New coral-crushing machine

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32798, 24 December 1971, Page 14

New coral-crushing machine

A machine made to crush coral into concrete blocks has been made by a Christchurch firm and will be sent to Noumea, New ' Caledonia, on January 5.

The machine took three months and a half to build and was made on behalf of Vibrapac Blocks, Ltd, for its subsidiary company in Noumea, said Mr G. Paintin, managing director, of Paintin and Nottingham, Ltd. As far as he knew, it was the only one of its kind to have been built.

The machine will excavate coral from the sea and crush it into two sizes for stockpiling before being mixed into concrete. Because the coral on New Caledonia was 98 per cent calcium, making concrete was only a matter of adding cement, Mr Paintin said.

At present, there were very few building materials available, and so the machine would probably make construction costs of concrete buildings considerably cheaper. The only concrete made on the island was by a hand-operated machine

with limited commercial application. “There are a lot of the flax and grass type of buildings on New Caledonia, but very few made of concrete, and so this machine is going to have quite an effect,” Mr Paintin said.

Twelve tons of specially imported New Caledonian coral had been successfully churned up in a trial operation, and if it performed well on the island, there could be more orders, he said. The photograph shows the machine with its arms extended ready for use.