“The cod, previous to being salted and dried, is deprived of its head, its intestines, and the backbone, which together make about one-half of its total weight. This offal, which amounts to at least 700,000 tons, is thrown into the sea, or is lost without utility.
“In 1850 M. de Molon fitted out a vessel, and confided his project to one of his brothers, furnishing him with the utensils necessary to experiment upon and manufacture the fish-powder. The results of this voyage confirmed his anticipations, and M. de Molon junior brought back to France a certain quantity of fish-manure, which was found to be identical in composition with that manufactured in France.
“In 1851 M. de Molon junior again departed for Newfoundland, taking with him all the means of manufacturing, the materials necessary to construct a factory, and houses for one hundred and fifty workmen, whom he also took with him; finally, all the means necessary to found a permanent establishment. He fixed himself at Kerpon, at the extremity of the island, near the Strait of Belle-isle, on a creek which was visited every year by a great number of fishing vessels, and whose shores abound in fish. At present this establishment is in regular work, and has, we believe, sent within the last two or three months a considerable quantity of fish-manure to France.
“Whilst his younger brother was thus establishing himself in Newfoundland, M. de Molon wished to have in France an establishment of the same kind placed immediately under his own eyes, which would serve to perfect the process of manufacture, and offer to all the practical confirmation of facts, the importance of which had long since been indelibly fixed upon his own mind. It was at this epoch that M. de Molon associated himself with a M. Thurnyssen, who understood the vast field of enterprise which was thus opened up.
“This factory was erected by them at Concarneau, between Lorient and Brest, in the department of Finisterre. This is a mere fishing village, not far from the town of Quimper, containing scarcely two thousand inhabitants, and built upon a rock in the middle of a bay formed by the ocean. The catching and preparation of the sardine, which employs about three hundred to four hundred boats annually, is almost the only industry of the district, if we except a factory for the manufacture of iodine.
“The factory of MM. de Molon and Thurnyssen is placed at the end of the port, and the boats come and discharge their fish under its walls. In its actual condition this factory is capable of manufacturing daily about 4 to 5 tons of fish-manure, in a perfectly dry condition, which represents 16 to 20 tons of fish or of fish-offal in its fresh state. The proprietors receive all the offal of the curing-houses of Concarneau and those of Lorient; and in addition all the coarse fish which were previously thrown into the sea, or which were even abandoned on the very quays of Concarneau, to the great detriment of public health.
“The factory is entirely constructed of deal planks—that is to say, with all the economy possible, and contains the following articles of plant: A steam-engine of ten-horse power, and a boiler of eighteen-horse power; two boiling-pans à la bascule, with steam-jackets for boiling the fish at the temperature of a water bath; twenty-four screw presses to press the material when boiled; a rasp exactly similar to those employed in beet-sugar factories; a large stove; a Chaussenot’s coccle-furnace, for heating the stove; a conical iron mill, similar to a coffee-mill.
“The following is the mode of employing these various utensils: The fish or the offal is introduced by the upper part of the boiling-pans into the interior, one of which is capable of containing about 10 cwts., and the other from 16 cwts. to one ton. The vessel is then hermetically closed, and steam of about 50 to 55 lbs. pressure admitted into the steam-jacket, the steam-room of which is about two inches wide, and into a tube nearly eight inches in diameter, placed vertically in the interior of the pan. The boiling is completed in an hour; then by a simple movement the pan may be made to swing upon its bearings, the steam allowed to escape, and the cover being removed, the boiled fish is allowed to fall into a receptacle. Workmen then convey it in baskets to the presses placed alongside the boilers.
“The great difficulty was to find a means of submitting this fish-magma to the action of the press without losing the fine portions. This was accomplished in this way: Under each of the presses is placed a cylinder of sheet iron open at both ends, about twenty inches high, and twelve inches in diameter. This cylinder is strengthened by four small iron rings or hoops, and is pierced with a number of very fine holes. A loose bottom or wooden plate is fitted into this cylinder, which is then nearly filled with the boiled fish, and upon this is laid another plate of wood similar to the bottom. One or two blocks are then laid upon this cover, and when all the cylinders are filled, a man turns alternately the screw of each press. In proportion as the pressure operates, the water and oil contained in the fish is seen to exude from the perforations of the cylinder. These liquids flow into gutters which conduct them to a common channel by which they flow into barrels placed underneath, and so graduated that when the first is filled, the overflow passes into the second, and so on in succession, without the intervention of any workman. After reposing for some time, the oil floats on the surface, and is collected and stored in barrels in the cellar. The average quantity of fish-oil thus extracted represents very nearly 2½ per cent of the fresh fish.
“When the boiled mass is sufficiently pressed, the presses are loosened, and the cylinders removed and turned upside down, close to the reservoir, to allow any liquid which may have mounted to the surface to flow away; on then tapping the bottom wooden plate, the pressed mass may be taken out of the cylinder in the form of two compact cakes about four inches in thickness. These cakes are immediately conveyed by a workman to the hopper of the rasp, placed close at hand; this rasp, set in motion by the steam-engine, reduces the cakes to a sort of pulp, which is carried by children as fast as formed to the stove.