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 u slimers " 
than of " butchers," however, is an item greatly in favor of the use 
of the mechanical cleaner. 
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 with 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. 
