Marine Leg Ship Unloaders on Grain Elevators

Before bulk freight ships were retrofitted with self-unloaders, ore was unloaded with Huletts and grain was unloaded with marine legs.

Brian R. Wroblewski posted six photos with the comment: "Here's a photo essay on grain unloading in Buffalo. Back in the old days they used to unload straight deckers here with Marine Legs. They're a continuous bucket system that came out of the tower & scooped up the grain. In the early 00s the 3 active elevators here converted to self-unloader only. Captions on each."

Brian posted again with the comment:

Years ago, we didn't have self-unloader grain boats coming to Buffalo. The elevators themselves used their Marine Legs to unload a boat. They would "Dip" the hold first by starting the unload process themselves. Then when they were down to knee deep level at the bottom of the hold, they would have the Scooper's Union come down & "Rig Up" the boat inside the hold. This involved a complicated system of ropes, tackle, & big scoops that would bring the grain to the leg. Sometimes here a Straight Decker would be delayed by something that wouldn't stop a modern self-unloader. Once in a while a ship would be up the crick & being unloaded by the legs on the elevator & a seiche would start from the wind coming out of the West. If it was bad enough, the water would rise too much & they'd have to pull the legs out & secure the boat until it was over & the water ran back out of Buffalo so they could dip the boat again. If they hadn't done that, the legs would have become stuck inside the ship as her hull rose up on the dock & blocked the mechanism from retracting back into the tower. A self-unloader never has that problem & can keep on going with the unload.

1
These toers rolled on tracks on the dock to reach the holds of the boat.

2
Here, the leg is extended from the tower, down in the hatch, & unloading the Kinsman Independent.

3
Two legs were used here to unload her & some grain scooper's shovels are sitting on the hatch cover.

4
Down in the hold the scooper guys have "rigged up" & are controlling the scoop that runs grain to the leg with ropes & pullies. Up in Canada they still use these legs but they don't fool around with this contraption. Instead, they lower a payloader down there to drive around & push it to the leg.

5
Here you can see the plastic buckets scooping up the grain & lofting it to the building for weighing, sorting, & either transfer or storage.
[Note it is two belts wide for higher capacity.]

6
And this is why all that stuff died. Now the boat just pulls up & does it all with her boom & that's it.

This farmer's video shows the buckets on a regular elevator leg because they had to replace the belt in the leg. This is one of the few times that I have seen the inside of a leg.

Screenshot

A. MacDonald posted
The Package Freighter " Superior " under the leg at Goderich Elevator in the 1940's unloading grain prior to loading bags of salt from the Evaporator Plant for the North.

Victory Mills in Toronto, CA:

Marine Historical Society of Detroit posted via Dennis DeBruler

Canada Malting in Toronto, CA

blogTO, cropped via Dennis DeBruler

In this scene, we can see the old leg belt and buckets that they removed laying on the ground.

Screenshot

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Even though they are no longer used, many of the Great Lakes elevators still have their marine legs.

3D Satellite, General Mills Frontier in Buffalo, NY

3D Satellite, ADM Milling/Pillsbury in Buffalo, NY

3D Satellite, Standard in Buffalo, NY

3D Satellite, American and Perot in Buffalo, NY

3D Satellite, Lake & Rail in Buffalo, NY
[As a bonus, I included the blue spout on the left for the self-unloader booms.]

3D Satellite, Marine "A" in Buffalo, NY

3D Satellite, Cargill in Buffalo, NY

3D Satellite, Concrete Central in Buffalo, NY

In Chicago they evidently don't cover the machinery.

3D Satellite in Chicago, IL
[I believe this elevator is in service, but I have never been able to find a name for it.]

3D Satellite in Chicago, IL
[I included the bow of the ship to show that this is an old boat. It has been setting here for many years. This elevator is currently out of service.]

3D Satellite, COFCO International in Chicago, IL
[Is that a marine leg or a ship loader? Or a more modern marine leg to unload barges? COFCO is owned by a Chinese company. So it makes sense that they would unload barges and load Salties.]

3D Satellite, General Mills in Superior, WI
[Are those three things loaders? Do they ship flour in bulk in ships?]

I did not find any marine legs on WB Storage Duluth. And this elevator doesn't have any. Maybe the elevators on the west end of Lake Superior never had marine legs because they would ship grain instead of receive it.