10 BULLETIN 150, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



large force of skilled and high-waged dressers. Fish are by no 

 means uniform nor rigid objects; therefore no machine can be ex- 

 pected to adapt itself to the variation in size and the manner in 

 which they pass through the machine. As the fish are not dressed 

 uniformly by the machine, they subsequently must be passed under 

 the knives of the " slimers," laborers whose duty it is to finish the 

 work left incomplete by the machine. As the number of these about 

 equals the number of "butchers" which would be required if the 

 dressing were done altogether by hand, there is not the economy in 

 labor resulting from the use of the mechanical cleaner that would 

 be expected. The fact that much less skill is required of " slimers " 

 than of "butchers," however, is an item greatly in favor of the use 

 of the mechanical cleaner. 



CUTTING. 



After being thoroughly cleaned, the fish are cut into pieces of con- 

 venient size for filling the cans. A mechanical cutter of simple 

 design has been adopted for this purpose. It consists essentially of 

 a short conveyor which is made to revolve over bearings in such a 

 way as to describe an ellipse. Blocks of wood are placed at inter- 

 vals to carry the fish. At the apex of the ellipse revolving knives 

 are placed. These revolve in horizontal slits in the conveyor and 

 blocks. As the blocks start on their upward course the fish are 

 placed upon them by hand and are carried through the knives. The 

 distance between the knives is such that the fish are cut into sections 

 of the proper length to fill cans of the size for which they are 

 intended. 



FILLING THE CANS. 



Cans designed to hold a pound of fish are filled usually by a ma- 

 chine which, by means of a plunger, thrusts into the can pieces of 

 salmon already cut to the right length and trims off that which pro- 

 jects. As the thrust of the plunger is uniform, the machine is able 

 to load the cans w T ith a nearly exactly uniform weight of fish, and 

 works rapidly. Less than a second is required in filling a can. From 

 the filler the cans are passed along a table, where they are inspected 

 for short weight. Smaller cans are filled by hand. Their shallow- 

 ness makes them less adapted to the filling machine, as they do not 

 retain their charge of fish so readily. 



After filling, it remains to cap the cans or put the lids on, cook the 

 contained fish, seal, clean, and label. The canning process involving 

 the use of soldered cans has been supplanted almost entirely by 

 that based on the use of the solderless or so-called " sanitary " can. 

 The latter process, being almost entirely automatic, effects a great 

 saving in labor as well as floor space, and is commendable from both 

 a mechanical and a sanitary point of view. 



