A NOVEL INVENTION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11750, 30 November 1898, Page 3

A NOVEL INVENTION.

Mr G. S. Hickman, clerk of the Kowai Road Board, is the patentee of a numbering, registering, dating and stamping machine, which, if the Government can be induced to adopt it, would, in a large measure, revolutionise our present postal arrangements, besides being useful for many other purposes. , The machine in appearance is not unlike a self-inking dating stamp, but .is much larger in size. The one shown in operation by the inventor was for printing postage stamps on envelopes. The machine was simply placed over the corner of the envelope, a lever depressed, and the stamp was neatly printed. At the same time a number was registered in a dial. The registering arrangement is self-locking, and the machine can, be made to register from one up to several thousands, but tw'o impressions cannot he taken without the number changing. A machine can also be set to register 1000, 2000 or any given number, and when that number is reached the mechanism is automatically locked, and no more stamps can he printed until it is re-set by an official holding a key for the purpose. In use at a post office .letters or telegram forms handed in with the necessary fee could be immediately stamped by the official, and the stamp could at the same time he obliterated by having printed across its face the name of the office. Machines could he issued by the postal authorities to business men or local bodies set for any number of pounds worth of stamps, and when that number' was issued the automatic locking arrangement would compel the holder to return it to the officer appointed for the purpose to have it re-set for another given number of stamps. Stamp clerks in business offices would no longer be required, as a glance at the number registered after each impression would show the value of the stamps used each day. A registered number can also he attached to each stamp to indicate the name of the business firm using it. The compulsory use of the machine as a franking stamp by public officials and boards would prevent indiscriminate use of the franking system, and would enable a true record to he obtained of the number of missives franked by each individual. It is not claimed that the machine would do away with adhesive stamps, but it would certainly minimise their use to a very large extent. For use in connection with the totalisator the machine is particularly valuable, as a complete record could he given of the number of totalisator tickets issued, and a check upon the jockey club returns thereby obtained, no ticket being of value unless it bore the Government stamp. It would also he valuable for use in deputy polling booths by returningofficers, as a complete record of the number of voting papers issued could he indicated on the machine. It could also be used for checking the issue of tickets for sports gatherings and entertainments, the tickets being instantly printed by the machine and the number recorded. The machine, which can be produced at a cost of about 15s, has been patented throughout the world. It has already been brought under the notice of the Government, and has

been submitted to four experts who, it is raid, were very favourably impressed with its capabilities and usefulness.