HELP FOR MAIMED

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17121, 16 April 1921, Page 2

HELP FOR MAIMED

NEW ZEALANDER'S WONDERFUL SUCCESS. THE McKAY ARTIFICIAL ASM. / (raou OtR OWN CORKEJPOKDENT.) LONDON, February 24. One cannot help feeling a pride in tho fact that it has been left to a New Zealander to perfect a mechanical device vrhioh is doing such wonders to reestablish in nsoful civilian life so many of those who were unfortunate enongh to lose an arm m thft war. Mr P. M. McKay, originally of Dunedin, {nit afterwards of Nelson, had already patented an artificial fore-arm before he left the Dominion m 1916, but the development of his ideas and the way in which his patent has ooen taken up in this country reads almost like a romance. Less than two years ago ho was manufacturing his patent in a basement in an obscure part of London, with a stall of six mon. To-dny he has a factory extending over four floors in Blackfriars. road, and is employing 85 men, including 4t) disabled ex-soldiers-Under the patronage of the Pensions) Department he travels to all parts of England to ex-soldiers with nis type k df artificial arm, and as tile choico of Eattern is left to the men themselves.. o invariably gets the largest number of orders, for instance, in the past week or two in Belfast, where there were 33 men to be fitted by the Pensions Department, 38 of tho'so pliose tne McKay pattern; and in Dublin ho received 28 orders, the. remaining English or American firms received 12 orders. And eo it has been throughout all parts of Great Britain. At the "Daily Mail" Efficiency Exhibition, now in progress at tho Olympic, the Government Department of Labour have arranged a section where may be seen mutilated ex-soldiep at work in 48 different trades, and the large majority of these men are fitted with the MoKav artificial arm. As a matter of fact, Air McKay now has an arrangement under which he puts men through a preliminary Jus own factory, and then passes them to the Ministry of Labour. The more skilful tradesmen, however, lie retains in his own workß. The King's Interest. When the King and Queen visited the exhibition this week they were at once attracted by tho sight or exsoldiers making the . amazingly efficient army they were themselves using. "How did you.come to make the araa. McKayP" asked the King., The inventor, who was conducting iiis Majesty round tlie < section, replied: ''l wanted it very ba'dly myself." _ _ t Ex-fcJergeant-Major M, T. By" 1 , of Otago, who.is now 'Mr chief of staff," then showed tho lung ana Queen now the firm and hand could be used for picking up a sixpence 'using a table knife, or for the work on which they were engaged. Kyan tola the King that lie could do it t better with the artificial arm than with the real arm, and his Majesty tested the grip on tne dinner-knife himself. Sergeant-Major IJyan was a corporal in the Otago Hussars, but came to England before the war. He joined the King's Liverpool Regiment, and went out with the ' 'Contemptibles", to France, and was the first New Zealander wounded in the war. He was with his battalion during the German advance, and at Bertincourt, near Cam.brai, on March 24th, 1918 t he had his right arm almost blown away by a shell explosion. Major Duff, of Hawke s Bay, who had previously served witn Lovat's Scouts, _ was with the samo Liverpool' battalion at. this .time, but was killed in August of the samp yearMr llyan joined Mr McKay about two years ago, andhaa remained with him as his chief fitter since that time. Becent Developments. ' Wfien Mr MoKay left New Zealandhe had developed only his patent for a below-the-elbow amputation. Now, however, he has patented an arm for above-elbow and through shoulder amputations. Beside the mechanical hand which can be fitted at a moment 8 notice to -tho metal arm, all kinds of toola and attachments may be lacked into the socket at the end of the arm by an ingenious device which renders tnem easily detachable.. Then there are various gripSj .which the inventor has designed. Thus we have the brace and chisel grip, shovel grip, spado and wheelbarrow grip, saw grip (the application of whioh to tho end of fcho mechanical arm is the work of a moment). Ono cannot but be amazed _to sec a maA with a shoulder 1 amputation able to wield a golf club 'with a mcttt effective drivo and use a shovel with the best. He is naturally jnore handicapped than the man who has something of the upper arm left, for the control of tho harness is done by the movement of the shoulder. Mr McKay set. himself not only to make an arm that might be useful for one or two odd ,movemonts,' but to bring men back 1 to full usefulness in their various trades.; This he" has accomplished, for there are very many one-armed'men to-day- who are obtaining full wages in the occupations they followed (before the war. Throughout the present time exservice men in tljis country only aro benefiting from tne extended developments of the patents; in due course, no doubt, maimed ex-soldiers in the Dominion will reap th© benefit, of them too.

As a result of an amazing run of Mi; Robert ("Bob") Sievier. lias ill three days; says ft telegram from won moro than £40,000 at ohemin-de-tcr at the Casino here. This is a record for chemin-de-fer, although a similar amount has been won at baccarat. The max'mum single stake allowed this yea J is £BOO, though last year the maximum was limited to £4OO, so it is not difficult imagine tho persistent run of luck that attended Mr Sierier. In one night he won £20,000, and left the Casino at 3 a.m., to drive back to Cap d'Ail, a distance of seven mileg, where he has a villa; but several robberies having taken place on this road, he took the precaution of depositing his £20,000 in the safe of a Nice hotel before starting.