158 U. &. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
load and unload the cooker, 1 to supply with flakes the conveyer 
leading to the packing tables, 1 to remove empty flakes from the con- 
veyer, and 1 to move trucks and flakes about. The 2 men on the 
flaking machine will spend about half their time for this purpose, too. 
This totals (exclusive of the operator) 6 men. At 35 cents per man 
per hour, this amounts to $2.10, or 2.8 cents per case for preparing 
“round” fish and 2.1 cents for “cut”’ fish. 
To prepare the same quantity of fish by the steaming process 
requires 1 operator, 1 man to feed flakes to the flaker, another to 
remove them and place them in trucks, 1 man to move the trucks 
in and out of the steam chest, 2 to handle the trucks through the 
dryer, 1 to supply the conveyer leading to the packing tables with 
flakes, 1 to remove empty flakes from the conveyer, and 1 to move 
trucks and flakes about. The 2 men on the flaking machine will 
spend about half their time for this purpose also. This totals 
(exclusive of the operator) 8 men. At 385 cents per hour per man, 
this amounts to $2.80, or 3.7 cents per case for “round”’ fish and 
2.8 cents for preparing “‘cut”’ fish. 
If continuous cooking and cooling equipment to handle single 
flakes were used, 6 men less than are necessary in the steaming process 
would be required. This would be a saving in labor of 2.8 cents per 
case in preparing ‘‘round”’ fish and 2.1 cents in preparing ‘“‘cut” 
sh. 
Equipment.—A unit that employs trucks to cook 3 hogsheads of 
“‘round”’ fish per hour is estimated to cost about $9,000 to $12,000, 
including trucks, drip pans, and flakes. 
The discussion on page 156, in regard to the estimate given there, 
also applies here. 
It is estimated that steam chests, a drier, trucks, and flakes for 
steaming the fish, including boiler capacity in excess of other require- 
ments, will cost about $6,000 to $8,000 if furnished by equipment 
manufacturers. 
Less floor space will be required for the new process.® The space 
now required for steaming the fish can be saved. 
Discussion.—Although the estimates given are only approxima- 
tions, it is believed that they are liberal ones, being high for the new 
process and low for the steaming process. 
Production-cost items discussed above total 9.5 cents for preparing 
“round” fish by the new process and 6.6 cents for steaming, if oil 
is used for fuel, giving a difference of 2.8 cents per case in favor of 
the old process. For preparing ‘‘cut”’ fish the totals are 7.4 cents 
for the new and 5 cents for the old, a difference of 2.4 cents in favor 
of the old process. Continuous cooking and cooling would make 
costs about equal. 
The savings effected by the new process over frying in oil will be 
considerable. It costs at least 20 to 30 cents per case for frying in 
oul in preparing quarter-oil fish, and then results are not satisfactory. 
One canner stated that his oil cost was about 35 cents per case, and 
yet he did not consider that he changed his oil as often as necessary. 
For smoked fish there should be a marked saving over present 
practices. It will cost much less than 1 cent per case extra to smoke 
fish by the new process. The old method requires special equipment 
for doing this and the process is a slow one. 




6§ For details in regard to approximate space required, see p. 223, 
