144. U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
run to run in a multiapron drier. Cooked fish, especially when hot, 
can not be treated in this way. The fall would cause serious breakage, 
and shifting of the fish about on the wire screening would cause 
excessive breaking and marring of the skins. Cooked fish should 
remain on the flake until removed, one by one, for packing. 
In order to prevent breakage, California pilchards should be 
placed on the flake so as not to touch each other. Breakage due to 
the fish sticking to the flake will not be serious, except with very lean 
fish. 'Toughening the skins by drying before cooking prevents lean 
fish from sticking but does little good with fat fish. This procedure, 
therefore, is not recommended unless large quantities of lean fish are 
to be prepared. In this case the skins should be toughened by 
drying in the same way as for frying in oil. A small drier for doing 
this could be placed so as to empty dried fish into the machine for 
spreading, as described in a later section. In any case the flakes 
should be kept clean, as this helps prevent sticking. Oilimg the flake 
lightly with a cheap heat-and-oxygen-resisting oil, such as coconut 
oil or a hydrogenated oil, will be particularly helpful, too, when 
sticking does become troublesome. 
Only with fish for very fancy packs need extra precautions be taken 
in handling Maine herring. The flaking machine spreads the fish 
evenly enough if operated correctly. 
Cooling.—The coolest outdoor air obtainable should be used for 
cooling the fish, and it should be blown over them at as high a velocity 
as possible (2,000 to 2,200 feet per minute, at least), just as in cooking, 
so as to get the maximum heat transfer from the fish to the air." If 
the fish are cooled to about 80°, they can be handled without difficulty. 
During the sardine season in Monterey and San Pedro the temperature 
of outdoor air seldom rises this high. With high-velocity air at 80°, 
large ‘‘ovals”’ can be cooled to about 80° in 15 minutes. Along the 
coast of Maine out-of-door air is almost always cool. 
EQUIPMENT RECOMMENDED FOR PREPARING AND HANDLING POUND-OVAL FISH 
The frying-in-oil process is not a continuous one. As carried out 
in California, the fried fish are kept overnight to cool and drain. 
Much labor is expended in handling the fish as frequently as they 
must be handled, and excessive floor space is required for storing 
them overnight. A real saving in cost of production can be effected 
through the use of such equipment as will handle the fish continu- 
ously, from brine tanks to the cans, and thus complete the process in 
a short time and with little expenditure of labor. The equipment for 
carrying out the new process, illustrated in Figure 29 and described 
below, will accomplish these ends if operated as recommended. 
The equipment and plan of operation are described here as applied 
to the handling of California pound-oval fish. The handling of 
quarter-oil fish and the use of other equipment and plans of operation, 
both for quarter-oil and pound-oval fish, are taken up later. 
These discussions on equipment endeavor only to outline practical 
ways of carrying out the process. Any canner who puts in equipment 
should cooperate with well-qualified drying engineers in doing so, for 

60 This procedure is described on pp. 125 to 129, 
6 It will not pay to cool air for this purpose by refrigeration, but in commercial pré actice ountitions might 
arise which would make it practicable to cool the air by humidifying it with a spray of sea water or by 
passing it over coils through which sea water is circulated, 
