

CANNING SARDINES 149 
that has been warmed in one line does not mix with the cooler air in 
the next. 
The air that has been warmed by passing over the first line or 
two of flakes in the cooler can be used for intake air for the furnace. 
Some heat can be recovered in this way. 
Packing.—So far as I am able to discover, sardines have not yet 
been packed from moving flakes. I see no important reason why 
this could not be done, especially with fish for the pound-oval pack. 
Packers could be placed alongside the moving flakes, each having a 
small platform a little above the flakes for holding the can to be 
packed, or the boards that cover moving parts on each side of the 
flakes could be used for this purpose. Fish could be selected from 
those in front of the packer in the same way that they are selected 
from a stationary flake. Conveyers for empty and full cans could 
be placed over the moving flakes on a higher level than the packing 
platform. These details will have to be worked out for each instal- 
lation, to fit the plant and the general ideas of those in charge. 
It will be argued that the first packers will pick out all the big fish 
when they are paid for piecework. This is true, but this tendency can 
be controlled to a great extent by proper supervision. When the fish 
are badly mixed, however, they usually are packed according to size in 
order to enable the canner to furnish packs containing a definite 
number of fish per can. The system of packing recommended here 
will aid in doing this, as certain packers can pack fish of a given size. 
At the end of the packing line one or two packers will be needed to 
care for any inequalities in the amount of fish that comes through from 
time to time. Since they will be idle part of the time, they must 
work on a time basis. 
In planning the packing line about 6 to 10 feet of free space should 
be left between the end of the cooler and the first packer for removing 
and replacing flakes. Each packer will require about 2 feet of space 
and will, on the average, pack about 414 cases of ‘“‘oval”’ fish per hour. 
The surface of the flakes should be about 32 inches off the floor. 
Flakes 30 by 30 inches should be used. It will not inconvenience 
a packer to reach to the middle of a flake of this size, even if 4 to 6 
inches between the packer and the edge of the flake is taken up by the 
conveying system. A flake of this size is handled easily, too, when off 
the conveyer. A larger flake offers an important advantage—if it 
could be used it would lower equipment costs. 
Should packing from moving flakes prove unsatisfactory to any 
canner, or should he prefer in the first place to have the fish packed 
from stationary flakes, this can be done as follows: Over the line of 
moving flakes, for the distance used by the packers, there can be 
placed a conveyer system similar to that used in California and Maine 
for keeping the packers supplied with baskets or flakes of fish and for 
carrying away the empty containers. (See fig. 25.) The packers can 
be placed at tables on both sides of the conveyer, just as at present. 
When a packer needs a flake of fish, she will take it from the conveyer 
C (or at A, if possible), which carries it to the end of the conveyer at 
D. At Dan operator places the flakes that were not removed from A 
on the conveyer B. At the point D, too, the empty flakes are returned 
to the flake carriers. The conveyer B is so designed as to move the 
flakes forward only as rapidly as they are removed. This kind of 
a conveyer is in regular use in California and in Maine. Conveyer A 
