New Drawing Method In Golden Kiwi Lottery

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29916, 1 September 1962, Page 13

New Drawing Method In Golden Kiwi Lottery

New , equipment and marbles specially ordered for the drawing of the Golden Kiwi lottery will be used for the first time when the fiftyfourth lottery is drawn on Monday. The method used in drawing the lottery will also be changed. Each ticket number will be represented by a numbered marble and once a marble has been drawn it will not be replaced in the barrel. In the draw 250.000 new black nylon marbles will be placed in a stainless steel drum which weighs a ton and a half empty, is sft 6in long and 4ft 6in in diameter The drum is mounted between two triangular supports. One support houses a 3 h.p. electric motor, which rotates the drum when a

starting button is pressed. A revolution takes nine seconds and the drum can be rotated by hand if there is a power failure. Midway between the supports is a small door through which marbles are removed during a draw or replaced afterwards. The driving mechanism has been arranged so that the drum always stops with the door at an angle of 45 degrees above horizontal on the side where the drawer stands. Internal flanges, like those in a concrete mixer, ensure that the marbles are well distributed throughout the drum Marbles representing the first 40 prizes will be extracted with a draw-gun—a stainless steel tube with a pistol grip and a trigger at one end and a scoop at the other. Each marble v ’! be held in the scoop by a springloaded plunger worked by the trigger. Minor prizes will be drawn 20 or ?0 at a time with a ladle At no time will the marbles be touched by hand before they are removed from the drum. The person drawing the

major prizes will remove the marbles one at a time from the drum with the draw-gun and place each in a ladle held by another person. The Government supervisor will take each marble and show it to the drawer before calling the number. The marbles, numbered from one to 250.000. were made in New Zealand and were triple-checked by the department to ensure that none was missing and that all numbers were clearly and correctly numbered. Marbles selected at random were checked with a micrometer. None varied more than fivethousandths of an inch. The numbering on the marbles was placed by a special numbering machine able to indent numbers into a curved surface. The numbers were indented to prevent their being defaced, or worn off by friction. Each recessed number is picked out in gold leaf, and underlined. to make certain that it is not read upside down. The drum will be rotated after each section of the prize list has been drawn.