Manchester Ship Canal Grain Elevator No1, Trafford Wharf Road, Trafford Park

"Manchester wisely went to America for her elevator, quite as she might go to Paris for a picture, or to South Africa for a diamond, because she could not get an American elevator, or a French picture, or a South African diamond elsewhere. Manchester did not want a silo; she wanted an elevator. She did not want an English engineer's version of an American elevator; she wanted the genuine thing. Hence, wisely enough, she went to America for it." Northwestern Miller, 1898

Built on Trafford Wharf Road opposite No.9 Dock in 1897-1898, the elevator when completed cost £84,000 and was the largest of its kind in Europe. It had a storage capacity of 40,000 tons divided between 268 individual bins and It was able to unload grain from a ship at the rate of 350 tons per hour and load grain onto a ship at 150 tons or 250 sacks per hour. Of timber construction, it was both designed and built by the John S. Metcalf Company of Chicago and was the first grain elevator using the American System to be constructed in Europe. The whole of the material was fashioned, assembled and erected by contractors from the United States of America and it opened on the 4th July 1898.  However criticism was levelled at the use of outmoded wood-crib construction - "a splendid fire pile."

The grain warehouse of the Manchester docks at Trafford wharf is locally known as the grain elevator, because it was built to a great extent on the model of an American elevator. Some of the mechanical equipment was supplied by a Chicago firm. The total capacity is 1,500,000 bushels or 40,000 tons of grain, which is stored in 226 separate bins. The granary proper stands about 340 feet from the side of the dock, but is directly connected with the receiving tower, which rises at the water’s edge, by a band conveyor protected by a gantry. The main building is 448 feet long by 80 feet wide; the whole of the superstructure was constructed of wood with an external casing of brickwork and tiles. The receiving tower is fitted with a bucket elevator capable, within fairly wide limits, of adjustment to the level of the hold to be unloaded. The elevator has the large unloading capacity of 350 tons per hour, assuming it to be working in a full hold. It is supplemented by a pneumatic elevator (Duckham system) which can raise 200 tons per hour and is used chiefly in dealing with parcels of grain or in clearing grain out of holds which the ordinary elevator cannot reach. The power required to work the large elevator as well as the various band conveyors is supplied by two sets of horizontal Corliss compound engines of 500 H.P. jointly, which are fed by two Galloway boilers working at 100 lb. pressure. The pneumatic elevator is driven by two sets of triple expansion vertical engines of 600 H.P. fed by three boilers working at a pressure of 160 lb. The grain received in the tower is automatically weighed. From the receiving tower the grain is conveyed into the warehouse where it is at once elevated to the top of a central tower, and is thence distributed to any of the bins by band conveyors in the usual way. The mechanical equipment of this warehouse is very complete, and the following several operations can be simultaneously effected: discharging grain from vessels in the dock at the rate of 350 tons per hour; weighing in the tower; conveying grain into the warehouse and distributing it into any of the 226 bins; moving grain from bin to bin either for aerating or delivery, and simultaneously weighing in bulk at the rate of 500 tons per hour; sacking grain, weighing and loading the sacks into 40 railway trucks and 10 carts simultaneously; loading grain from the warehouse into barges or coasting craft at the rate of 150 tons per hour in bulk or of 250 sacks per hour. This warehouse is equipped with a dryer of American construction, which can deal with 50 tons of damp grain at one time, and is connected with the whole bin system so that grain can be readily moved from any bin to the dryer or conversely. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 volume 12 page 338]

The tall tower at the water’s edge and the large warehouse in which the grain will be stored have been built of wood, but the tower is now being encased in tiles and the warehouse is to be built round with brickwork. Since the foundations were completed, the work has made rapid progress. [Manchester Guardian 23 February 1898 page 9 – Port of Manchester]

Good progress is being made with the building of the new grain elevator on Trafford Wharf, and we understand that in a fortnight the work contracted for by Messrs Metcalf of Chicago will probably be finished. The casing of the main building in brickwork and the tiling of the tower will take somewhat longer, and the engines and boiler have yet to be placed in position. …. We understand that a malting house is to be built just inside the boundary of Trafford Park, immediately opposite to the grain elevator, and that work has already begun on that site. The buildings to which grain will be carried directly from the elevator by a mechanical conveyor, are being put up for a firm of maltsters who are already established at Gainsborough. The malting of grain will be a new industry in this district, and it will probably result in the direct importation of a considerable quantity of barley to the Manchester docks.[Manchester Guardian 31 March 1898 page 8]

To the editor of the Times – Sir, The accuracy and speed with which structures of wood can be brought overseas and erected in England was proved 21years ago, when the first grain elevator and store was built on the banks of the Ship Canal, in Trafford Park, Manchester. I stood on the foundations, brought up to ground level at Christmas 1897 and at Easter 1898, on the top of the tower, 120 feet above ground level. Storage is provided for holding, airing and mixing large quantities of grain, I forget how many thousands of tons, in a multitude of compartments. The whole of the material was fashioned, assembled and erected by contractors from the United States of America. This was not merely a very large but a very complicated building, yet no trouble or disappointment occurred; so far as I know, it is still in use. Mr Wade’s proposal to prepare, transport and erect wooden houses of various designs in greater numbers would prove a much simpler matter; it is a valuable and practical suggestion. Yours Lionel B Wells M.Inst.C.E. Salcombe [Times 8 December 1919 page 10]

Reference    The Engineer 7 October 1898 page 354-356
Reference    Gerald Gasgoine Lynde: The Foundation of the Manchester Ship Canal Grain Elevator
Reference    Manchester Guardian 23 February 1898 page 9 – Port of Manchester
Reference    Manchester Guardian 31 March 1898 page 8
Reference    Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 volume 12 page 338]
Reference    Times 8 December 1919 page 10

Reference    The Engineer 7 October 1898 page 354-556
Reference    Lynde
Reference    Manchester Guardian 23 February 1898 page 9 – Port of Manchester
Reference    Manchester Guardian 31 March 1898 page 8
Reference    Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 volume 12 page 338]
Reference    Times 8 December 1919 page 10