No. 2 (I92I) REMARKS ON CANNING 49 



(2) a notcher for notching the ends of the strips ; 



(3) a machine for rolling and beading (or fluting) the strips ; 



(4) a body-former for bending the strip into the rectangular 

 shape of a sardine can body ; 



(5) a machine for holding the two ends of the strip together 

 when soldering so as to form the body ; 



(6) a swan-neck press with separate dies for striking tops and 

 bottoms either for rectangular or cylindrical cans ; 



(7) a set of solderers' turn-tables, worked by the foot, with 

 ' ratieres ' or steel boxes for holding sardine cans during the 

 process of soldering tops and bottoms to the body, and clamps 

 for holding cylindrical cans; also the necessary fire pots and 

 ' coppers ' or soldering tools. In the Beypore Cannery the solder- 

 ing irons are heated by charcoal in the fire pot, but in more 

 advanced factories outside of India, the coppers are heated in oil 

 burning stoves (of the ' Primus ' character), or, still better, are 

 self heating by means of a jet of mixed gas and air (e.g., petrol air 

 gas) delivered under pressure from a generator or reservoir to the 

 copper itself where its combustion keeps the copper always at the 

 proper temperature; this makes for great economy in time and 

 labour. 



Items Nos. (l) and (6) — guillotine and press — are the only items 

 of any considerable cost, and can readily be obtained at very 

 moderate prices ; the press should be fitted with various pairs of 

 dies for cans of different shapes and sizes. Lists and descrip- 

 tion of plant can be obtained from the Government Cannery at 

 Beypore. 



32. The sequence of operations for sardine tins is as follows : 

 for bodies the proper sized plate is placed in the guillotine and 

 squared ; it is then cut to the fixed width automatically by the 

 action of a pedal ; the strips, which fall into a box, are then notched 

 at the two ends and passed through the beading rollers which turn 

 them into beaded or fluted strips. The beaded strip is then bent 

 round a rectangular block, the two ends brought together with 

 a slight overlap, and clamped under a plate, through a slot in 

 which a boy solders the two ends by an outside line of solder. 

 The rectangle is then slightly swaged on a block to admit the 

 stamped plate with a curled rim, which forms the bottom ; this is 

 then placed in a ratiere or steel box which squeezes the body strip 

 and bottom plate closely together, arid the combination is then 



