AN IMPORTANT INVENTION

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144250, 14 November 1913, Page 6

AN IMPORTANT INVENTION

An invention which promises to do a great deal for the gum industry has just been brought to perfection, not by a man connected with tlha industry, but by a legal gentleman who, during a hj day happened to notice the laborious and slow method of preparing the gum tor market by scrap Lite oft the adherent earth. After twelve months’ work he has perfected a machine, the principle of which is a sand blast directed against the gum on trays, which completely removes tho dirt with a perfection and expedition nnapproachad by tho slow and dangerous method of scraping with a sharp knife, a job the diggers do not at all care about. The importance of this invention to tho gum industry will ho realised when it is stated that the cost of scraping gum is from £ls to £25 per ton, and in addition there is a considerable amount of gum lost in tho process; 50 per cent, of this wasted gum is saved by the machine, while the cleaning is done at ono-tenth of the cost and a more marketable gum produced. A considerable quantity of gum is too small to bo hand-scraped and it has been necessary to export this in tho rough with a consequent loss of value, but this can now be thoroughly cleaned by the machine. Tho present plant is cJoaniug six tons per week, but as soon as the company now being rapid!}- subscribed is at work, the plant will bo extended to treat at least thirty tons per week. From the particulars given in the prospectus, which can bo obtained from Mr. Bewley, the shares in the company will give an exceptionally handsomo return. t