WINDING OFF SILOS

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31530, 18 November 1967, Page 10

WINDING OFF SILOS

’THIS photograph was taken this week at Ashburton airport where an ingenious machine manufactures silo walls automatically from galvanised iron strip.

The walls of a 40-ton capacity silo are made In two sections.

The makers, N. V. Holyoake and Company, Limited, claim that it is the first one-piece silo body ever built The machine turns out a silo of 15ft diameter. The largest diameter pipe previously made anywhere in the world under this sort of system is believed to be 54 inch.

Part of the testing of this type of silo was to fill it with water, and because it will hold water it is now also being sold as a water tank.

The silos are wound off with the aid of a die and a cradle to take the formed product Manufacture began at Ashbur-

ton in the open but difficulty was experienced with recent high winds. Hence the site of manufacture has been moved to the hanger at the airport.

A further development envisaged is to use pipes of varying diameter made under this system to form a drying silo. It is intended that a central column should run from top to bottom of the silo, which itself would be constructed of a perforated outer band containing the grain, and a further solid pipe would be mounted outside the perforated band allowing air passage. This would provide an in-bin drying system. This process has developed from a machine imported four years ago for turning out pipe for the heating and air conditioning industry from galvanised steel strip about six inches wide. This type of pipe has subsequently found

a place in construction of multi-storeyed concrete buildings and the process has also been used to make perforated stainless steel liners for well bores. A machine has now been specially constructed in Wellington to manufacture up to 15ft diameter pipe.

Soil Moisture

There was no soil moisture deficit on either the irrigated or unirrigated areas at the Winchmore irrigation research station yesterday. This followed 2.23 inches of rain on the previous two days. The irrigated area has not had to be irrigated so far this season. At this time last year there was a deficit of 180 points on the non-irrigated area and a deficit of 60 points on the irrigated area.