PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 521 



The filling machine consists of a chute with a belt to which are 

 attached wire racks about 4 inches apart, set at an angle to prevent 

 the salt from spilling out, into which the salted cans are fed from the 

 floor above and pass into the machine. At the same time the divided 

 sections of salmon pass down another chute into the mouth of what 

 looks lilce a hand coffee mill. They pass through here down a smaller 

 chute and are forced by two dogs into a receptacle through which 

 the plunger, or filler, passes. Here the plunger comes opposite the 

 open mouth of the empty can, which when it reaches this point is 

 caught by a clasp or hook and held in front of the plunger, which is 

 immediately thi'ust forward through a chamber filled with salmon, 

 cutting the fish longitudinally and at the same time filling the can. 

 The next movement forces the can out upon a table. When running 

 at full speed, one of these machines will fill about 80 cans a minute. 



On being released by the clamp and roUmg upon the table they 

 are righted by a workman and pushed onto an endless belt, upon 

 which they pass into the weighing machine. If of the proper weight, 

 they pass through this machine, but if below the required weight 

 the cans are shunted to one side, where workers add the quantity of 

 fish needed, a supply of small bits being kept at hand for this pur- 

 pose. Generally the cans overrun in weight, frequently as much as 

 2 or 3 ounces. Occasionally a can is weighed on a small balance 

 scales in order to see that the machine is in perfect adjustment. 



After passing the weighmg machine any bones and scraps of flesh 

 which may be sticking up out of the can are clipped away by workers 

 armed with scissors. 



In the hand method the fillers stand on each side of a long table 

 with a trough running down the middle from end to end. This is 

 filled with the cut pieces of salmon, and the fillers, usually women 

 and children, put large pieces into the cans at first and then smaller 

 pieces to occupy the vacant spaces. 



From the weighing machine the cans pass to the clinching machine, 

 which attaches the top of the can loosely to the body in such a way 

 that it allows the air in the can to escape, yet prevents the fish from 

 coming in direct contact with the steam of the exhaust box. Also 

 the water resulting from the condensation of steam, which accumu- 

 lates in the exhaust box, is kept from entering the can and thus 

 bleaching the flesh. 



In many plants the cans are washed by jets of water or steam 

 directed against them in a closed box as they are passing from the 

 clincher to the exhaust box. 



The cans then pass into a steam exhauster, consisting in one type 

 of a box about 30 feet in length, in which are three endless-chain belts 

 running side by side. Under and over each belt are steam coils, and 

 under each of the lower coils are single pipes, which through small 

 holes throw jets of live steam upon the coils, creating an intense heat. 

 The cans pass along the first belt, are then transferred to the second 

 belt, on which they return to the entrance of the box, whence they 

 pass to the third belt, and continuing along this to the end pass out 

 to the double seamer, the whole operation occupying from -5 to 15 

 minutes, preferably 15. One style of exhauster has 10 ovals formed 

 by the pipe, and the cans pass along these from side to side of the 

 exhauster until discharged at the far end. Another type is formed 

 of a long tube through which the cans pass and are heated by per- 



