PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
371 
the frozen-fish business requires that any attempt to freeze fisli already slightly 
tainted should be discountenanced. When properly frozen and held for a reasonable 
period, the natural flavor of fish is not seriously affected and the market value approxi- 
mates that of fish freshly caught. The process is of very great value to the fishermen 
supplying the fresh-fish trade, since it prevents a glut on the market, and it is also of 
benefit to the consumer in enabling him to obtain almost any variety of fish in an 
approximately fresh condition throughout the year. 
DEVELOPMENT OF COLD STORAGE. 
The first practical device for the freezing and subsequent cold storage of fish was 
invented by Enoch Piper, of Camden, Me., to whom a patent* was issued in 1861. His 
process was based on the well-known fact that a composition of ice and salt produces 
a much lower temperature than ice alone, this knowledge having been applied for an 
indefinite period in freezing ice creams, etc. 
The following is a description of Piper’s apparatus and its application: 
The fish were placed on a rack, in a box or room having double sides filled with charcoal or other 
nonconducting material. Metallic pans containing ice and salt were set over the fish and the whole 
inclosed. The temperature in the room would soon tall to several degrees below the freezing point of 
water, and in about 24 hours (the mixture being changed once in 12 hours) the fish would be thoroughly 
frozen. The fish were then covered with a coating of ice by immersing them a few times in ice-cold 
water, or by applying the water with a brush, forming a coating about one-eighth of an inch in thick- 
ness. After the coating of ice was formed the fish were sometimes wrapped in cloth and a second 
coating of ice applied. In some instances they were covered with a material somewhat like gutta 
percha, concerning which much secrecy wa.s exercised. The fish were then packed closely in another 
room, well insulated against the entrance of warmth, by means of double walls filled with some non- 
conducting material. Fixed perpendicularly in the second room were a number of metallic tubes, 
several inches in diameter, filled with a mixture of ice and salt to keep the temperature below the 
freezing point. 
The process was also patented in tbe Dominion of Canada, and a plant was estab- 
lished near Bathurst, New Brunswick, in 1865, the output consisting almost entirely 
of salmon, a large proportion of which were imported into the United States. In 
order to hold the frozen fish in New York while awaiting a market. Piper constructed 
a storage room in a shop on Beekman street, that being the first cold-storage room for 
fish in the United States. The walls of the room were well insulated, and around the 
sides were two rows of zinc cylinders, 10 inches in diameter at the top and decreasing 
in size toward the bottom, connecting at the lower end with a drainage pipe. The 
cylinders were filled with a mixture of ice and salt, which was renewed whenever 
necessary. Whatever may have been the imperfections in his process of freezing, the 
system of storage was quite satisfactory and differs little from that in use at the 
present time. Piper refused to sell rights to others for the use of his process, and 
after maintaining a monopoly of the business for three or four years his exclusive 
right to it was successfully contested by other fish-dealers in New York, who applied 
it to storing other fish besides salmon. 
The principal objection to Piper’s process is that the fish are not in contact with 
the freezing mixture during the operation of freezing, and, conseijuently, too much 
time is required for them to become thoroughly frozen. Several devices have been 
used for overcoming this objection, among which are covering the fish with thin sheet 
rubber or other wateriiroof material, and packing them in the mixture of ice and salt. 
No. 31736, dated March 19, 1861. 
