An Unusual Concrete Silo

  It's been a long time since I brought you pictures of silos, but this one is unusual, and I've been wanting to share it for a while. It was also on yesterday's walk. So, here you go. The primary section of the barn has fallen, but the silo remains.

This appears to be a rounded concrete block silo. Block silos have thicker walls than concrete stave silos (see link below). From what I could find, this probably predates the stave silos. Farmers were experimenting with materials other than wood, because the wood rotted from contact with the silage.

I learned that the familiar tower silos we associate with farms didn't come into use until the 1880s!

Here's a closeup of the wall where it was previously not exposed to view because it was inside the barn. Those blocks appear to me to be long and curved. That would suggest they were either custom cast or commercially available. In the short time I spent, I could not find a company that made such an item. That doesn't mean it didn't exist. However, a web site at silo.org verifies that farmers often made their own molds and cast blocks over the slower winter months. Molds could also be leased from construction companies.

The top is the most fascinating of all. It's the "coolie hat" style, and it seems to be cast concrete. That must have been one heck of a project to get it in place! Not to mention casting it without having it crack as it dried.

Another very interesting feature is the apparent stuccoing with concrete that was done to the exterior in the areas that were visible.

As if I don't have enough projects/ideas... this makes me want to write a book with lots of pictures about historic silos.

In other news: I had a longish meeting in the morning, and the rest of the day was spent doing tax prep. I took a short walk. But I feel quite productive!

See Concrete Stave Silos

Silo Tops - 2

 
Although I went out for a nice walk again today, nothing new caught my eye. However, I've been saving these pictures, so this is a good day to bring them out.

I pass this barn quite often, and consider it a bit of a mystery. In the first place, it's really big. That's not totally strange, but even in this agricultural economy, this one is large. It doesn't appear to be in use for farming any more.



The silo is salt-glazed tile. We have quite a few of those around here, so that's not too unusual, but this is set on a really old stone foundation.


It looks to me as if at some time one portion of the upper area of the right end of the barn was made into an apartment, because of the dormer with residential-looking windows.



But here's the biggest mystery. Whoever saw a silo with glass windows at the top like an observatory of some sort? I've always wondered if they were added and the upper portion of the silo is part of the apartment. However, the windows don't really look sealed well enough for that, either.



At any rate, it's certainly interesting.

	See Glazed Tile Silo
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Silo Tops - 1

 
I've been wanting to start collecting pictures of silo tops for a long time. There are so many variations it's quite an interesting passtime. There were a lot of standardized ones, the half-dome tops, and the coolie hats. But lots of them were homemade, like the first one I'll show you today. The pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago. Today it's nothing except white.



The barn has collapsed, and nothing is left but the small silo. However, you can nicely see the shapes of the concrete staves that make up the sides of the silo. There are more examples of this type of silo at Concrete Stave Silos.


Just across the road was another very old silo with an interesting manufactured top. I don't know anything at all about the companies that made the tops, except for a couple types, but surely not this one.



I may have to go back and look at this silo again. It appears to be made of concrete, also, but perhaps of long narrow "boards."

Well, that's good for today. You didn't want to hear more about the snow and the wind and the terrible driving, anyway.

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Antique Martin Steel Silo

 
Tuesday was a glorious October day and I found a different silo construction for our edification. This one is made entirely of curved sheet metal plates, bolted together. To tell you the truth, I don't recall ever seeing a silo like this, but surely this one is not unique. I've looked on line, and can't seem to find any information about this kind, however, the search results are overwhelmed with links to modern metal silos, so there could be something if I search harder. Obviously, this one is not new. The barn is probably 100 years old, given that it has collapsed.



I thought the top was particularly interesting.



The silo is made of curved pieces of sheet metal with lipped edges which are bolted together. Here's a view looking up.

I just had to get a little bit artistic. Well, I tried. There was too much breeze to get the grass to hold still. I was trying to get that interesting rust spot, the grass head and its shadow all in one view.



Now I have more questions. When I look at an enlarged photo of the connections between the plates it really looks like bolt heads. But that's a LOT of bolts. Isn't it more likely they were riveted? I need to take a picture of the underside of the connections which are in shadow in the pictures I have.

Thanks to some help from Vanilla, I have discovered that this is a Martin Steel Silo. We found pictures of them from Pennsylvania; Menominee, Michigan; Wisconsin; and Vermont. I'll have to do some more sleuthing.

It's a long way from home. I won't be going there any time soon, but maybe I'll have another chance. It actually wasn't too far from the Stone Silo.

	See Concrete Stave Silos
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Concrete Stave Silos

 
Previously, I've shown you pictures of a stone silo, and one made of salt-glazed tiles. Today I found several good examples of what is probably the most common vintage farm silo in the east, the concrete stave silo.

Here's a really large one.



The construction method is pretty simple. There are hundreds of cast concrete staves, like interlocking concrete blocks. They are fitted together vertically to create rows of circles which are built upwards. The seams are bound with those steel rings. When the silo is filled, the pressure of the contents pushes outward to keep the silo stable.

If you have any engineering bent, you know that pressure is a function of depth, so there will be more outward pressure at the bottom of a full silo than at the top. Look how far apart the metal rings are near the top of this huge silo.



And look how close they are together near the bottom to deal with that additional pressure.



Concrete stave silos can be made in all kinds of diameters and heights. Here's an interesting example of that I found just down the road from the huge silo.


Of course, each one has to have a secure foundation. If you come across some large concrete ring in the woods, it's probably the silo foundation from a long-gone farm. I'll take a picture the next time I see one. If the foundation is undermined the silo can lean and even collapse.

Don't think that just because these examples have nice "beach ball" tops that is the only style. There are a number of standard and homemade types of silo caps. A little farther down the road, this abandoned barn and silo is a good example. You can also see the foundation ring. Also note that this silo was not tall enough to need more rings near the bottom.



Actually, silo caps can be quite interesting. I'll have to start catching pictures of those. So many of these vintage barns and silos are simply disappearing- falling apart from dis-use.

Tonight's a work night. Hoping for a nice nap tomorrow.

	See Glazed Tile Silo
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Stone Silo

 
I am going to work on a series of different kinds of silos. This one is actually really unusual, being made of field stone. It's no longer in use. You can tell because it has no top. It's still connected to a nice ogee roof barn.



Someone was very careful to match the sizes of the stones in each round of the laying of the silo. There are narrow bands and wide bands.



I wonder if anyone can really do stone work like this any more.

	See Interesting Barns See Glazed Tile Silo
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Glazed Tile Silo

 
I love old barns, but so many of them are falling down. It's sad. Every farm had one or two silos. One of the types of silo that was commonly built in the 1920s and 1930s was made of glazed tile.



The whole point of this type of silo was/is to contain corn or grain in a semi-fermented state. The round shape prevents air pockets from being trapped in corners, and a number of different materials have been used to build them. Once the silo is filled, the contents begin to ferment and use up the remaining air. The silage can then be maintained at the same state, ready to feed to livestock.

Maybe I'll start a series on types of silos. In any case, the glazed tile ones are very attractive.



The tiles are what's called salt glazed. Salt is placed in the kiln during firing, and the salt vapor reacts with the silicone in the clay. This creates the sheen and the rich brown colors. The hard glaze makes the walls impervious to air and moisture. The blocks were generally hollow allowing them to expand and contract with temperature changes.

I thought I was going to show you a picture of a farm in good condition with two beautiful tile silos, but I can't find it, so perhaps some time in the future.

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