Automatic Lathe Given To Technical Institute

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31029, 7 April 1966, Page 18

Automatic Lathe Given To Technical Institute

An automatic lathe, worth £l5OO, manufactured by the Traub Company of Reichenbach-Fils, West Germany, was given to the Christchurch Technical Institute last evening. The presentation was arranged by A. M. Satterthwaite and Company, Ltd., which was acting in association with Traub, and gave the initial tooling for the lathe.

The lathe will be used to train technical students in the automatic machining of identical turned parts. The manufacturers say that it will make up to 12,000 components an hour. Brass screws made on the lathe were on display last evening. They had been turned down from a length of brass rod, threads had been cut, the heads and points had been bevelled, and the heads slotted by a small circular saw—all automatically. The Traub Company was founded, to manufacture automatic lathes, in 1938. It expanded rapidly during the war, but after Germany was defeated, restrictions prevented the manufacture of metal-turning lathes. Since 1948, when restrictions were lifted, Traub factories have been established in Switzerland. France, the United States. Sweden, India, and Brazil. The lathe given to the Technical Institute last evening had instructions marked in five languages. The managing director of the Traub Company, Mr S. van Kempen, was in New Zealand in 1963 and gave a similar lathe to the Auckland Technical Institute. In a telex message, read last evening, he said that the lathe was being given to the Christchurch institute so that the Traub organisation could take an active part in New

Zealand’s endeavours to broaden specialised technical training. Mr H. D. Smith, managing director of Sattherthwaite and Company, formally presented the lathe to Mr R. Jones, chairman of the institute’s board, and handed him an operating manual. “This is the first such piece of equipment to be presented to the Technical Institute,” said Mr Jones. “I am grateful to the engineering trade for such assistance with the advanced training of those who will carry on the trade and take part in the production and export of goods vital to New Zealand.” Mr D. W. Lyall, principal of the institute, said the lathe was a beautifully made machine. “Many students will benefit from this gift, which is encouraging and stimulating to the institute,” he said. Mr M. Hewitson, senior inspector of schools in Christchurch, said that technical workers had to be given a wide variety of training so they could deal with the new machinery which industries were so frequently introducing. Mr C. W. Mace, president of

the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, said that modern machine tools could increase output by up to 10 times that of old machines. “This reduces the labour content and cutting costs, both important if New Zealand workshops are to be competitive with those overseas.

“It would be better and cheaper for New Zealand for our Government to encourage the installation of modern manufacturing plant to cut costs, than to build excessive trade barriers. Over the last five years, our export of manufactured products have almost doubled to approximately £lB million. “It is essential that our technical institutes should be equipped with first-class machine tools to give the right type of instruction to apprentices and technicians,” said Mr Mace. “We cannot expect to obtain a continued supply of skilled tradesmen from Britain, where living standards are rising rapidly.” The presentation was attended by about 60 representatives from Christchurch engineering firms. (The photograph shows Mr Smith making the presentation to Mr Jones.)