No. 3(1921) MANUFACTURE OF FISH OIL AND GUANO I55 



cookers are placed on the ground floor, and the presses in the 

 upper story ; from the presses the oil, water, and scrap fall again 

 to the ground floor where the plant is located for separating the 

 oil and water and for drying the scrap. This method is only 

 possible on the large scale by the general use of conveyors and 

 elevators, but it does away with all need for pumping. The 

 cookers, oil tanks, and driers are not necessarily, perhaps not 

 generally, in the main building, but are in separate sheds or even 

 in the open, but always on ground level. Proper lighting is of 

 course provided, and means for flushing the whole factory with 

 plenty of water. In some cases the factory is built out over the 

 tidal water, so that refuse, foul washings, and the waste effluent 

 water from the presses and separating tanks, are readily disposed 

 of without nuisance. 



Floating factories have been tried in America, but without 

 much success and the method was soon abandoned, though it is 

 said that recently the method has again been adopted on a very 

 large vessel. By this method a vessel was fitted up with the 

 necessary cooking, pressing, and drying plant, and being movable 

 was able to seek out and follow the shoals ; moreover, except to 

 those on board, no possible nuisance could be caused, while all 

 refuse, foul water, etc., simply passed into the open sea. Proba- 

 bly the main reasons for abandoning the method were (l) the 

 d' 'Acuity of storing and handling large masses of fish and of the 

 products in restricted and narrow space, (2) the ability of modern 

 power boats to run their catches rapidly to land and return at once 

 to sea, (3) the difficulty of separating the oil and water in conti- 

 nually oscillating tanks. Possibly a very large vessel might be 

 successful. The method is only possible where the most modern 

 cooking, pressing, and artificial drying plant is available, and 

 this, with tanks and storage room, would mean a very large vessel. 

 Otherwise, especially with Indian shoals, the idea is prima facie 

 attractive. 



15. Removal of fish from boats. — The old method was by tubs of 

 500 fish capacity, slung into the steamer's hold, filled with fish, 

 and hoisted on to the wharf. The modern method is by a mecha- 

 nically run bucket-elevator which lifts the fish from the hold and 

 delivers them to the weighing machine. It is said that the elevator 

 will do in one hour work that required five or six hours by the old 

 method, viz., 200,000 lb. of fish from hold to receiving bin ; this 

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