AUCKLANDER'S INVENTION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 309, 6 January 1908, Page 4

AUCKLANDER'S INVENTION

London, November 8. Sixty tons of pennies per week pa-* into the slot machines attach) il to gas meters in f»ndon alone. Or, put in 1111otlier way, one of the Metropolitan tIR« Companies locks up in penny-inthc-sloL machines £35,000 every month. lint now there has been brought to the notice of all interested the new multi-coin prepayment attachment, the invention of Mr. E. C. Hibberd, of Auckland, to earn the gratitude of the Mint authorities and of the ga9 companies. The apparatus designed by Mr. Hibberd is for the use of four differing money values. The unit of delivery can be obtained by inserting in the slot a ditlercnt sized coin. Three units require the insertion »i a threepenny piece; six units, a t-ixpence; and twelve units, one shilling. uun the ordinary one-coin meter the gas consumer is buoject to the mcouveu.eike ai times ul being unable to obtain a gas oupp.y tlirougu tailing to have at imuu a corn ot the particular value lor which the meier is adapted. This inconvenience is obviously minimised by a uevlce which can be made to operate ivitn vary ing valuee. Mr. Hibberd's pateni attainment Is effective when bent or naiteued coins are used. In the evem 01 an* multiple of the above-named linns being inserted in the Blot without turning tinhandle, the mechanism will not sutler any injury, neither will the directing ways be blocked. liia attachment ma» be net to deliver gat to the value 01 five shillings by inserting any combination of the coins already made. Jiicli coin must be fed to the slot separately, and the handle worked before another coin is used.

The consumption Of the gas ia shown by an indicator in front; the position of the pointer will determine the time when a further prepayment for an additional supply should be made. It is impossible for the mechanism to be manipulated so as to obtain a supply in excess of the prepaid quantity, and provision has been made for changing the ijuantity to suit variations in the price of gas. This week .Mr. Hibberd showed me how the machine worked, and it did its work perfectly and with smoothness. He informed me that he had given demonstrations to representatives of all the large gas companies and metermakers. They had been highly pleased, and arrangements have already been made for the putting in hand of one hundred of the attachments, which will be put in various places as a practical experiment.