AN ECONOMIC MACHINE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3106, 9 June 1917, Page 3

AN ECONOMIC MACHINE

INGENIOUS COPPER-WIRE SAVER.

In the past the Electric Light Department of the Wellington City Council has had to sell all its old copper wire as "scrap," owing to the outer insulation (or cotton covering) becoming frayed and worn to such nn cxtont that it becamo unwise to use it. Before tho war it was sold for as low- as 3d. per lb. Since tho war, howover, as high as Is. 3d. per lb., has I>cen secured for old wire, but oven ■ that price—which is higher than its original cost—would not pay, were it I possible to insulate tho wire afresh, for tho copper itself is generally as good as ever it was. This reinsulation is boms effected now, the council having imporfTod a braiding machine, _ which _ a Dominion reporter was permitted to witness in action yesterday. The work tins I machine does is to neatly, closely, and firmly plait a new cotton covering over tho old rubber insulation, and so transform what was "scrap" wiro into wiro almost as good as new. That is to say, that wiro which bad been used as lush tension wire can, after being_ rebraitled and impregnated with a bituminous compound (kept at a temperature of 220 degrees by electrical elements), can with perfect safety bo used as secondary wire. Tho machine is simplicity itself. It is constructed on tho Maypole danco prin-. ciple with moving bobbins of cotton thread taking the place of tho dancers, whilst the old wire, which is fed up through the middle, takes the place oE tho maypole, wnich as it rises is covered with a close plait of cotton thread. Each of tho wooden bobbins is fitted on to a steel carriage, which, works its way eccentrically (curving in and out of every other bobbin) round the circle, precisely as do tho dancers in the Maypolo dance. Should a thread "Break, an iron weight drops and stays the action of tho machine automatically. All that therojifis to bo done is to tie the bobbin end of the brok-ti cotton on to the wire, and set the machine going again._ All ragged ends disappear as tho braid is plaited tightly round them. After the wire is given its new cotton covering, it is passed through a trough and soaked in tho heated bitumen, which, renders it waterproof. On tho experience of tho past tho officers of the department aro quite certain that an immense saving in.the cost of ■ ropper wiro will be effected every year. The machino is believed to be the first of its kind to be imported into the Dominion. It performs the braiding at the rate of about a foot a minute, and the machine is so simplo that it could be run by a girl. -