Lancaster County, Va., who was formerly connected with the Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company. A third was the MANOKIN OIL WORKS, Owned in 1873 by CROCKETT & CO., and a fourth on Tangier Island, owned in 1873 by FORD, AVERY & CO. The Manokin Works are said to be in Pocomoke Bay. A factory was operated near Norfolk in 1872 by Mr. Fitzgerald, but this has since been destroyed by fire. F. H. HARKER has a factory at Hampton, Va. Factories on the southern coast. 236. South of Cape Henry there are no factories now in operation. Mr. W. F. Hatch, keeper of Body's Island light, North Carolina, gave the names of the following factories in that vicinity which had at that time already been abandoned: EXCELSIOR WORKS (cost $30,000). ADAMS & Co. (cost $5,000). There is still another abandoned factory near Beaufort, N. C. At Charleston, S. C., are the works of the Pacific Guano Company, which consumes immense quantities of menhaden scrap. This is however brought from the water by the vessels which carry on their return trip a supply of South Carolina phosphates for the other factory owned by the company, at Wood's Holl, Mass. A company in Charleston has a charter for establishing a menhaden fishery at the mouth of Charleston Harbor.-(C. C. Leslie.) 43.-METHODS OF OIL MANUFACTURE. The principles involved. 237. The manufacture of menhaden oil is simple in the extreme, consisting of three processes: boiling the fish, pressing, and clarifying the expressed oil. The apparatus absolutely needful is correspondingly free from complication, consisting, for the first process, of a cooking ves sel; for the second, a press, and for the third a shallow vat or tank. These were used twenty-five years ago by Mrs. Bartlett, the manufacturer of the first menhaden oil, who produced an article little inferior to the best now in the market. Very few patents for improved methods of manufacture have been granted: Mr. W. D. Hall's patent for steamrendering is the most important. The principal changes have been in the introduction of labor-saving appliances, which enable manufacturers to carry on their business with the smallest possible force of workmen. Steam is of course an important auxiliary in handling the fish and in working the presses, and is also used to great advantage in heating the cooking-tanks, as well as for pumping the water and oil. The hydraulic press has replaced the old fashioned screw-press in most of the larger cstablishments, and the size, shape, and arrangement of the bleaching vats, as well as the methods of drawing and pumping the oil from one to the other, have been perfected. Processes employed in manufacture. 238. The process of oil-making at the larger works is essentially as follows: The fish are conveyed to the upper story of the factory on wooden tramways in cars containing about twenty barrels each, and are dumped into large reservoirs from which the cooking-tanks are replenished from time to time, or are emptied directly into the cooking-tanks, which are filled to the depth of six inches with sea-water. From fifty to seventyfive barrels are placed in each cooking-tank, and then steam is turned on and they are boiled for half an hour or more. In this way about twothirds of the oil is separated; the remainder is expressed by means of the hydraulic presses, under a pressure of 50 to 150 tons or less; the fish having been placed in circular curbs of half-inch iron, perforated with holes an eighth of an inch in diameter, each curb having a capacity of three to ten barrels. The oil mixed with water is now run into the "drawingoff tanks" while it is still hot, and is passed through several of them, the water separating and sinking to the bottom. The oil is now drawn off into a "settling-tank" of four or five thousand gallons capacity, where it remains a few hours to allow impurities to sink to the bottom. Finally, it is pumped into "bleaching-tanks" (of which Judson, Tarr & Co. have five, each containing four thousand gallons), where it becomes clearer and whiter in the rays of the sun, and after one or two weeks' exposure is ready for shipment. Processes employed in refining. 