Fearnow. — Fish Distribution. 167 



of from 4 to 6 containers and forced into the water through 

 plugs of porous wood, preferably American Linden. 



Recently there was installed on Car No. 8 a Worthington 

 feather-valve air compressor operated by a 14 H.P. electri- 

 cally-driven motor connected with the storage batteries 

 used for lighting the car. This device furnishes a sufficient 

 amount of free air to aerate the water in from 200 to 300 

 pails and has been used continuously for 14 hours without 

 producing any apparent deterioration in the batteries 

 which have a capacity of 375 ampere hours. As train line 

 air is available when the car is in motion, the electrically 

 driven compressor meets all requirements while loading 

 the car and during layovers at junction points, making it 

 unnecessary to use the steam boiler. 



AIR LIBERATING PLUGS 



The wooden plug which has been employed for liberating 

 air in fish containers has a number of disadvantages when 

 used in connection with modern equipment. In recent years 

 it has been difficult to obtain wood of the same degree of 

 porousness so that all plugs will liberate the same amount 

 of air. If for any reason the air pressure is shut off for a 

 time the wooden plug absorbs water to the extent that it 

 fails to liberate air when the pressure comes on again. Un- 

 der such circumstances it is necessary to go over the entire 

 load of fish as rapidly as possible and regulate the amount 

 of air in each pail. It is needless to state that the plugs 

 when they become dry contract and this makes it necessary 

 to completely overhaul the equipment after each trip. 



ALUMINUM PLUG 



An aluminum plug for use in equalizing the air either in 

 the pet cock which leads to the air distributor or in the out- 

 lets of the air distributors, was recently devised, and super- 

 cedes the wooden plug. The plug is made of aluminum rod 

 and threaded to fit into the air pipe. It has a 1/32-inch tube 

 drilled through it longitudinally and two 1/32-inch holes 

 are drilled through it transversely near each end and inter- 

 secting with the tube in the center, which allows 5 openings 

 on each end of the plug. With this arrangement there is 

 little difficulty in maintaining an even air pressure in the air 

 distributors and containers even though one or more of the 

 distributors is disconnected. 



