260 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



primitive methods of work. In one of them a fire is made under fonr 

 cast-iron stationary boiling vats liolding about 2 barrels of fish eacli. 

 By means of a trough leading from a pump, water is permitted to run 

 into the vats. After suificient cooking, the fish are scooiDed out with 

 large dip nets and init on a platform, whence thej^ are pitched into 

 tub presses having a lining of coarse canvas. By means of a vertical 

 screw operated by a horizontal lever, pressure is api)lied to the mass, 

 and the exuding oil runs through a trough to tlie oil vats. Another 

 Chesapeake factory has six iron cooking- vats, in which are suspended 

 an equal number of iron latticed baskets containing the fish. After 

 cooking, the baskets are transferred by means of a crane and the fish 

 placed in an hydraulic press. This method of cooking was formerly 

 in general use all along the coast frequented by the menhaden. 



In the best-equipped factories the fish are removed from the liold 

 of the steamer, where they have been stowed in bulk, bj^ means of a 

 bucket elevator. This conti-ivance, so important in the liandling of 

 grain and coal, was not introduced in the menhaden business until 

 1890, when a factory at Tiverton, R. I., was equipped with one. At 

 present, however, they are in use in all the principal factories. 

 Before their adoption the fish were shoveled into measuring tubs in 

 the vessel's hold, and these raised and dumped in elevated receiving- 

 bins, or into cars holding 15 or 20 barrels each and running on Inclined 

 tramways to the receiving bins, requiring five or six hours to dis 

 charge 1,000 barrels. By using the bucket elevator, with four men to 

 feed it, 1,000 barrels of fish ma}^ easily be discharged in an hour. 

 This decrease in length of time required for discharging is frequently 

 a matter of great importance when fish are abundant, as it enables 

 the steamers to si^eedily return to the fishing-grounds. 



The elevator dumj)S the fish into one of a pair of automatic weighing- 

 hoppers, with a dial-scale indicator of 1-ton capacity. When the 

 required weight is in the hopper, by means of 'a lever the incoming 

 fish are directed into the other hopj)er, and the bottom of the full one 

 is dropped, thus dumping its contents into a conveyor, which deposits 

 the fish into a receiving bin with capacitj^ of 6,000 or 8,000 barrels. 



The Aveigliing of the fish is necessary to secui-e a record of the 

 quantitj'' received, furnishing a basis for compensating the captains 

 of the vessels, and for other jDurposes. It thus appears that this 

 method of discharging clianges the standard of measurement from 

 bulk to weight. Although it is customary to reckon the quantity of 

 menhaden by so many thousand, the fish are not counted. An arbi- 

 trary size of 22 cubic inches is the standard measurement for each 

 fish, or 22,000 cubic inches to the thousand. Two liundied pounds 

 represent one barrel, and 3^ barrels represent 1,000 fish. The size 

 of the fish varies considerabl}^, and the actual number required to 

 make " one thousand " in measure ranges from 500 to 2,000 in number. 



The floor of the large receiving bin slants towai-d the longitudinal 



