AUTOMATIC FRANKER.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 89, 21 May 1914, Page 3

AUTOMATIC FRANKER.

LOCAL INVENTION.

FOE BUSINESS HOUSES.

<' For sometime past there has been in use in New Zealand offices a franking niacin n of ; particularly ingenious pattern with which big firms could stamp their telegrams and postal matter. This machine would stamp on any article, the postage ranging from a halfpenny to a penny. It was the product of a New Zealand workshop and was in all particulars a New Zealand invention. Now, however, a new machine has been constructed by the same company in Christchureh.: Yesterday it was shown to, a, SUN representative at the Post Office, and Mr Morris, the 'Chiefy<Px>s t The new- machine is a beautiful piece of workmanship and is considerably more complicated than the old one. With this any denomination from one halfpenny to £5 ,19/111 may be stamped. It stands on a handsome stand a"bout four feet high and is .entirely covered by a metal cover save for; the three levers, one each for pounds, shillings and pence. Suppose that it is desired to frank a telegram costing £1 6/4. The pounds lever is pulled down from zero to one, the shillings lever to six and the pence one to four. .A slot, over which are the words " Is This Correct?" shows.the complete amount and acts as a safeguard. If it does not tally with what was intended then it obviously is not correct. W nen * ne levers are pulled down the letter or telegram is inserted in a slot. A handle on the side is then turned and in turning winds a spring. When turned completely round it releases a trigger and the whole machine springs into action. The letter is seized and pulled through on a roller, the die with the stamp design and amount is inked, and. impressed.on the face. Then the envelope is shot into a bin below the machine. This bin is one of the ingenious features of the plant. If it is.not completely shut the mechanism of the machine' above is automatically locked. When it is open the slot through which the letter falls is automatically shut so that no one can obtain access to the inside workings from underneath.

~. The die at present in use is purely for denionstration purposes but its essential features are the same as will be used in the actual machine. It is square and bears the words "postage paid, New Zealand,'' and the number of the individual machine. In the middle the figures are_ printed with a chemical preparation which penetrates the paper rendering alteration impossible. As an additional safeguard thin, almost invisible, vertical lines run across the design, printed in the same medium. The words and general ornamentation are printed in ordinary indelible purple ink. Not the least ingenious feature of the invention is the series of locks. First there is a lock which secures the cover. This lock is sealed by the Postal Department and at regular intervals an official comes round to read the totals on the machine. He then sets the figures back to zero. It is for all the world like reading a gas-meter, and indeed this machine is virtually a ' ' stampmeter" which keeps a tally of the stamps used by the consumer. Although seemingly three times as complicated as the older type the new machine will be sold at approximately the same price. Its usefulness can be appreciated wheu it is reckoned out that any denomination of stamps can be affixed to a form or letter in about three seconds. Contrast this with the old method where perforated stamps are used —say for £1 and the timesaving is apparent. This, too, is the only machine of its kind in use in the world and when the old type was in use it was the subject of several long articles in American aud European papers.