404 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
noted, and so arranged that a hand or foot lever forces a block down in one compart- 
ment at a time. The i)ri ssui'e remains while tlie lish are being placed in the second 
compartment, and when it is released the box is slid along until the second compartment 
comes under the press, when the brick is removed. When 1-pound bricks are desired, 
the 2-pound packages are cut in half. The bricks are then sprinkled with antiseptic 
powder, wrapped in parchment or waxed paper, and placed in the packing boxes. 
A pound of parchment, costing 14 cents, contains about 172 sheets of the size 
necessary for 1-pound bricks, and 113 sheets of the size necessary for 2-pound bricks, 
thus making it cost 8.14 cents to wrap 100 pounds of the former and 6.2 cents for 100 
pounds of the latter size. One ream, or 4 pounds, of waxed paper for 1-pound bricks 
costs 30 cents, and 1 ream for 2-pound bricks costs 40 cents, making the cost of using 
wax paper 6.2 and 4.2 cents, respectively, for 100 pounds of 1 and 2 pound bricks. 
Cutting into bricks was greatly facilitated in 1885 by providing a cutting board 
with pins at stated intervals to hold the fish when pressed down by hand, and with 
two sets of parallel grooves at right angles to each other cut into the board sufficiently 
deep to give direction to a knife which is drawu through the fish, these longitudinal 
and transverse grooves being separated by uniform distances conforming to the size 
of the bricks. In 1886 a somewhat intricate machine* was introduced at Gloucester 
for this purpose, and is now used in one or two of the establishments. It consists of 
a large rotating drum, the surface of which is provided with pins which enter the fish 
j)laced thereon aud thereby hold them in position. On this the fish are fed, and the drum 
revolves intermittently, and at regular intervals a knife located above and parallel 
with its axis descends to cut the fish transversely, the drum rotating intermittently 
to permit the knife to cut the fish without being crowded by them. These strips of 
fish are then carried forward by the drum beneath a series of rotary knives mounted 
upon a shaft, the axis of rotation of which is parallel with the axis of rotation of the 
drum, the strips being thereby severed into blocks. The length of the bricks is deter- 
mined by the distance covered by the fish between each descent of the vertical knife, 
and the distance between the rotary knives determines their width. The pieces of fish 
are then carried forward beyond the rotary knives and are removed from the pegs by 
suitable strips or rods entering grooves in the surface of the drum and thus coming 
between it and the blocks of fish. 
A few months thereafter another machine t was introduced for the same purpose, 
but was never extensively used. This consisted of two revolving drums carrying a 
platform made in sections with longitudinal grooves, having small pegs in its surface 
to hold the fish placed upon it, skin side down, and so revolving as to press the fish 
against circular knives placed at suitable distances apart. The knives were rotated 
by the motion of the fish, and the latter were cut into longitudinal strips equal in 
width to the distance between the knives. As these strips passed beyond the knives 
they were raised oft the pins and the platform by rods entering between the strips and 
the surface of the endless iilatform. A quantity of fish having been thus cut into 
longitudinal strips, they were returned to the front end of the machine and by means 
of a guide were again placed on the movable platform so as to approach the rotating 
knives at right angles, and as they passed under were cnt transversely, forming 
rectangular blocks. The circular knives were so arranged that alternate ones might 
* See Letters Pateut No. 346871, dated August 3, 1886, iu favor of J. L. Shute and W. O. Taylor, 
t See Letters Patent No. 356725, dated January 25, 1887, in favor of Walter S. Moses. 
