inch layer of dust on each rung. The other was to ride the “manlift”. The “manlift” was a self-propelled lift, using a combination of pulleys, rope, weights and gravity. It was an open platform about a yard square. A thick rope went to the pulley at the top of the elevator and the agent pulled on the rope to go up. Weight was factored in and weights were added to the platform to provide counter balance. In this way the agent was able to easily propelled to the top. It went up a dark and dusty shaft and there was always fear that any number of things could go wrong. What if the rope broke? Gravity was used to go down and there was a friction foot break to slow down the lift.
There is a floor at the top of the elevator with windows on each side. This provided a magnificent, panoramic view of the landscape. .

The top floor housed the top of the “leg”. When the grain got to the top of the leg it was redirected into one of the 15-18 bins through a spout. The spout was moved to the different bins by a metal wheel and a cable system from the ground floor. The metal wheel was aligned with the number of the bin. By manually turning the wheel, the cable system moved the spout to the position on top of the right bin. The grain then filled the bin. The top floor housed this set-up. Sometimes the spout didn’t align properly which caused trouble.