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Installed at Hillside Workshops.

This is the first Electric Spot Welding Machine to be used in the New Zealand Railway Workshops. It was designed by Mr. B. de B. Gates, of Dunedin, and is installed at Hillside Workshops. Foot pressure is applied to the pedal that brings the two electrodes together. The plates to be welded are placed between the points of the electrodes, and upon contact being made, the metal becomes welded in less than one second.

To state the economy effected by this type of machine, 8,000 welds were made at Hillside on 1,000 trays by one man, in eight hours, at a cost for electric current of 1s. 10d.

Under the old riveting method 8,000 rivets would have cost 8s. and the time taken to complete the same work would be 32 hours at the least.

The machine is absolutely fool proof, a feature being that there is no possibility of the operator receiving an electric shock,—another instance of new methods replacing the old.

Many joys may be given to men which cannot be bought for gold, and many fidelities found in them which cannot be rewarded with it.