42 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 
coupling serving as the bearing for the shaft. To make the fan tum 
easier, an iron washer was sunk into the frame, and the coupling revolved 
in this. When the fan was in position, the blades were about six inches 
from the bottom and about the same distance from the side of the bag. 
An 8-inch galvanized sheave (Z, diagram) was put on the upper end of 
the shaft and fastened with a set-screw. A belt from the main power 
shaft on one of the pontoons to this wheel transmitted the power for re- 
volving the fan. The speed needed to be sufficient to lift all the fry and 
the excess food from the bottom of the net, but not great enough to hurl 
the young lobsters against its sides. It was found that the strength of the 
current could easily be controlled by changing the angle of the blades. 
“The power for rotating the fans was supplied by a Fairbanks and Morse 
gasoline engine of 2% H. P., which was placed in one of the houses of the 
house-boat and connected by a belt with a large driving-wheel on the main 
power-shaft (see diagram). This shaft was set up on the deck of one 
pontoon and extended the length of the well. At intervals on the shaft, 
corresponding to the positions of the fans, small 3!-inch wheels were 
fastened with set-screws. Each of these wheels was connected with the 
driving-wheel of the fan by a rope belt (see diagram). 
“The most troublesome part of the mechanism was the belting. All the 
machinery, excepting the engine, was exposed to the weather. No belting 
was found that would stand the weather and not stretch and shrink, but 
finally a loose-laid inch rope, called ‘Russia purse-line,” 
this seemed to be less easily affected by dampness than any other. The 
annoyance caused by the slacking and shrinking of the belts was lessened 
in two ways. A belt could be lengthened or shortened several inches by 
moving the sheave up or down on the shaft of the fan. When this was 
not sufficient, the belts were run over spools, which were fastened to the 
was used, as 
supporting posts and which acted as third pulleys. 
“The fans revolved at the rate of 15-20 turns per minute, and produced 
a current which took all the material from the bottom, and still allowed a 
comparatively uniform distribution of fry in the upper part of the bag. 
Undoubtedly a smaller engine would have turned the twelve fans without 
difficulty. 
“From the foregoing, it is readily seen that the apparatus is simple in 
construction, and that it would be neither difficult nor expensive to adapt 
or construct similar apparatus for economic lobster-culture.”’ 
