Insurance 'by Clockwork [COMMUNICATED.] . • THE Saving Clock has
reached this 'country from Sweden. It is manufactured to take a weekly instalment of one kroner, and with a simple alteration-it can be adapted to take weekly instalments of two kroner or three kroner per week or even one kroner per day. • - Further; it Can be adapted by a simple alteration to take English coins according to requireMents. The clock does not go unleSs the. coin . is inserted, therefore,- by this means the owner, is compelled to. put in the requisite Coin at regular intervals or the clock will run . down. . • There is on the face of it no reason why this clock should not be utilized for the preliminarY collection of insurance premiums; the weekly savings being allowed to accumu-: late during each-quarter and then; collected by a repre-; sentative of the insurance office: Not only life insurance premiums might be so collected, but sickness, accident and other classes of insurance premiums.
The clock is wound up in the ordinary way but does not actually start until the coin is placed in the slot. The: mechanism is not complicated: The. weight of the coin drives a cog and continues: tO7do so for qi specified time after which -it is released' and falls through into thei Collecting chamber. :The chamber is closed by a bar whic.h. can only be released by the breaking of a seal. . There is •iido a slot in the; ack of the clock into this chamber by.
fp* Means- oi,-ryhich ifiihe 9144 las be 04 all.' . . to stop for a period ..the nWne -iedntributiftyill ' inserted without affecting the normal working o -e clock.
The clock is also fitted with an alarum, but.this is for the usual purposes and not for the purpose of warning the owner that his contribution is due. If, of course, when emptying_ the, clock the -necessary amount is not in the coin chamber, the assured would have to make up the shortage before obtaining his quarterly receipt. In Sweden the practice is for the clock, which is of attrac- tive design, to be purchased by the assured on the basis of a small payment clowri and the halanae by quarterly instalments. This, however, is entirely a matter of arrangement: - Whilst insurance by means of the clock system would be slightly more expensive than by the ordinary life assurance system under which the premium is forwarded by the assured to the life office, it would show an immense saving as regards the expenses incurred under the indui- trial life system of weekly instahnents collected from door to door. Such savingin expense would ultimately result in lower rates in respect of industrial life policies and greater canvassing opportunities for the outdoor staff of the company; In Sweden, 'where the organization has not yet been by any means fully developed, life insurances to the extent of a million and a half -kroner per month have been taken out by means of the clock system, and the system is also being adopted with success in Denmark, Norway and Finland. There: is no doubt that in the early stages of a system of this kind problems and diffi- culties would have to be'solved, but this is common to all new systems and it is not conceived that any such pro- blems could not in the course of time be solved. - Whilst the clock can be utilized for insurance, this by no means is the limit of its usefulness. It could be used for collection on behalf of charitable institutions ; for the purpose of hire purchase or as an ordinary savings bank. It is certainly an ingenious invention and it will be very interesting to see whether it will eventually have a part in the development of insurance in this country, where those responsible have always been ready to adopt new systems provided they were satisfied that in doing so they could show additional advantages to their insurers, and especially by curtailing the cost of production of the business.
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