42 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



hold 24, 36 and even 48 oz. Of course cans may be made of any 

 size by varying the dies. 



16. Tails. — These are the usual tall cylindrical cans of 

 comparatively narrow diameter so well known especially in 

 American goods. The United States of America standard sizes 

 and capacities and the numbers by which they are known are 

 given in the table in paragraph 12 supra. An ordinary British or 

 American I lb. jam tin might be 3^" in height and 3" in diameter 

 or 3^" X zVs" outside and over all ; the cubical contents would be 

 above 24/^ to 25 cubic inches of water. These are not much used 

 for fish except for salmon, and are not at present made in the 

 Government Fish Cannery. They are very convenient for the 

 manufacturer, their shape permitting great ease in forming the 

 bodies, usually with lock side seams, in seaming on the tops and 

 bottoms, and in permitting outside soldering and handling ; where, 

 as in packing salmon, the fish can be readily cut by machines into 

 suitable chunks and automatically dropped into the cans, or where 

 articles like peas, jams, etc., can be poured into the cans, this 

 form is eminently suitable and economical. But they are useless 

 for packing sardines, etc., which must be dealt with by hand. In 

 addition to these cans there are the small tins, practically all cylin- 

 drical, used for holding pastes and various goods. For meat and 

 fish pastes these are mostly ' tails ' that is of height greater than 

 the diameter, and are known conventionally as 3 oz., 4 oz., 6 oz., 

 8 oz., etc., tins, though not necessarily holding that weight of 

 paste. Other goods are put in ' flats ' where the diameter is 

 greater than the height ; e.g., boot polish, unguents, etc. The 

 Government Cannery mostly uses 4 oz. capped tins of a size 

 approximately 2" in height and of similar diameter, or ' strip off ' 

 slightly taller and of less diameter, e.g., 2%" x i%". But 6oz. tins 

 are convenient for the cheaper lines of fish pastes, fish meal, etc. 



17. All the above cans may be made either — 

 (i) entirely as soldered cans, or 



(2) entirely without solder, or 



(3) by a combination of methods. 



This will be dealt with below s.v. — ' Can-making.' The 

 Government Cannery makes by both the first two methods ; the 

 third has yet to be introduced. 



18. Tins are also differentiated by the mode of opening or 

 closing. The ordinary sardine tin is either ' keyless ' which is 



