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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 6 (September 1939)

Buy New Zealand Goods … — and Build New Zealand — New Zealand Industries Series — No. 7.—Home Utilities: Electrical

page 10

Buy New Zealand Goods
and Build New Zealand
New Zealand Industries Series
No. 7.—Home Utilities: Electrical

(Rly. Publicity photos)

The names of Faraday and Volta and the other great ones of the world of magnetism and galvanism seem to belong to the dim and misty past. However, the harnessing of the newly-discovered power to the use of mankind is only a little older than New Zealand. To-day electricity is not only a means of bringing luxury and comfort, but is a trusted companion and workmate in office and home, on city street or ocean pathway, on the farm, and in the factory.

New Zealand is “electrically minded.” Our diversity of mountain peak and rushing torrent gives us a plentiful supply of “White Coal”; our hydro-electrical supply comes from seven great stations, generating the grand total of 386,263 H.P. On our farms there are more than 40,000 electric motors; over 22,000 city establishments use electric power; and there are no less than 320,000 domestic consumers of current.

A good observation made by an engineer describes the situation: “One action a New Zealander makes is done as often as all his other motions put together—pressing a switch.”

Now, it is a fact that nearly everything that is started with a switch is made in New Zealand. If there is a distinctive attribute of New Zealand mentality, it is a pre-occupation with the science of mechanics, seen for example in our high incidence of patents. The country that gave the world Lord Rutherford and Mellor, and a score of other great figures, also claims a high general average of ingenuity and resource. This finds full express on in the electrical manufacturing industry where scientific precision counts so much.

The home which is fully equipped electrically will have the following items: radio, radiators, range, jug or kettle, iron, toaster, lights as usual necessities, and for good measure, a water heater, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, and an air-heating system.

It is significant that the article most in use in New Zealand is the radio. The approximate total of these is 300,000, and the annual consumption is steady at 50,000.

Obviously the favourite indoor pas-time in New Zealand is “listening-in.”

My journeys through a few of New Zealand's organisations which minister to the electrical needs of our country convince me that, in this arena, we are in the van of progress. It is a plain, inescapable fact that the New Zealand- made electrical article is at least as good and efficient as anything made anywhere in the world. I find that this opinion is accepted in the technical world of Europe and America.

No less than forty units are engaged in assembling or making radio sets in New Zealand, and some of them are on an impressive scale. I recommend all doubting Thomases to pay a visit to the Radio Corporation of New Zealand Ltd.

On the various floors of this big establishment there is well over 30,000 feet of space, filled with busy folk, and housing seventeen departments swarming with skilled crafts-
The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, looking through the open dies of a 200 tons plastic moulding press at the establishment of H. C. Urlwin Ltd., Christchurch, where electrical appliances of all kinds are manufactured.

The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, looking through the open dies of a 200 tons plastic moulding press at the establishment of H. C. Urlwin Ltd., Christchurch, where electrical appliances of all kinds are manufactured.

men. I am at an age when I marvel at the easy way in which a lad in his ‘teens can reel off the technical terms of the idiomatic’ “wireless language,” with a complete understanding of all the mysteries represented. During my tour of inspection of this establishment, I obtained a vivid impression of endless ingenuity, scientific enthusiasm and an earnest page 11 approach to all problems. There is a mingled air of university and factory about the place.
Testing rooms at Radio Corporation of New Zealand Ltd., Wellington.

Testing rooms at Radio Corporation of New Zealand Ltd., Wellington.

As in so many departments of engineering, New Zealand is full of special difficulties for the radio manufacturer. Our air humidity is exceptional, and there are special problems such as that raised by the sulphur in the air of Rotorua and other districts.

Then our short-wave reception has to be based on a 13,000-mile minimum, for London is our first port of call. Then on “straight” broadcast, everyone expects to have Australia, a modest leap of 1,200 miles, and, of course, there is a cool thousand-mile gap between north and south in New Zealand main stations. These conditions obtain nowhere else in the world, and we are without the big city populations whose receiving sets need only cater for a mile or two.

From the very beginning, the method of the Radio Corporation has been to bring out to New Zealand the best of specialists. Jansen himself, of loud-speaker fame, spent a long term in the Wellington establishment; the founder, Mr. William Marks, has mechanical and organising ability of a high order.

