PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 119 



REPAIRING CANS. 



Imperfect cans which are discovered after cooking and are repaired 

 at once and whose contents are recooked are stUl very good, the only 

 difficuUy being that by blowing or venting them a second time they 

 lose weight. The above goods usually go in with the regular pack 

 of their kind and are not classed as regular ''do-overs." The latter 

 were generally defective cans, which, owing to pressure of other work, 

 could not be repaired until considerable tnne had elapsed, by which 

 time decomposition had set in. The cans which can not be repaired 

 immediately are now thrown onto the cannery dump. 



On coming from the retort the coolers are lowered into a bath 

 of lye, or, as in some canneries, the cans are run through such a 

 bath on an endless beh, which, with the aid of a slight rinsing and a 

 few rubs with a brush over the top, removes from the can all the 

 grease and other material. The belt then passes them into another 

 bath where the lye is washed off in hot fresh water. The cans then 

 go to the cooling room, where a stream of water is played upon th(>m, 

 or during rainy weather are placed out of doors upon the wharf, and 

 there allowed to cool, in order to stop the heat inside the can from 

 continuing to cook the fish. In some canneries the lye bath before 

 cooling is dispensed with, as the earlier washings are supposed to 

 have cleaned the cans. 



The top and bottom of the cans contract in cooling, and for several 

 hours a snarp popping noise is heard. Here, as in nearly every proc- 

 ess through which they pass, the cans are again tested, this time by 

 tapping tne tops with a small piece of iron about 6 inches lon^, or, 

 sometimes, a r2-penny nail. The sound conveys to the ear of the 

 tester an unmistakable meaning iis to the condition of the can, and 

 the faulty cans that escape notice during the other tests are almost 

 invariably found in this one. 



LACQUERING. 



A common custom in the salmon-canning industry, but one 

 that is not common in the caiming of vegetables, fruits, etc., is that 

 of lacquering the cans. This idea of protecting the can on the 

 outside has been followed from the very oeginning, for two reasons: 

 (1) That the English market which, at that time especially, absorbed 

 the gr<'ater part of these goods insisted on their shipments being 

 finished in this way, and (2) from the fact, as these canners speculiiy 

 found out, that if they did not protect their cans in some way enor- 

 mous losses through rust would ensue. 



The first experiment of this nature was to paint th(^ cans by hand 

 with red paint, treating each singly. Next a composition of logwood 

 extract and alcohol was tried, which, however, did not produce satis- 

 factory results for a very plain reason — the can was dyed instead of 

 being lacquered. The next attempt was to varnish the cans with a 

 japan varnish reduced with alcohol, but this was found to dry too 

 sl(Avly f(»r speedy handling. After extended experimentation tli" 

 quick-drying brown lacquer of the present time was evolved, which 

 carri<'s asphaltum in the form of an asphalt varnish as its base, this 

 being sup[)lant<!d in som<' cas<'s by gilsonite. This lacquer can be j)ro- 

 « ured in either a heavy or light body, is generally reduced with ben- 



