Canada Packers had a 6 story 'cylinder' that was about 10' across. It just had a large number of holes perforating the cylinder, at the bottom. All the way around. The "piston" was simply loaded with a few tons of weight, and hoisted to the top by cable. And pinned there.
Through the day, any culled animals or parts (cattle or swine) would be loaded into the cylinder via conveyor. For the record, any animal that was trucked/transported to the stockyards and arrived dead was not fit for processing and went straight into 'the cylinder'.
Generally, at the end of the day, the pins were pulled and then the piston released. All that would 'ooze' out of the holes was a jelly-like substance. The bones were crushed to almost nothing. The contents of the surrounding room were then collected by the cleaning staff, daily, and everything went to the rendering plant.
In all the years of Canada Packers existing, and running (many decades) there was only one person who "punched in" that morning, but didn't "punch out" that night. He was never found.
I was in the building, after they closed. Removing machinery. It was quite the place. If anyone has any knowledge of the industry, I worked under Sam Johnson. It was Arvid and Sam Johnson that invented and patented the first mechanical hide skinner. Many years ago. Johnson Brothers International.
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