10 BULLETIN 908, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
FILLING THE CANS. 
From the driers, the racks are taken to the packing room, where 
women first remove the heads of the fish by cutting with scissors 
(‘‘shearing’’), or, if the sardines are small, by snipping them off with 
the fingers (‘“‘snipping’”’). The fish are then packed in the cans. 
In most canneries the filled cans are placed in rectangular pans, with 
a capacity of 25 cans each, the pans being then stacked in tiers and 
carried on trucks to the sealing machine. In others the cans are 
passed directly to a traveling belt. which carries them to the oiling 
and sealing machines. 
ADDING THE OIL. 
In plants where the oiling device is not attached to the sealing 
machine the cans are taken from the packing room to an automatic 
machine (PI. VI, fig. 2), which can be set to deliver a definite amount 
of oil to each can. Twenty-five cans may be filled with oil each time 
a pan containing this number passes through it. Similar oiling 
machines are sometimes operated by a hand lever. : 
In many canneries, however, the oiling device is attached to the 
sealing machine, making it possible to accomplish these two steps 
in one operation. 
SEALING THE CANS. 
At the sealing machine the covers are placed on the cans filled with 
sardines and oi! and passed through the rolls. Three different types 
of machines are in use for closing sardine cans. The machines in 
most general use are equipped with rolls which travel around the 
projecting edges of the can and the lid as it fitS over the can, crimping 
the edges of the can and the lid together and at the same time com- 
pressing them (Pl. VII, fig. 1). Another type of machine seals the 
lid on by direct compression. The can is held firmly between jaws 
which close together, crimping the lid upon the cans (Pl. VII, fig. 2). 
The third method hermetically seals the cans by the use of solder, 
which is placed upon the edge of the can. The lid and can are then 
passed, by means of a mechanical device, under heated rolls. 
PROCESSING OR STERILIZATION. 
The sealed cans are processed in tanks of boiling water for one 
and three-fourths to two and one-fourth, sometimes two and one- 
half, hours, according to the individual packer’s idea of the time 
necessary for sterilization. One or two canneries employ retorts for 
sterilization. ‘These are cast-iron cylindrical or rectangular steam- 
heated kettles with tightly fitting covers or doors, the contents of 
which can be heated under pressure. 
STORING THE CANS. 
After processing the cans are removed from the tanks, dried, and 
partially cleaned (PI. VIII, fig. 1) by mixing them with sawdust and 
