Hidden Damage to Goods Revealed
Page 61
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PACKAGES are often received by a customer with the outer casing apparently undamaged, but the con tents broken. He blames either the manufacturer for bad packing or the carrier for bad handling. In either case, ill will is felt by one of the parties.
A device, the Late° shock recorder, is now being marketed by A. Latter and Co., Ltd., Croydon, which will show whether the package has suffered a shock severe enough to damage its contents. It eonsists of two flat leaf springs, one of which has a hole near the end in which rests a small steel ball held there hy the other spring. Two such sets are mounted at right angles to each other
on a plastics base, with a transparent plastics cover over the whole.
The recorder is fixed either to the outer casing or to the packed article. In the latter case the package has a window so that the recorder is visible. The instrument is 11 in. lone and can
be set to any value of g. to cover shocks ranging from 5g. to 350g. The actual setting to be used is discovered by experiment.
If the package receives a shock severe enough to damage its contents the steel balls are released from the springs. Anybody handling it can then tell at a glance whether it has been roughly treated.
The device has been in use in France for some time and is accepted by the French National Railways for deterrnining whether responsibility for damage lies with them. At present it is imported from France, hut production at Croydon is to start shortly.