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Here is an edited excerpt regarding Riter & Conley's role in the building one of the largest grain elevators of the time period:
The Great Northern Elevator was built in 1897 for the Great Northern Railway Line and designed by Max Toltz, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Bridge Engineer of the Great Northern Railway. Toltz designed the general and detail plans of the steel construction and also acted in the capacity of consulting engineer during construction. Newcomb Carleton, of Buffalo, as consulting electrical engineer, designed the electrical plant, which was installed under the direction of Albert Vickers, electrical engineer. The elevator machinery was designed by D.A. Robinson of Chicago, Illinois who supervised construction.
The contractors for the main body of the steel work were the Riter-Conley Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Penn Bridge Company of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, furnished the material for and erected the marine towers. The structure was built as an all steel elevator "of the future" and had at the time an unusually great storage capacity of 2,525,890 bushels. The Great Northern elevator consists of a house, cupola, and transferring apparatus, the principal elements of a grain elevator complex.
Its distinctive features are the cylindrical steel tanks with hopper bottoms, mounted on columns, which take the place of the usual rectangular wooden bins; the elaboration of the conveying and hoisting appliances and their operation by electric power; and,
finally, the use of steel for the entire structure except for the brick walls, enveloping the house. |