In quite a number of the plants the labeling, packing, and storage 

 section is on a floor above (and usually behind) the rest of the plant. 

 It is common also to use this same area for unpacking empty cans and 

 by means of unscrambling devices to arrange them in conveying lines 

 and feed them to the filling machines. This makes a conv anient and 

 efficient set-up whereby empty cans can be brought into the plant from 

 the rail line, and finished cartons of canned tuna shipped out without 

 in any way interfering with other operations in the plant, 



CONVEyiNG SYSTQIS FOR CARRYING TUNA TO THE PLANT 



The larger canneries which are located adjacait to docks and have 

 no intervening roadvjaj^ or other obstruction use, as a rule, the follow- 

 ing system. A large tub is lowered through the hatch into the hold of 

 the filing vessel and filled by hand with tuna. The tub is then lifted 

 out of the hold by a boom hoist and swung over an apron where it is 

 dumped automatically with a catch chain. In some installations two 

 hatches of a single vessel can be unloaded simultaneously in this way. 



The fish fall from the dumping apron into a flume containing 

 running sea water which sluices the fish on to a slat-type conveyor 

 belt elevator which lifts the fish to a scale house where the fish 

 are weighed, usually in the presence of representatives both of the 

 fishing vessel and of the cannery. The weighing is done in batches, 

 ordinarily a scale hopper of about 700 pound capacity being employed. 

 The fish are thai sluiced through flumes to the cannery. This method 

 is highly efficient and involves a minimum of handling. It is used 

 by the large plants in San Diego and by one Terminal Island plant. 

 Such a system can handle about 15 tons per ho\ir. 



Most of the plants on Terminal Island are located across a road- 

 way from the unloading docks making the use of continuous sluiceways 

 for conveying the fish to the jplants inconvenient. A majority of these 

 plants make use of three-wheol metal carts holding around IjOOO to 

 1,400 pounds of tuna. These cart,s are lowered into the hold of the 

 vessel, filled with tuna, and then lifted by boom, or in some cases, 

 by overhead trolley v,lth chain lift on to the dock. Otherwise, a 

 large bucket, usually with a hinged bottom, is loaded with fish in 

 the hold and dumped into the cart on the dock. The cart is then wheeled 

 over a floor level weighing scale and into the cannery. This method, 

 although requiring a little more labor than the 3].ulcing method, is 

 reasonably efficient, 



288 



