UNTOUCHED BY HUMAN HANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 10

UNTOUCHED BY HUMAN HANDS

HOW ASPROS ARE MADE. “I must have an Aspro!” is an expression that is heard almost every day. During recent years Aspro ha« proved itself such an efficient remedy for so many complaints and the demand is so insistent that these little white tablets arc now available in every nool? and corner of New Zealand. What is more important from a New Zealand point of view is that fact that everyone of them is made in the Dominion. Those who are privileged Io visit the factory in Marion Street, Wellington, are sttruck by lhe wonderful example of mechanical efficiency that goes to ensure the hygienic manufacture of Aspro. The machinery is all-embracing in its work and to ensure absolute cleanliness each and every operation is performed mechanically so that at no lime is the tablet touched by human hands. The materials of which the tablets arc composed are mixed with the utmost care and precision and are forced together into the finished tabid by a machine which exerts the tremendous pressure of two and a half tons to each tablet. This machine works quicker than human fingers and rapidly squeezes the powder into the now familiar Aspro shape. From here the tablets are automatically carried to a sifting machine ■which extracts any’ broken particles and at the same time shakes off all loose powder. In order that the tablet may lose none of its freshness, the next process is the wrapping by the wonderful “sani-tapc” machine, which is incredibly human in its action. Here the tablets pass down through the machine, being automatically sorted, and arc placed one by one at regular intervals on a moving tape of waxed paper, lhe machinery is so set that alter twentyseven tablets have been placed one i» missed, this marking the end of the packet. Passing along, the tape i s carefully folded by mechanical fingers, and cut off after the twenty-seven have been collected into one packet. Still continuing on, the package is now crinkled and then sprayed with liquid wax, the surplus wax being cleverly removed by a blast of hot air. lhe package then leaves the machine in the familiar form in which it is now sold. Each tablet is hermetically scaled in its own little compartment. It has been untouched by human hands from first to last and is now in a watertight and air-proof package, ensuring the freshness and effectiveness of the tablet. The printing and making of the purple and helio cartons is also done in the Dominion, and these now stand ready to receive the finished product, and Aspro —manufactured by New Zealanders —is ready to combat and relieve the pains and ills of every-day life. The history of how this conquering niedicin e became so popular and of it’d marketing is one of the business romances of the present century. After many months of painstaking research, Mr. G. R. Nicholas, chemist, succeeded in 1915 in producing a pure tablet which conformed in every respect to the rigid requirement of the British standard for pharmaceutical compounds, but even then Mr. Nicholas kept on experimenting and it was not until 1916 that he was satisfied he bad obtained his ideal. Then, in conjunction with his brother, Mr. A. M. Nicholas, he proceeded to manufacture and market Aspro as a commercial adventure, and in a very short time remarkable success was obtained. In a little more than three years it became necessary to obtain a building and arrange for the manufacture of the tablets in Wellington to cater solely for the Dominion demand. The success of this New Zealand industry may be gauged by the appearance of Aspro in the shop of every chemist and grocer throughout both Islands, and by the number of times we hear the pression, “X must have an Aspro,