Australia's New Money-Counter

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

Australia's New Money-Counter

Australian engineer, Mr. R. J. Lyttle, hi-is invented a wonderful machine which has been tried out most exhaustively at a bank in Sydney and found to hp absolutely reliable and foolproof. It is the only machine of its kind in the world, and has been protected by world patents.

By-. Edward Samuel

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Latest Invention Sorts Coins At £1000 Worth An Hour

Oil our arrival in the silver room, Air. Lvttle showed tliat to ojicrate tlie muchi lie it was only necessary to plug it in like a ra<li., set, and press a switch to set it in motion. The machine rapidly a lul without anv possible chance ,»t error, sorts, counts and—mark von —tests mixed coins At the outlet for ettch denomination ,>f coin pennies, half-pennies, florins, shillings, sixpences and threepenn v pieces are temporarily fastened the ordinary canvas cashbags. Mr. Lvttle |.rested the button and j ladled the mixed coins from the top plate into the main receiver. Without faltering. thin machine threw each kind into its own particular bag. counted them separately and rejected without hesitation several spurious coins. F.adi coin was tested elect rica 11 y in one-tenth of a second, and on the whole miscellaneous <i*sorlinent. by our stopwatch, the machine worked quietly at Ihe rate of .tMKNI an hour, which means i lot more than it sounds.

It is not dillicul' to estimate the enormous amount of work which this macliine will stive. For instance, oil liig race days, the hank on a conservative estimate receives between £2<MMI and ij.'ilMNl in mixed coins. Hitherto it has heen necessary to employ two men to

sort the money, and over 20 men to count it. and. as tTie head cashier state*], on big davs 1 t was a job which with ordinary luck would last until midnight. Thanks to Mr. Lyttles invention the same work will be done mechanically with unfailing accuracy in less than three hours.

While \\ c are in this tantalising silver room there is much of interest to inspect. The Iwi nk lias specialised in the niechani>at ion of coin handling. At the opposite end of the room several bank olticials clad in grey dusteoats tend a whole battery of machines, at work on tasks that were formerly done bv hand. Six individual testing and counting machines put through no less tlwn i'T.OOO.OOO in florins and shillings each year, .lust imagine, they handle no lei-s than 7SO ions of coins. Ihe special counting and wrapping machine handles tllOO worth of pennies an hour and. believe me. 24.000 pennies are a heap. This machine counts, wraji-s and deliver* them in ne<it paper cylinders each containing the usual tiO coins. This marvel, second in mechanical importance only to the new -machine, call count and wrap half-pennies, shillings ami two -1: i! lim ■: pieces, and only a minute is required to change it from

one denomination to another. Yet another machine, with a "brain"* which is diHiciilt to imagine, count- and wraps six pennies and threepenny pieces. Hitherto threepenny pieces have heen the stumbling block of all inventors they simply could not handle them - -and these two machines are said to be the only ones of their kind in the world. One of them can do the work of 12 men. Kvery machine rejects spurious coins.

All t liese machines were invented, ma nilfiict ured in Sydney, and installed l»v Mr. I.yttle. He » i|iiiet unat-sum-iit jr man. lint alter what I was privileged t'i see in tile silver room of the Bank of New South Wales it would lie scarcely a «sur|irise to me to ure Mr. I.yttle uive liirth to an idea that would enable him to invent a machine to transform an endless stream of hriirht -hillings into sovereigns. When that day arrives I -hall ajjain seek admission to the silver rootn.