239. Boardman & Atkins make the following statements about processes of refining: "The oil and water running together into the receivers, separate, by the oil rising to the top, whence it can be drawn or skimmed off. Great pains must be taken to separate the oil from the water before the impu rities contained in the latter begin to ferment, for if this happens the quality of the oil suffers much. Moreover, in what appears at first to be pure oil there is a variable amount of finely divided fleshy substance that must be allowed to settle, as it will after a while, and the clarified oil drawn off before putrefaction sets in. In order to effect the separation, the oil is commonly passed through a number of settling-vats, and a portion of the impurities deposited in each, and finally before barreling, the oil is, if practicable, exposed some hours to the sunlight in a broad, shallow tank. If all these processes are successfully carried through, the oil is light-colored, sweet, and of prime quality; but if it is exposed at any time to the influence of putrefying animal matter, it becomes dark and 'strong.' The very strongest of oil is made from the 'gurry' or settlings of the oil, after fermentation, by steaming or boiling it over. "It naturally happens that every manufacturer makes several grades of oil, of very different quality, of which the best is very sweet, fine oil, bringing ten cents a gallon more than a strong article. Notwithstand ing this fact, it is said to be the common practice of dealers to pour all grades into the same vat, and this has led manufacturers to take less pains to keep them separate. "It is a curious fact that oil made from early fish is not so good as that made later. It is called 'weak,' and brings in market five cents per gallon less." * Gurry oil is sold for one-third less than the other grades. Perhaps the most satisfactory way of indicating the processes now in use will be to describe three or four of the principal factories in detail. The factory of The George W. Miles Company. 240. The factory of The George W. Miles Company at Milford, Conn., illustrated in Plate XXV, is said to have been the first one built after the model now universally followed, with the cooking-tanks and oilpresses upon the second floor of the building. When the fishing fleet comes in, the fish are hoisted from the holds of the vessels into cars, in which they are carried over an inclined tramway to the upper story of the factory building. Here they are turned into tanks, twenty thousand fish in each, and cooked by steam-power. Then the water is drawn off and the cooked fish are placed in perforated iron curbs, which are so arranged upon railways that they can be pushed under a hydraulic press. Each curb-load of fish is subjected to a pressure of sixty or seventy tons, by which the greater part of the oil is extracted. The scrap is then dropped into the cellar below. The ship "Alabama" is owned by the same firm. It is used as an oil factory, and is usually more productive than the stationary works owned by the same firm. It is illustrated in Plate XXX. For several seasons it has been taken to Maine during the fishing season, where it is usually stationed near South Bristol. It is the intention of the owners to take it to the coast of New Jersey for the season of 1878. The factory of Judson Tarr & Co. 241. Messrs. Judson Tarr & Co., of Rockport, Mass., kindly furnished the following account of their factory in Pemaquid (Bristol), Me., as it was in 1873: "The size of the main factory is 30 by 40 feet, with 16-foot posts; the building is two stories high, the upper story being used for cooking and pressing the fish, the lower as an oil-room and for storing fish-scrap. The engine-house adjoining the factory measures 20 feet by 30, with 10 foot posts, and contains three horizontal boilers each of sixty-five horse power. In the upper story of the factory are eleven round wooden cooking-tanks 12 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep; each tank has steampipes in its bottom, perforated with small holes to allow the escape of the steam; there are also three hydraulic presses, each with pressure of one hundred and fifty tons, and a small engine of ten-horse power. ** Op. Cit., p. 27. Connected with the factory are two wharves, the longer 150 by 50 feet in dimensions, the shorter 40 by 80. At the end of the long wharf is placed, on posts 10 feet high, a tank capable of containing 4,000 barrels of menhaden. This tank is sometimes completely filled when all the steamers have discharged their loads after a successful day's fishing. On the wharf is an engine of twelve-horse power connected with three drums, all or either of which may be used; when in full blast one thousaud barrels can be transferred from the steamers to the tank in an hour, the process being precisely similar to that of unloading coal from barges. Also, on the premises of the company, are a main scrap house, 100 feet by 60, with 15-foot posts, and blacksmith's, cooper's, and carpenter's shops, as well as a boarding-house and stable, all used in connection with the business. The amount invested in buildings and machinery is between $75,000 and $80,000, and in steamers and fishing gear, such as seines, small boats, &c., is about $60,000 additional. The utmost capacity of the factory is 2,000 barrels per diem. About thirty-five men are employed at the factory. The factory of Joseph Church & Co. 242. The Muscongus Oil Works, on Muscongus Point, Maine, the largest in the United States, were visited by Professor Baird in September, 1873. These works were erected in 1872, and are carried on by Joseph Church & Co., of Tiverton, R. I.