THE HIBBERD PREPAYMENT MULTI-COIN MACHINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13650, 18 January 1908, Page 7

THE HIBBERD PREPAYMENT MULTI-COIN MACHINE.

PREPAYMENT MACHINE DEVELOPMENT. OPINIONS OF BRITISH TRADE AND OTHER JOURNALS. The Morning Po>t of November 9. 1907, says:—The penny iu the slot gas meter is » ' recognised institution in hundred's of thousands of households, and there can be no doubt that this system of payment hat proved an , immense boon to that, constantly.increasing class of people who, from economic or other good reasons, prefer the actual daily outlay to thy deferred and frerjuentty irksome quarterly disbursement. Two of tho principal gas companies in London, for instance, with - otor I three-quarters of a million con- ; turners, have no fewer than 424,000 of these meters ja operation. Tho " penny*' meter, popular as it is. however, U a source of embarrassment in some quarters, which believe in th» principle, but dread the possibility of tiie "copper" supply falling: short at the critical moment. General interest will bo taken in a.new invention, llibhcrd's Multicotu Prepayment Attachment, which can Iv fitted to ordinary existing wet or dry meters. With thi* patent coin* of different value can lie used for the supply of varying quantities o: gas relative to the value of the coin or coins inserted. A representative of "he Morning Post witnessed a successful demonstration recently at 47, Victoria-street. All coins pass to the coin-freeing mechanism through the same slot. The apparatus is de-igtn-J for the «>»> of four differing money \ allies. The unit of delivery is obtained by inserting in the •>lot either one penny or two half-pennies; a threepenny piece will product* three units, a sixpenny j»k six units, and * shilling twelve units. Insert one penny and a threepenny piece—what a good way of getting rid of this terrible com! —and vou get four pennyworth of gas ; or any other combination you like and you receive the equivalent iu value. The machine seen lately went as far as half-a-crown, but tho "attachment may bo set to deliver gas to the value of five shillings by inserting any combination of the coins mentioned. The consumption of gas is shown by an indicator in front, and the position of a pointer determines the time when a further prepayment for an additional supply should be made. A MULTI-COIN PREPAYMENT ATTACHMENT. Tho Journal of Gas Lighting, Etc, November 29. 1907, says:—There aro some things that must bo teen to bo fully boliered. A prepayment meter that- will take various coins—-two halfpennies, a penny, a threepenny piece. a sixpence, or a shilling, or any combination of throe coins.—and deliver with all honesty the value in quantity of gas is on© of tho things. We have grown accustomed to prepayment motet si that will only take a coin of ono denomination, and only deliver the amount of gas paid for by coins of that particular denomination; and it ha* not appeared possible that there could be, in a mechanical appliance free from complication and costliness, any departure from the principle of the mono-coin meter, la. November last, however. tho intelligence was conveyed to our readers, through art article in the Journal of Gas Lighting. Water Supply, etc., for the 13th of that month, that Mr. Charles Ribberd. of Auckland, Now Zealand, had invented a multicoin attachment for prepayment, meters which would do what has been assumed! by makers and users alike to be impossible. Mr. Hibberd arrived in London with hi* ingenious attachment at the end of last year, but discovered that preference here was on the side of the dry meter. Ho set to work to adapt the new mechanism to the dry meter: but it caused a few months' delay in bringing it prominently forward. It "was only two or three week* ago that he completed the adaptation to his satisfaction; and, as is often the case, the simplest plan of doing it was about) the last one that occurred to him. Since then he has had many . men skilled in motor-making and connected with the sale of gas to see tho meter at his offices, ,at No. 47. Victoria-street, S.W.; and, 'no doubt subject to further personal trial, thoy havo all spoken in terms of high approbation of the attachment, of their pleasure that this advance has been made, and ot the obvious usefulness to seller and consumer of gas alike of a multi-coin meter over a mono-coin —moro especially seeing that tho cost of the one need not exceed (lie cost of the other. Of course, lfi follows that anything that is a convenience to the gas consumer must. b«» of value to the seller of gas in popularising his supply; and, moreover, the growing burden upon the seller of gas of peine payment must bo largely relieved hv iho future adoption of an attachment that, enables the consumer also to purchase by silver coins, and, what is more, from a pennyworth tip to (by a. combination of coins) live shillingsworth of gas at a time. There is only one slot to the meter for all the coins: and though it. will not do to tell the consumers this, the attachment i» I effective even when bent or flattened com* j are used. On the right-hand side of the attachment, it will be observed there is an indicator, up and down which a E-mail ' pointer travels, and next to it is a- handle, ) The consumer requires a pennyworth of i gas, lie does not happen to have a penny ill the house, but has two half- pennies. Ho drops one halfpenny in the slot, the I handle remains locked;, he drops a second | halfpenny in, tho handle can be. turned, i and tho pointer of the indicator rises one ! mark, and the gas supplier is indebted tc ' tho consumer for a " pennyworth of gas. ' The consumer has not a penny or two halfI pennies, but he ha*: a threepenny piece, i He drops that into the slot, the pointer of j tho indicator rises three marks. He has a i sixpence, or a shilling, he drops one or th& ; othor in tho slot, and tho pointer rise* Sim ior twclvo marks as the case may be. Ho ) may be a consumer who likes to have « j stock of gas to his credit. He is at liberty . to pay for anything from Id up to 5«, at j one time. The descent of the pointer. ' shows him how much lie lias still to hi* j credit as the. consumption proceed*; and ' ho can at any time supplement tho amount | of his credit by pennies and the - three I silver coins, or any one or all of them. j It is a prepayment attachment with ft big range of convenience in sen-ice (as we I havo said),, both for the gas consumer and I the supplier. Provision has been made for j changing the amount of gas to suit varia- ! lions in price. It is intended to supply the meter and j attachment together, or tho attachment t alone for the conversion of ordinary | meters. It was demonstrated how readily i the ordinary wet or dry meter can be con- ! verted to this system of prepayment. Ten I new attachment cannot, of course, affect j the large number of prepayment meters at- ; ready installed, until perhaps the time ar- | rives when repair is needed. But if this i new attachment proves itself in daily use to bo all that a short acquaintance suggest* that it is, then many gas engineers will be very desirous of installing such a convenience in futurethe fixing of new prepayment gas-meters shows no abatement yet— and utilising it as frequently m doeaewa permits. There can be no doubt that, from many points of view, a multi-coin prepayment meter rises superior to the mooo-com type; and it is therefore an advance, ana supplies something of which the prepayment system has hitherto been deficient.

