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 | This page shows comparisons between the 1930's fertilizer elevator and the malt barley elevator which was constructed in 1982. As has already been mentioned, the two elevators' inner workings are very similar even though there's a span of around 50 years between when they were built. |
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| This is the cupola room in the top of the elevator. Like the large elevator, the leg throws it's contents into the receiver at the top of the leg then it slides down the chute to the gerber. The gerber spout is easily seen in the center right of the picture with the bin spout receptacles fanning around the gerber. (Presently it's attached to the 'truck spout.') The annex gerbers in the large elevator look almost exactly the same as this gerber. The stairs in the background of the photo lead... |  |
 | ...to what you see in this photo, the top of the leg. The leg housing in this elevator is made from wood from the very bottom to the top. And aside from it's size, that's the only major difference. The belt and cups are smaller but operate in the same fashion as the larger elevator. You can see the leg's motor in the lower right corner of the picture. |
| This elevator's bin room looks much like the barley malt elevator's annex bin rooms. The difference is, this is the only bin room in this elevator whereas the other elevator has two annex bin rooms and a main house bin room. The red dots in the picture mark the different bin inspection panels. |  |
 | We now go to the bottom floor of the fertilizer elevator. This picture shows what the leg looks like as it comes up though this part of the elevator. Like the large elevator, there's an inspection panel on the ground floor of the elevator in the leg housing to inspect and repair the belt and cups (shown closed). The gauge directly above the inspection panel measures amps for the leg motor in the upper cupola. To prevent a real mess, the operator watches this gauge like a hawk to insure the leg isn't fed the product faster than the cups can elevate it. There's a big problem if the circuit breaker pops when the leg is in operation. The product that's in the leg will rush to the bottom as gravity reverses the motion of the belt. The full cups empty at the bottom, clogging the leg. It's not easy removing all this fertilizer from the bottom of the leg so it can be started again. The malt barley elevator also has an ammeter for each leg serving the same purpose. |
| In the center of the picture you can see the fertilizer mixer. It's located directly beneath the garner, just like the hopper is below the garner in the big elevator. Just like the hopper has a scale, there's a scale attached to the mixer. Using the scale, the operator can dump exact amounts of different fertilizers into the mixer. He controls the movement of product out of the bins just like they do in the large elevator by using 2X4 bin slide valves. Generally he mixes fertilizer in 1,500 kg (3,300 lbs) batches and can average about 8 batches per hour if he's mixing several different fertilizers together. |  |
 | This picture shows what you'd see if you looked into the mixer. Eight paddles attached to a central rotating shaft mix the fertilizer. After the operator finishes filling the mixer, he presses a button. This starts a huge
motor which slowly turns the paddles at about 20 rpm. After the fertilizer is mixed, he opens a slide valve in the bottom of the mixer (You can just see it in the image. It's to the left of the square shaft below a paddle...) and presses another button, starting an auger which moves the fertilizer over to the leg. The leg elevates it and the gerber directs it to the truck spout which empties in front of the elevator into a farmer's wagon or truck. (See the gerber on this page.) |