A WELLINGTON INVENTION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 664, 15 November 1909, Page 11

A WELLINGTON INVENTION.

'■:;!;' v''-;/-V'' '■..:.'?':>-■-.'.- •..,!; ' ; ' ':/•'. '.■'.:■■■:"■''■ '■■^ -y ■■• vstamp-vending;mACHiNi;. . f Mr. P..'. J, Dickie,, .who, with Mr. Harry Brbwn, .'of ..Wellington,; invented- an extremely ingenious ; anionlatic : . stanip-vendiug '• machine, has returned from a trip to England and the Continent,,' where ho has been, engaged on business'in. connection .'with'the- machine.; ..It is ,:olaimed; that'. the - mechanism, of the vention, wMle : still, retaining all the chief ,feattiVes of the origihal-whioh did duty for a time ; in! tho, vestibule of; thei General Post been .perfocted to the finest point, and is only half the 'size !.it was in the first instance. :;:The.;'f ace of-the machine,, in which are!,the slots for receiving the coin .and!,offer-' ing the stamps,'only measures 3J inchosVby, 11 ■ inches,' and the whole arrangement, whion is no more/than six qr,!Soveu inches in depth,can.be carried!iii a s,mall;briei bag.. : The ,'maohine; from the outset refused to produce, a stamp except for the penny, coin only; how it shoots out any other coin instantaneously—that is,!to s'hy.iiif a-person in a hurry .puts, in,-.a two-sSilling.,-.piece,i!he' receives' it biick the next moment, before ho has tirto to lament his mistake!' :flvis greatly tickled an elderly French lady wto was'buying a 6tninp from one of Mr.! Dickie's machines; on trial bv'-tha'-French-'postal authorities inthe'Boule-' varde des : ltalieris. ; Phfi was lpiidly lamenting having inserted ~too"!atge a ooih, whon someone drew her attention to tho fact that it was..lying 'at: her■'. feet, .the machine having ejected, the 'coin as soon as it was received." Mr. Dickio-'States' that tho machine in England,is how being run by the British Automatic Stamp Company, in which he and, Mr. Brown retain shares,,and by the United States.Automatic, Vending, Company in' America, in which the patentees aro also interested. Tho British machines- are .being manufactured by Geo. Salter and!; C 0.,. of- West'Bromwich,- Birmingham, the ce|ebratcd makers of scales.- 'Theynro established in'.tho!House of Conlmons, in Threadncedle Street, St. Martin's lo Grand, London E.C. and W. 0.; also in Glasgow, EdinI bnrgh, ■'.Liverpool, - -'' Manchester,' Belfast, and Dublin. They are. now!; turning them out-.for private firms, olubs, iientlemon's houses (for the convenience of; guests), are-on n fairway to becoming a;permanent, and general convenience to the .public. .'••;' Paris tho '.post cifEce nnthorities gave the mncliinean exhanstiye; trial at tho Post Office Bvdo.des Itnlicns, iwhen~.no fewer thnn 18,000 coins passed through the miichiuo without' a hiteh. -.: Another trial was in progress when Mr.V : Dickie left for New. Zealand.' ' While in France,'Mr!!,Dickie .was.'.treated with. the. utmost. ! courtesy, arid ~ cbn'sidern Hon ! by ! postal. :anthorit:rs, :ond faw most of tho sights that -v-'-rtv+o be-seen,; including, the lastrnciiyfor the ;Grand.-Prix. '~,,7'. ■ . .'.-li'.i. - '.'.'■,.-. ' - Thd' iriretitors, still.hold; a .fifth intei|est eacli in'-, all „'■ parts;. of '..the '.world but New: IZealnnd. The', Dominion 5 rights' of, this tion hn've':been -ntirchased• outright by ■ Mr.. B: 0..-C..Mills, of■ E. AV".-Mills and--f-c -.W^Hju. 1