46 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



CHAPTER III. 

 Can-making. 



22. In the United States of America where the demand for cans 

 is enormous and continuous, freight and packing cheap, and cans 

 more or less standardised, it is common to find large factories 

 devoted entirely to the manufacture of cans and supply to canners. 

 With the most perfect and rapid machinery and with the attention 

 paid to economy and perfection, it is probably better for canners 

 to buy from such manufacturers than to make them in the cannery 

 where, as being a mere side-line of work, the cans turned out are 

 apt to be less perfect than those of the can-making factories in 

 which 2 per 1,000 of imperfect (leaky) cans is considered a 

 maximum. In buying ready-made cans the canneris fairly certain 

 of perfect cans, and the cost of such cans and their freight is more 

 than recouped by the comparative absence of losses from rusty tin 

 plate, spoilt empties, leaks after packing, and by the ability of the 

 canner to devote his sole attention to canning ; moreover many 

 factories are too small for a can -making plant. 



23. Here in India it is almost necessary for a fish-canning 

 factory to make its own cans from tin plate, and the Government 

 Cannery is no exception. There are very few can-making 

 factories ; those which exist are mostly either for small tins as used 

 for medicines, unguents, etc., or large (kerosine) tins made by 

 firms importing kerosine; all are very far apart and distant from 

 canning factories ; there is no factory at all for making the special 

 sardine tins. For the small 4 oz. cylindrical paste tin, it has been 

 found advisable hitherto to obtain them ready made from England, 

 owing to the slow and imperfect work of Indian solderers, but 

 it should be possible now to make such and similar cans 

 with improved and not costly plant as described below. It is 

 also possible to obtain tin plate already decorated and printed, 

 thus minimising the cost and labour of varnishing, labelling, 

 etc., while obtaining a neat and attractive appearance. These 

 decorated plates are then cut to size, formed up, and soldered into 

 the usual cans. 



24. Soldered cans.— The following paragraphs chiefly relate to 

 the manufacture of cans as practised in the Government Cannery. 



25. Material : Tin plate. — At present this is only obtainable from 

 Great Britain and America, but it is believed that it will shortly 

 be available from Messrs. Tata's Steel Works. Tin plate consists 