A great Swedish designing engineer found devices in this Wellington establishment that were ahead of Europe and the United States, and lost no time in saying so. Two neat little “gadgets” he commented on, were those used for stripping the insulating cover, and the enamel, from wires. I would need a half-dozen articles to do justice to the number of processes that go to the making of a Columbus radio set. The company makes its own dies and jigs, so that the precision tool-room is a small factory in itself. Experts here are drawn from so many lands that the room is familiarly known in the brotherhood of Radio Corporation as the “League of Nations.”

The chassis are cold-drawn from steel, and I reserve a special note for the uncanny “spinning” machine. This twirls a disc of aluminium at tremendous speed until it shapes out into a valve hood, under the hands of its dexterous operator—brought, by the way, from Australia.

The “bay” of big presses is impressive; they handle some three hundred dies, some of them of great complexity.

Electric spot welding is used for joining parts together. It is swift in operation and wholly effective. One of the interesting features of the work benches is that, at strategic points, as the processes proceed, there are devices for checking, matching, correcting, and so on. The most important phenomenon from a civic
The Assembly Room at Radio 1936 Ltd., Auckland.

The Assembly Room at Radio 1936 Ltd., Auckland.

point of view is that the lad who joins Radio Corporation is never in a blind alley. The training is thorough and of international spread and standard. The making of radios is in an everlasting turmoil of new discovery, new adaptation, and multitudinous invention. In this world-wide “over the top” attack on problems, New Zealand is playing no small part.

Far-sighted planning is everywhere, and one soon begins to understand how organised production lessens prices. Over and over again, I was shown how, in the stamping out of one design, it was contrived that the “left-overs” would fit in somewhere else. Waste is almost eliminated.

I liked the room known as the “Housewife's Dream,” where total degreasing of every smallest piece of metal is carried on by a magician known as Tricloethylene. From the smallest screw to the chassis itself, every Columbus part is Cadmium-plated, giving complete immunity from rust and corrosion. I met hosts of astonishing and novel objects—cotton litz, a fine fibre which contains inside its gossamer filament, five separate strands of still finer wire, each silk-covered; “Spaghetti” (an insulating sleeving); Scotch Tape (so-called because of its sticking power); paper which is one ten-thousandth of an inch thick; Chatterton's Compound; and wire and more wire. Thirty thousand miles of wire are used here every year.

However, it would take a hundred pages to describe the apparently innumerable processes that go to the making of a radio set. One thing, however, stands out clearly: the Columbus set is not put together in New Zealand; it is made here.

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page 13
The final testing operation at Radio 1936 Ltd., Auckland.

The final testing operation at Radio 1936 Ltd., Auckland.

The contrivances for testing are most ingenious. Rooms are fitted to duplicate the average sitting-room. There are five of these rooms in which men seek avidly for the slightest fault. They were described to me as “paid narks.”

By the way, I have omitted to describe the fascinating department devoted to the production of the dials. Etching on glass is a process which is novel and engrossing in its details.

Finally, we came to the laboratory. This is entirely screened in copper. Hour after hour experiment and research are carried out here, and a year is often spent before one new development is found suitable to New Zealand conditions.

It was absorbing to note the intricate planning necessary in the sets which involved the use of many speakers. Radio Corporation has specialised in work of this kind, equipping, for instance, the Otaki Sanatorium, hospitals and large hotels, many of these installations requiring the “Hushaphone” or “Pillowphone” type of receiver. It is difficult to appraise just what this invention has meant to the dragging hours of thousands of stricken folk.

Radio Corporation is also responsible for the institution of “Radio Centres” in most of the towns in New Zealand, where service is given to Columbus sets. There is an enormous variation in the conditions, not only in the various districts of New Zealand but in the different areas in any one town. To sum up, Radio Corporation is an example of perfectly co-ordinated business and scientific organisation, an all-New Zealand growth deserving the admiration as well as the support of all New Zealanders.

I also paid a call at Radio (1936) Ltd. in Auckland, another imposing establishment devoted to turning out thousands of sets every year.

