DETECTION OF SLIPS.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 April 1924, Page 4

DETECTION OF SLIPS.

INTERESTING INVENTION BY A MAORI. AUCKLAND, March 31. An electrical device for the detection of slips on railways lias been invented by a Maor.i, Rikirangi Paori, of Paeroa, wiio has submitted details of the invention to the New Zealand Railway Departemnt for investigation by the railway experts. The invention was suggested to Rikirangi by the Ongarus railway disaster, and lie has now' evolved an apparatus calculated to give warning when a slip has rendered any portion of the permanent way unsafe for traffic.

The device consists of two plates, or boards, kept apart by a set of spiral springs, and connected with a series of warning lights by a circuit of electric wires. Affixed to the under side of the upper plate is a. point, immediately over a similar point on the upper side of the lower board. It is intended that the device should be placed between the sleepers at points where slips are likely. A pressure o ten pounds is sufficient to bring the two points together and the contact will set the current in motion with the result that red warning lights will be illumined on other side of the obstruction, while a bright white light will show tho exact location of the slip The system of wiring will include a battery for the supply of the necessary current, while connection will also be" made with the tablet system on either side of the safety device, so that should a slip come down before a train nassos the tablet station the train can be held up pending an investigation.

The inventor estimates that his do-. Vico call be installed at a cost of about .Cl I !>cr unit so that the outlay required in safeguarding a stretch o! dangerous line by the installation <>r devices at each of the potential danger points should not he prohibitive.

Particulars of the invention arc now in the hands of the Railway Department, but so far Rikirangi has received no notification as to the Government’s intentions. He states that he has received a tempting (.Her from ,a large American firm for the world's rights of the invention, which has been patented, but he desires that his own country should take up the idea. He is not asking the New Zealand Government to pay any large sum for the New Zealand rights, and, pending a reply lrom the Department, is mnh'iig arrangements to sail rv the Maheiio on April 11, en route for England, where he will display his device at the British Empire Exhibition. He also proposes visiting New Y ork. Rikirangi has also invented an electrical device for giving warning of the approach of trains at level crossings. This device is so arranged that it will automatically display a series of lights at the crossing and sound a horn, thus giving warning to the blind and the deaf as well as to the careless pedestrian or motorist. He proposes to also take this invention to England and the United States.