﻿FISH-SCRAP FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF ATLANTIC COAST. 27 



and about 2 feet in diameter, through which the fish are passed by 

 means of a screw conveyor, being subjected the while to the cooking 

 action of steam. These usually are constructed for a Capacity of 

 100,000 fish per hour and may be purchased at a cost of about $1,200. 



There are several forms of this apparatus, differing from each 

 other principally in the manner in which the steam is admitted to 

 the cylinder. Thus, it may be admitted through perforations in the 

 hollow shaft of the screw conveyer; the blades of the conveyer may 

 be displaced by sections of iron pipe, arranged screwwise around the 

 axis, through perforations in which the steam may enter the cham- 

 ber: or it may be admitted through numerous pipes projecting 

 through the casing along its bottom. The second and third, methods 

 mentioned are regarded by the operators as more efficient, as they 

 admit the steam within the mass of fish, instead of above it, and thus 

 effect more thorough and uniform cooking. 



The fish are conveyed automatically from the storage bins and 

 are dumped continuously into the hopperlike mouth of the cooker. 

 This, in certain forms, is provided with a special device for regulat- 

 ing and assisting the feeding. The cooked fish, together with the 

 water and oil cooked from them and the water resulting from the 

 condensed steam, are passed from the end of the cooker into the 

 buckets of a conveyer and are transported to the presses. 



PRESSING (NEW METHOD). 



The modern power press employed in the fish-scrap industry has 

 the shape of a truncated cone placed in a horizontal position. It is 

 essentially a curb constructed of iron, with slatted sides. Through 

 its center passes a horizontal shaft on which is built up a screw, 

 tapered to fit closely inside the cone-shaped curb. The rotation 

 of the screw carries the fish forward into the smaller end of the 

 curb, and as the material can not rotate with the screw or slip on the 

 curb it is subjected to pressure. By adjusting the size of the open- 

 ing in the smaller end. through which the expressed material is 

 ejected, the pressure on the mass may be increased or decreased. The 

 pressure is gradual, increasing from the larger end toward the 

 smaller. The water and oil are squeezed out between the slats and are 

 caught by the metal shield surrounding the press and are conducted 

 thence into pipes leading to the oil room. 



The mouth of the press is hopper shaped. The fish are fed into 

 this by a mechanical conveyer. In some forms of the press a chopper 

 is placed in the mouth to reduce the size of the pieces of fish enter- 

 ing. From the smaller end of the press the fish scrap usually is 

 allowed to fall into the buckets of a conveyer. 



One hundred pounds of the mass coming from the cookers contains 

 22 pounds of fish and 78 pounds of water. In the press 56 pounds is 