Having covered the ground in detail it would be wearisome to repeat all the process details. But here again, however, I found a similar enthusiasm and scientific outlook, a devotion to the correct solution of the problem in hand, and the employment of high-grade brains. Among the employees in this establishment I was glad to notice a B.Sc., of Canterbury College, who had studied extensively in England. All the floors of this great place are interesting, one side-line being the efficient production of electric kettles. As elsewhere, this company is in close touch with all modern developments in radio technique, and the latest plant is brought in immediately its advantages are settled. There is no need for New Zealand to import a single radio set.

Making electric kettles at Radio 1936 Ltd., Auckland.

Making electric kettles at Radio 1936 Ltd., Auckland.

Now I turn to another New Zealand industry, perhaps not so well-known as those devoted to the manufacture of radio sets. The new principle of “airconditioning” is bringing a change in our working and living environment almost as revolutionary as the change from rush lamps to gas and electric lighting. It may produce even more startling changes in house and factory design than the discovery of cement.

The air-conditioning system changes, in fact, the constituents, temperature, and “make-up” of the air in any building. You can sit at your office desk or factory bench, or wake up in your bedroom in the morning, breathing the air of the seaside. “Air Conditioning Engineers Ltd.,” of Wellington, are one of a number of progressive New Zealand units proceeding with this revolution. At the time of writing they are installing a plant in the many-floored building occupied by the Income Tax Department, in Wellington. By means of a series of furnaces, blower units with air-changing devices, the new air is conducted along great ducts to every part of the building. The system has extraordinary features. I visited a floor where it was in full operation. In spite of the serried ranks of busy clerks, thousands of files, and perpetual motion everywhere, the air in the room was as fresh as spring, and just the right working temperature.

On one pillar, quite inconspicuous, was a small neat device which in actuality was a thermostat. By altering this, the warmth of the room could be decreased or increased at will.

Close inspection of the air-conditioning apparatus revealed further marvels. The very nature of the air is page 14 page 15
(Photo, courtesy Green & Hahn) The main workroom at H. C. Urlwin Ltd., Christchurch.

(Photo, courtesy Green & Hahn)
The main workroom at H. C. Urlwin Ltd., Christchurch.

changed. Not only are all particles of dust and other contamination filtered out, but the humidity is regularised.

In winter, for example, air which is warmed is too dry; in summer, the air contains too much moisture. In spite of the efficient screens provided by the human nostrils, these day-to-day defects in the air we breathe cause all sorts of trouble. Colds are often due to the breathing of air that is too dry, and the feeling of summer fatigue is caused by too much humidity. Airconditioning puts everything right.

There is not space here to describe the simple, yet effective methods which the air-conditioning plant uses (with scientific precision) to wash, filter, and adjust the humidity of the air which passes through its set of devices. The temperature, however, can be raised in winter, lowered in summer, and regulated, generally, with perfect ease.

The vista opened up is illimitable. A house installation had eight rooms connected. In other words, without fires or heating mechanisms of any kind in the rooms, every spot, from bathroom to bedroom, was at the desired temperature.

In buildings not air-conditioned there is, as a rule, a cold layer of air which is heated as warm air rises from stove or heater. Under the air-conditioning system, the warm air enters at the top, is pushed by the steady pressure of the blowers until its fills the whole room. Then it flows through vents, which are placed at floor level, and returns home. In the Income Tax Building in Wellington, all the air in the largest room is completely changed every ten minutes.

I can see the day, when happy fathers will never have to chop kindling wood; they will manufacture their own inside weather with an airconditioning plant. The head of the house may even have it cooler in the study where he wants to work than in the sitting-room where the family want it cosy for listening-in.

I have given dozens of examples in this series of articles showing how New Zealand experts and technicians rise to the occasion, but in this A.C.E. Ltd. there is one achievement worth special mention. For a blower and furnace unit, 80% is considered standard efficiency in Europe and U.S.A., but the A.C.E. unit carries a certificate of 96%. The expert responsible modestly ascribed the success to a “fluke” due to the necessity of designing a smaller and more compact set for New Zealand use, than was customary elsewhere.

The platforms for the air-conditioning plant at the Ford Building, Wellington. This building is the temporary home of the Income Tax Department.

The platforms for the air-conditioning plant at the Ford Building, Wellington. This building is the temporary home of the Income Tax Department.

