A NEW INVENTION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 411, 16 October 1889, Page 2

A NEW INVENTION.

Tim apparently permanent importance of flax production in this colony, and the continued effort to save labour, have brought into play a great deal of mechanical ingenuity, «nd one invention succeeds another- The Key T. S. Graoe, incumbent of the Church of the Nativity (not the first clerical inventor on record by the way), has patented "an apparatus* for drying and bleaching the fibre of the Phonmiun Tenax in the open air/ Tho apparatus is now in working order and itj use near Mr Vercoe'* mill, and recently in company with the inventor, we had an opportunity of thoroughly inspecting it~ It is remarkably simple nnd effective, and where adopted it would save a vntit amount of fibre that now go©R to waste. We are satisfied of this from careful , observation. The apparatus ha* ta*«"* constructed and erected a* above by M*P « : Berry, and it was in admirable working order when we made our viwt. Tf c affair consists in a skeleton fence two cbainß in length, with wooden straining pouta at ea"h end, which have iron htnys, and between these at intorv«l« 06 perhaps ton feet are wooden standards, and •ilong: the entire length run two wire* fitting into slot* in the PuceeN*ive ntHnd— anJi, One of the wires is taut and fixed, thf» nthnr is adjustable and they lip clnso together. The whole affair may now bu connidt»red in an upright position and about fiv« feet high. It is ready to receive the filire t'»at is to bo diied ; ;«n<l thi* i« how it is don<». Three 1 mon sHnd, onn at each end and the third . about the middle, and by a simple turn of a vpvv s'.mplo arrangement lower the fence „ to the ground, all the standard" working ' in siniole sockets. The* fenre \s now flat and the mm lav the fibre ulong tho fixeH • wire ke<»pincf tlte adjustable nnn ftlnck. • When "11 h'iß been hung up, when {| tho I line is fnl 1 ," the adjustable wire h tight- : enei, nnd the fibre is firmly gripped. 1 Anothe«* alight simultaneous lift by the . three men raises the fence, and the fibre hangs ii the wind, which, however strontr^ ' cannot displace it, and there it hungs till 1 thoroughly bleached. The advantage* : ot this process over the old one of wpreadl ing the fibre out on the ground are mnniI fe«t. The darkening and rotting of the fibre which such spreading out involves, » are dispensed with, and the waste which f alwnys occurs in very high winds i» nvoided. The saving of labour too is 1 very great, and the apparatus need not cost ' many shilling per chain in erection. The1 practical people who have seen Mr Grace's F invention think mo<?fc highly of it. We r must add that there is a third wire which . serves as- a light tier and prevents the flax ' from blowing into tangles when the fence ris being lowered.— Marl borough Weekly » News.