i A MULTI-COIN GAS METER, j The Gas World, November 23, 1907, Mtys; j —There are" two difficulties associated with ! ho penny-in-the-elot gas meter. There is the consumer's difficulty in finding the ! penny at the moment it is required, and i there" is the difficulty of the gas offico in. ! getting rid of the accumulation of pennies. { It lias been proposed to complicate the i meter by adding a pricechanging tnech&oI ism, which would be a convenience to both j consumer and gas office. Hut the addition ! of such mechanism would add materially to ; the cost of tho meter as a whole, and: : therefore it has bo-en tacitly ruled without i the pale of practicability. Motors hav® i been constructed to work with a penny or i with two halfpennies, but, so far m we are ' avrare, thev have not appealed either to ' rhe gas office or to the gas consumer. I Meters have also been constructed to take i a number of coins of different sizes and ' values. These all required & separata I slot for each denomination of coin. ilt is a big advance,, therefore, to 1 get a meter thai will take five _ dif- ! ierent coins through one slot. This is i what the Hibberd prepayment attachment I does, specimens of which a representative* lof tho Gas World saw recently at j the .offices of the Hibberd prepayment Mai chine Syndicate, Limited, 47, Victoria- ! street, London, S.W. Tho mechanism -is j the invention of Mr. Charles E. Hibberd, ( of Auckland, New Zealand, who is now at ! the address mentioned representing tho j Hibberd Machine Syndicate, which was I formed in New Zealand to take over the patents. The whole thing appears extremely simple. Nothing is likely to jam or get out. of order: and wo are informed that the attachment can be marketed at the same price as a one-coin attachment. It is certainly worth examination by anyone interested in prepayment gas supply. [The full text original articles, from which the extracts arc taken, may bo se&a o<» application at the secretary's office, 21, | Mercantile Chambers, Queen-street.]