388 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
distance between tlie rows being 4 or 5 inches and between each pipe in the rows 3 or 
4 inches. The herring are thrown on hand boards of lattice or small flake platforms, 
which are jilaced on the various rows of pipes, and are frozen, the temperature during 
the process being sometimes 15° F. or lower. They are afterwards stored in heaps on 
the floor between the nests of iiipes and additional fish are placed on the lattiee boards. 
The iilant at North Truro, Mass., is thus described by the engineer, Mr. E. It. 
Ingraham : 
Oiu- buildiug is of wood, 100 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 34 stories bigli. Our sharp freezer is 
on the third story; it is 70 feet long, 30 feet wide, 8 feet high, and contains 10,896 feet of ll-inch pipe 
arranged in four coils running the length of the building. The pij)es are 12 inches from center to center. 
Ujiou these coils are placed wooden flakes, or shelves, 6 feet long and 4 feet wide. Upon these flakes 
the fish are placed to be frozen. The capacity of the machine is 125 Itarrels in 24 hours. 
As soon as the fish are frozen they are put down through scuttles into the storage rooms, which 
are four in number and contain 8,400 cubic feet each. Here the fish are held at a temperature of 15*^ 
above zero. In our sharp freezer we carry a temperature of from 15° to 15° below. We have two 
machines of the absorption type — direct expansion. The temperature of our condensing water is 52°. 
We carry 140 pounds high pressure on the generator, 3 to 10 pounds on absorber, 40 pounds of steam 
on generator, and 60 pounds of steam on boilers. We burn on an average one ton of coal every 24 
hours. The fish are all caught in weirs about one mile from the storage. Thejr are brought in boats 
to the shore, where they are dressed and washed clean; then they are hoisted to the top of the third 
story, whence they go down through scuttles into the freezing room, where they are frozen solid. 
There are also tivo ice-aud-salt refrigerator plants on the New England coast, one 
at Gloucester, Mass., with capacity for 3,000 barrels of herring, and the other at 
Boothbay Harbor, Me., for about 500 barrels. Some food-fish also have been frozen 
in these refrigerators, but they are used iirincipally for preserving herring for bait. 
In the fall of 1898 the schooner J. K. Manning^ 282 tons, and the barge Tillid, 425 
tons, were fitted up at Gloucester with direct ammonia absorption freezers and sent to 
Newfoundland for the purpose of freezing herring and squid for bait. The capacity 
of the former is 3,000 barrels and of the latter about 2,000 barrels. 
A very cheap and ingenious device, known as the Walleius freezer, is used for 
freezing small quantities of herring for bait in Norway and iu Newfoundland. The 
cost is small, the only materials required being ice, salt, and a stout barrel. Within 
the barrel four wooden flanges are fastened to the sides and running diagonally or at 
an angle with the axis. The barrel is one-half filled with a mixture of crushed ice and 
salt, iu a jiroportion of about three parts of ice to one of salt. In case of ice not being 
obtainable, snow will suffice. The barrel is loosely filled with fresh herring and headed. 
It is then placed on its side and rolled on its bilge one or two turns forward and then 
backward one or two turns, the rolling being continued for about 15 minutes, at the end 
of which time the herring are generally thoroughly frozen, when they are placed in dry 
sawdust until used. The flanges inside the barrel are placed at an angle with the axis 
so as to aid in mingling the fish with the ice and salt when the barrel is rotated. 
The rate at which the barrel should be rotated is easily determined by experience, 
and the salt and ice may be used over again as long as they last, but it is usually 
desirable to add some additional salt and ice. For convenience in handling, the barrel 
may be suspended from au axle and rotated by means of a crank, the fish, ice, and salt 
being admitted and removed through a hinged-lid opening in the side of the barrel. 
