MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 9 



passed through tanks containing very weak pickle. If they have 

 not been sufficiently pickled during transportation, they are held in 

 tanks filled with strong brine for from one to two hours. 



FLAKING. 



In a few canneries the fish are beheaded as soon as they are taken 

 from the boats, but, as a rule, the whole salted fish are bailed from 

 the pickling tank into the receiving trough of the flaking machine. 

 The traveling apron of the machine (PI. V, fig. 1) extends from the 

 floor above into the pickling room below. Carried along by the 

 traveling apron to this machine, the sardines are distributed, more 

 or less evenly, depending upon the manner in which the machine 

 is operated, on the flakes, square or rectangular wire frames, about 

 3 by 1 1 feet', securely bound around the edge with a 1-inch galva- 

 nized metal band (PI. V, fig. 2) . Several of the canneries putting out 

 a superior quality of sardines distribute, or flake, the fish by hand, 

 thus securing a very even distribution on the flakes, a most impor- 

 tant factor in the production of quality in the pack. The flakes carry 

 the fish through the rest of the canning process until they are ready 

 to be placed in the cans. 



STEAMING. 



From the flaking machine, the flakes are passed, on racks mounted 

 on wheels, or, in a few cases, suspended from a track on the ceiling, 

 to the steam chest. Here the fish are subjected to treatment with 

 live steam for from 10 to 15 minutes. 



DRYING. 



The racks containing the steamed flaked fish are next taken to the 

 drying chamber, where they are brought to the proper degree of 

 dryness by one of several methods. Three types of driers are in 

 use at the present time: The tunnel or "air" drier; the kiln or 

 "oven" drier; and a combination of the kiln drier with a "Ferris 

 wheel." In the tunnel drier, which method has practically super- 

 seded the once pooular Ferris wheel device (29), as well as the old- 

 fashioned kiln drier, the air, heated by being passed over steam 

 coils, or by waste flue gases, is blown or drawn over the racks of fish. 

 Where the kiln drier or Ferris wheel drier is still in use a glowing 

 bed of anthracite coal supplies the heat. 



FRYING IN OIL. 



In canneries where the sardines are fried in oil, the fish, after 

 having been flaked, either by hand or by a well-operated machine, 

 are dried in the usual manner, without, however, having been put 

 through the steam chest, transferred to frying baskets which are 

 immersed in hot oil, cooked, cooled, and packed in cans (PI. VI, 

 fig. 1). From this point the procedure is the same as for the steamed 

 fish. 



