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 hoppeiiike 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, i 
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 usual by 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 