In manufacturing establishments, the new system is invaluable. Many folk know that various textiles need for success different degrees of humidity and temperature, as we so often hear in the story about English tweeds.

Many food commodities, notably chocolates, also require certain definite conditions.

Air-conditioning meets and solves these problems, but plays a still more important part in the maintenance of health. Factories employing processes which produce dust, grit and so on, can be transformed into ozone-filled health camps.

To my astonishment, too, I found that the cost was low. An average house can be fitted at an expense which is not more than the cost of the usual heating facilities.

An interesting sidelight appears for New Zealand, with its ample hydroelectric supply: heating necessary for the new process can be obtained from power stored during the time the peak load is not being used.

The compact plant of A.C.E. Ltd. is growing all the time, and it is fine to know that in this, the latest development of modern civic progress in comfort, New Zealand is up with the world leaders.

Earlier in this article, there is a list of electrical utilities which would be in use in a fully equipped up-to-date home. I have covered two widely differing subjects, the familiar radio, page 16 and the unfamiliar instrument for manufacturing weather. As to the balance of the long list, all the articles are fairly well covered in the capacious establishment of H. C. Uriwin Ltd., Christchurch. A journey, with the breezy founder, through this establishment of multifarious activities, would be a liberal education for the carpers who doubt our capacity to manufacture on a level of world parity. The “Speedee” electrical appliances are legion, and in Mr. Url-win's own words: “We don't assemble —we make.”

He could have added that the things are made for the New Zealand household, as if designed by our own kitchen gnome or sitting-room fairy to be precisely suitable for our particular needs. In addition, there are the departments that make the lovely “Peter Pan” and “Perlux” ware.

The main workroom (shown in our picture) did my heart good. It was a grand view of hundreds of New Zealanders finding their right avocations; for instance, I was introduced to one tool-maker who had been a struggling farm-hand driven to the city in the depression. His natural genius, on finding expression, had placed him in a year or two in the ranks of the highly-paid precision craftsman. Another striking example was the girl who was winding coils at express speed, and when asked how long it had taken her to learn she answered cheerily, “Half an hour.”

It is comforting to think that all over New Zealand these courageous enterprises of the Urlwin type are converting young citizens into skilled artists at all manner of jobs. The uniforms here are orange and blue, and there is a sunlit air about the place. I found the household articles fascinating. The unbreakable jug; the toaster; the combination breakfast radiator-cooker; “Solray” soldering irons; foot-warmers, and a whole clan of small stoves, grillers and so on. Neat and sweet table lamps, torches, an ingenious three-way switch stand alongside silver-shining kettles and nickel-plated milk urns.

A room in the Ford Building, Wellington (occupied by the Income Tax Department) showing the air-conditioning ducts attached to the ceiling.

A room in the Ford Building, Wellington (occupied by the Income Tax Department) showing the air-conditioning ducts attached to the ceiling.

Indeed in the ordinary way, there would be difficulty in naming a household article that the electrically-minded housewife could not get in the “Speedee” list.

Here, too, is the most complete bakelite plant in New Zealand, from which emerge the rainbow-coloured things known as “Peter Pan” ware. Blues, shimmering yellows, warm reds and browns, and dainty greens are comprised in table things of every type and size, from the condiment set to the serviette ring, from pin bowl to tankard. The pastel shades of “Perlux” are another variation, seen to advantage in lamp-shades, cocktail tables and ash-bowls.

The plant at Urlwins Ltd. is as modern as anything in the world. Diecasting in brass, the Ward automatic screw machine and a capstan lathe, huge guillotine, a 200-ton hydraulic press, and a well-equipped wood-working section are among the highlights. All is well with “Professor Speedee,” for the factory is in course of being doubled in size. I was interested to hear, too, from the founder of this great enterprise, that “New Zealand-made” was tagged to all his goods, and that the name was “doing them good.”

Our New Zealand firms, in touch with every last - minute move in methods have also the added advantage of having a knowledge on the ground of local requirements. “Buying New Zealand goods,” therefore, is simply a matter of common sense.

[Since this article was written the factory of H. C. Uriwin Ltd., has been destroyed by fire. Rebuilding work will proceed at once, and it is expected that the new factory will be in production in the near future.—Ed.]