A WONDERFUL INVENTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1734, 9 February 1921, Page 5

A WONDERFUL INVENTION.

Mr H R. Roberts, fruit farmer/of Henderson, Auckland, is responsible for an invention which promises to revolutionise the box industry of the world. Mr Roberts has called his invention "the angle brace collapsble box" and the principle can be applied to boxes and crates used for any pur-, nose The invention consists of wire anele braces which, besides supportfn# the box or crate, act as hinges by which it may bo collapsed in .the space of a few seconds. Fruit boxes, butter boxes, egg crates and fowl crates are all constructed on the {same principle. A few days ago Auckianders at a big fowl mart were astounded by the performance of a man who walked into the mart with a crate full of fowls and walked out again a few seconds after the last fowl was soW with the collapsed crate tucked under: his arm. When the principle -is applied it will be found that collapsible crates and boxes cost only a fraction | more than the nailed box and that they are infinitely stronger. The cheapest timber, steel, iron or cardboard can be used in their construction The invention will establish the return system of trading. Boxes will be collapsed when their contents have been removed and returned to their place of origin. The possibilities in saving of freight, conservation of timber and economy of space are enormous The problem of sterilising is reduced to the utmost simplicity, and theft of produce, from the nature of the containing box, is made almost, impossible. The invention has been submitted to and has survived the most exacting tests. A company is being formed to exploit its almost illimitable possibilities. Patents have,. already been granted in sixteen countries. Messrs Hendry and Hay, share-J brokers, Rangitikel Street, have soma specimens of the invention on view, and these considerably impressed a "Manawatu Daily Times" representative yesterday. The share list is filling rapidly, but the company promoters are anxious that the shareholders shall be distributed over every district in the Dominion. Applications for shares should be made at Messrs Hendry and Hay's office (Manson and Barrs' Buildings) as soon a* ] possible.*