Old Bridge Beams Support Drive Under Bins

Old Bridge Beams Support Drive Under Bins CROP STORAGE Grain Storage 17-1-6 Ted Safranski, Argyle, Minn., turned old highway bridge beams into a 20-ft. high steel platform that supports a pair of 1,300-bu. hopper,bins, allowing him to load semi trucks fast. The "drive-under" bins are filled by a 35-ft. high vertical auger that runs from a dryer up to the bins. To load trucks, Safranski simply pulls a lever connected to a cable that opens a chute at the bottom of each bin. "I bought the bridge beams for 5 cents a pound and spent less than $5,000 to build the platform. Commercial steel framework would have cost about $20,000," says Safranski. "It takes only about three minutes to load a semi truck using this system." Safranski used six beams for the legs and welded more beams all the way around on top, adding two cross beams in the middle. To make the footings he welded two 30-gal. barrels together end to end and filled them with concrete, then dug a 10-ft. deep hole under each leg to hold the barrels. Four steel rods anchor each leg to each footing. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ted Safranski, Rt. 1, Box 70, Argyle, Minn. 56713 (ph 218 437-6336).

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