174 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



formed of strong wooden slats, bound and lined with heavy iron. These 

 are rolled under a solid, stationary head, fitting closely the inside of the 

 curb, and against which the fish are pressed, as the curb is slowly but 

 powerfully raised by a hydraulic press. The oil and the water absorbed 

 by the fish in boiling are pressed out through the slats and carried by 

 leaders to the tanks in the shed by the side of the factor^', where the oil- 

 man skims, boils, and otherwise prepares it for barreling. As soon as 

 the pressure is taken oft, the curb slowly resumes its position on the 

 railway, and is iDushed to where a man stands ready to remove the 

 cheese as it falls from the curb, upon the opening of its hinged bottom. 

 This cheese or scrap-cake is ground to different degrees of fineness, ta 

 form the fish guano. This substance, being rich in ammonia-producing 

 material, is used by some manufacturers of fertilizers to supply ammo- 

 nia to phosphates that are deficient in that constituent." 



The model of a factory in the National Museum. 



245. A complete model of the oil-factory of Joseph Church & Co., at 

 Kound Pond, Me., was exhibited in the Department of Fisheries in the 

 United States Government building at the Philadelphia Exhibition. 

 It is now deposited in the United States National Museum. 



The cost of an oil factory. 



246. The larger part of the cost of an oil factory consists in the ma- 

 chinery, as the buildings are always of wood, substantial but cheap. 

 The amount invested in factories by different manufacturers appears to 

 range from $2,000 to $05,000. The average amount invested in the 

 fourteen factories of the Maine Association is $22,600, but the general 

 average will not probably exceed $12,000 or $15,000. 



Mr. Church, of Tiverton, E. I., speaking of the establishments on 

 Narragansett Bay, remarks that a factory ready for business, including 

 buildings, tanks, boilers, hydraulic presses, oil-room, &c., of a capacity 

 to cook and press 800 barrels (200,000) in a day, costs not far from 

 $14,000. A hydraulic press costs about $1,200 ; in 1877, $700. 



Mr. Miles, of Milford, Conn., states that boilers cost from $2,000 to 

 $4,000, hydraulic presses with curbs and fixtures $2,000; engines, pumps, 

 shafting, and pulleys, together with the necessary buildings, bring the 

 cost of the factory to from $10,000 to $50,000. 



Capt. B. n. Sisson, of Greenport, N. Y., estimates the cost of boilers, 

 engine, i)iping, hydraulic press worked by steam, steam drying ma- 

 chines, and steam hoisting apparatus, to cost from $10,000 to $25,000 

 for each factory. 



Mr. Dudley states that a factory running three or four gangs of fisher- 

 men costs from $20,000 to $30,000. 



The capital invested in the factory is one-half of the whole amount. 

 The fourteen establishments of the Maine Association had in 1874 

 $316,000 in buildings and machinery and $390,000 in "gear"; that is, 