* The main building is 161 feet long and 40 feet wide. The lower portion is the receptacle of the chum, where about 1,800 tons were in store on the 25th of September, three cargoes of about 190 tons each having been sent away during the year. The establishment is larger than any other in the United States, and is well appointed in every particular, capable of working up more than 3,000 barrels of fish in a day. About forty-five men were employed at these works, and about 5,500 tierces of 40 gallons of oil each had been manufactured during the year. These works are now much more extensive, employing during the past season (1874) seventy fishermen and seventy factory hands, with four steamers and three sailing-vessels. They have invested in buildings and machinery $65,000, and in fishing gear $55,000. During the season 138,000 barrels or about thirty-four millions of menhaden were caught; 200 barrels were sold for bait, and of the remaining 136,000 barrels they manufactured 450,000 gallons (11,250 tierces) of oil and 4,000 tons of chum or guano. The factory of Kenniston, Cobb & Co. 243. The establishment of Kenniston, Cobb & Co. is selected for description by Boardman and Atkins, who state that though not one of the largest, it is generally conceded to be a model of convenience and efficiency. *Illustrated in Plate XXIX. "The main floor of the factory stands a considerable height above the water. Here are all the steam tanks and the press, and in an adjoining building is the boiler and the principal engine. The tanks are of wood, 8 feet square and 4 feet deep, with a capacity of fifty-one barrels, with a board platform on which the fish rest, 4 inches above the bottom. Into the space between the platform and the bottom the steam is introduced. There are tanks arranged in two rows, between which runs the track leading from the landing. Another track passes by all the tanks and leads to the press. On this track run several cylindrical curbs made of wood and iron. The press is hydraulic, and is worked by steam. On a lower level than the steam tanks are series of receptacles for the oil and water, that are brought to them by conductors leading from the tanks and press. Under the main floor is the scrap-house, into which the scrap is dumped through a scuttle in the floor. The track that runs between the rows of tanks leads down a steep incline to the landing, where there is another engine, and an elevator to take the fish out of the boats. The elevator delivers the fish into a hopper that holds fifty barrels, and from this they are drawn into a car that holds seventeen barrels, so that the unloading of the boat may go on without intermission while the car is carrying its load up to the tanks. The car is drawn up by the engine on the landing, and dumps its load into either of the tanks at pleasure. "Preparation for the fish is made by filling the tank a foot deep with water and steaming it until.hot. The fish are at first steamed hard from forty to sixty minutes, then punched and broken up. After simmering for five hours longer the free water and oil are drawn off, and then, if possible, the broken fish stand draining and cooling for several hours. At last they are pitched into the curbs, run under the press, and subjected to a pressure which is gradually brought up to seventyfive tous. This wrings out all the water and oil that it is practicable to extract, and the cheese is now dropped into the scrap-house to remain until the following autumn or winter."* The factory at Napeague, N. Y. 244. In the American Agriculturist for December, 1868, p. 452, was published a description of the factory at the entrance to Napeague Harbor, near Montauk Point. In Plates XXVI and XXVII are reproduced the illustrations of the factory and its interior arrangements. The following description of the factory was published at the same time: "The fish are taken to the factory's dock. At the factory the fish are measured either in cars or boxes, and are drawn upon the railway to the tanks, where they are thrown into water, and a full head of steam turned on into the bottom of the tank, which contains some sixteen to eighteen thousand fish. After thirty minutes' cooking, the water is drained off, and a man getting into the tank fills the curbs, which are circular, and Op. cit., p. 27. |