PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
511 
hopper and forced or fed by a plunger into a mold corresponding in size to the can. 
A knife then cuts off the mass, and another plunger forces the mass of fish from the 
mold into the can, which is then removed and sealed. The principal objection to 
this is that the portion of fish is not properly shaped to fit the can, being left flat on 
one side and great pressure has to be exerted to force the fish into the mold. 
During the same year an improvement on this process was invented * by Robert 
D. nume, the well known salmon-canner of the Pacific coast. This improvement 
consists in the employment of a carrying belt operated by an automatic pawl and 
ratchet, whereby the material is carried forward into a chute, through which it is led 
into a shaiiing and compressing cylinder. In combination with this chute there is 
employed a pair of slim cylindrical shearing knives, arranged to rotate about a longi- 
tudinal axis, one within the other, in concentric circles, which cut the material to 
the exact cylindrical shape necessary to fill the can without unequal compression. 
Numerous other can-filling machines have been invented, for a description of 
which see the following letters patent : 
Patent 
]sro. 
Date. 
In favor of— 
Patent 
Xo. 
Date. 
In favor of— 
259442 
262575 
291799 
297549 
301897 
304063 
306658 
June 13, 1882 
Aug. 15, 1882 
Jan. 8,1884 
Apr. 29, 1884 
July 15, 1884 
Aug. 26, 1884 
Oct. 14,1884 
Wm. West, Keene, Canada, 
Augustine Crosby, Benton, Me. 
J. Stevens, AVoodstown, K. J. 
Geo. Ackermann, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Edmund Jord,an, Brooklyn, X. T. 
Voluey Barker, I’oi'tlaud, Me. 
J. Stevens, AVoodstown, X. J. 
356122 
358498 
360541 
361177 
372876 
373306 
Jan. 18, 1887 
Mar. 1,1887 
Apr. 5,1887 
Apr. 12, 1887 
Xov, 8,1887 
Xov. 15, 1887 
John B. Hodapp, Mankato, Minn. 
H. K. Stickney, Portland, Me. 
Do. 
G. L. Merrill. Syr.acuse, X. Y. 
H. K. Stickney, Portland, Me. 
D. D. Ranney, Levvistown, 111. 
The preservation of foods by the canning process has now become one of the 
world’s great industries, it being applied to alimentary substances of almost every 
description, and the product is of enormous extent. It was early used in the preserva- 
tion of sardines, lobsters, etc. In 1824 John Moir & Son, of Aberdeen, Scotland, began 
the canning of salmon, game, and other meats. 
Canning was first employed on the American continent by Charles Mitchell, at 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1841, and in 1842 by II. S. Treat atEastport, Me. The canning 
of oysters was commenced about 1844; Pacific coast salmon were canned first in 18G6, 
and the preparation of sardines in this country dates from 1875. Yet at present the 
total value of the domestic output of these three products as canned approximates 
$15,000,000 annually. 
There are five general classes of canned marine products — viz, (1) plain-boiled, 
steamed, or otherwise cooked; (2) preserved in oil; (3) prepared with vinegar, sauces, 
spices, jellies, etc.; (4) cooked with vegetables, etc., and (5) preserved by some other 
process, but placed in cans for convenience of marketing. 
The first class includes salmon, mackerel, herring, menhaden, cod, halibut, smelt, 
oysters, clams, lobsters, crabs, shrimi), green turtle, etc. 
Sardines almost exclusively make up the second class. 
The third class includes various forms of herring prepared as “ brook trout,” 
‘‘ocean trout,” etc., mackerel, eels, sturgeon, oysters, lobsters, crabs, etc. 
The fourth class comprises fish chowder, clam chowder, codfish balls, green-turtle 
stew, terrapin stew, and deviled crabs. 
The fifth class is made up of (a) smoked herring, halibut, haddock, carp, pickerel, 
lake trout, salmon, eels, sturgeon, etc., and (6) brine-salted mackerel, cod, and caviar. 
* Letters Patent No. 233449, dated October 19, 1880. 
