[AT] Silo roofs

[Carl Gogol]

Dean-  Manly silos where I grew up did not have roofs, they were an extra 
cost item at the time of construction.
A roof on the typical concrete stave silo is a no-fastener lock together 
assembly of curved aluminized steel (?)  sheet wedges that can structurally 
support themselves, shed snow and not blow off in most storms.  They were 
captured at the top of the silo behind the top most hoop and further shimmed 
with driven aluminum u-shaped wedges to conform to the flat sided staves 
more tightly.  They were assembled once the silo was constructed and the 
interior elevator scaffold was still in place.  Seems like wooden roofs went 
out with wooden silos.  The aluminum / metal roofs did not have a skeleton 
and the tripod was, as has already been mentioned, the support for the top 
unloading silage auger/blower.  I remember this from the construction of our 
own silo in about 1959.
Carl

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dean VP
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2014 4:10 PM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: Re: [AT] Silo roofs

Dean,

My guess is that that silo has never had a roof. I would think it would take 
more of a frame than what
is there to support a roof. And I agree the current frame was used to raise 
and lower the silo
unloader or chipper  Could also be used to raise the silage blower pipes. 
That is what the winch is
for. Raise it for filling and then lower it to start unloading.  Corn silage 
silos where I was raised
typically didn't have a roof but hay silage silos usually had a roof.  That 
may be why you have one of
each.  Hay had a tendency to spoil due to moisture easier than corn silage

Dean VP
Snohomish, WA

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right 
time, but also to leave
unsaid  the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com 
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of
Dean Vinson
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2014 9:35 AM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: [AT] Silo roofs

Very common around here to see old concrete silos with no roofs, such as the
1950-vintage silo on my farm:
http://www.vinsonfarm.net/photos/farm_and_goat_20141025.jpg

I've been assuming the roof blew off in a storm at some point, but now I'm
wondering if there was ever one there to begin with.   I have an aerial
photo of this place from 1965, and just like today there's no roof on the
big silo.   But in the 1965 photo, a tractor and silo blower are parked at
the base of the silo, hooked to the fill pipe, and a herd of Holsteins is
ambling about in the pasture.    That's only 15 years after the silo was
built, and it sure looks to still be in active use, but there's no roof.

At the top of this silo--and of several other very similar concrete silos I
see as I drive around the local area--there's a steel frame that forms a
three-sided pyramid.   A length of steel cable hangs straight down from the
peak of that pyramid, and some more of that same cable is wound around the
remains of an electric winch mounted down about head-height on one side of
the silo, so I assume it was the hoist for the silo unloader.   But did the
pyramid also support a roof, or did this type of silo never have a roof?

Dean Vinson
Saint Paris, Ohio

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