2 results for: Smith Cannery Machine Company
Automated salmon cleaner, "Iron Chink," made by Smith Cannery Machine Company in Seattle, 1909
The "Iron Chink" was named after the Chinese laborers it was invented to replace. Racist terms like this were painfully common in the 1900s, a time marked by anti-Chinese violence throughout the Northwest. Although much of the salmon canning process was mechanised in the early years of the 20th century, the butchering process was done by hand by laborors who…
ID Number:1970.4992
Date:1909
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) Diploma and Grand Prize ribbon awarded to Smith Cannery Machines Co. for the "Iron Chink" fish cleaning machine, 1909
The Smith Cannery Machine Company invented the world's first fish cleaning machine and was awarded the Grand Prize at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909. The nickname for the machine, "Iron Chink," illustrates the derogative attitude towards Chinese immigrant laborers the machine was intended to replace.
ID Number:2005.52.1
Date:1909