Alexander Walker Reid
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Alexander Walker Reid (14 September 1853 – 21 November 1938) was a 19th-century New Zealand farmer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He was notable for making Stratford the second or third New Zealand town to have an
electricity supply Mains electricity, utility power, grid power, domestic power, wall power, household current, or, in some parts of Canada, hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is de ...
, for constructing the first steam-powered motor car in the country, and for creating an innovative
milking machine Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of cattle, water buffalo, humans, goats, sheep, and, more rarely, camels, horses, and donkeys. Milking may be done by hand or by machine, and requires the animal to be currently or rec ...
.


Family

Reid was born in
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, Scotland, on 14 September 1853. His parents were Alexander Reid, a carter, and Helen Reid. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1860, arriving at Lyttelton on the ''William Miles'' on 21 August. They took up farming at Southbridge and later moved to Springfield. Reid is thought to have possibly been trained as an apprentice by Scott Brothers in
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
. On 28 June 1876 Reid married Janet Whyte at Christchirch and moved to
Ōpunake Ōpunake () is a small urban area in the North Island of New Zealand, located within the Taranaki region and governed by the South Taranaki District Council. Positioned along State Highway 45, it lies between Hāwera to the south and New Plymo ...
in 1882. Reid bought land on Bird Road,
Ngaere Ngaere is a village situated on State Highway 3, south of Stratford, New Zealand. The name "Ngaere" means "swamp" in English, and before settlement, the area was covered by a vast and ancient wetland. Attractions Ngaere Gardens, which once ...
, which he farmed. From about 1898 they lived in Stratford. The Reids had seven children. He was described as a hard man and a perfectionist. Reid was also a reasonably good photographer with many of his photos now in the
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collection. Janet Reid died on 13 November 1918, an early victim of the
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. On 26 March 1926, at Wharehuia near Stratford, Reid married a widow, Ellen Anne Richmond. Reid died at Stratford on 21 November 1938.


Civic affairs

Reid took served as a justice of the peace, a member of the Ngaire Road Board, and a Councillor on the Stratford County Council. He was involved in forming a cooperative dairy packing company and the opening of the Waitara Freezing Works. Reid was a
Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
and the first master of the Stratford lodge. He was a grand lodge officer.


Inventor and entrepreneur

In
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Reid went into partnership operating a
threshing machine A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of agricultural machinery, farm equipment that separates grain seed from the plant stem, stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed ...
which he had modified.


Electricity supply

He was instrumental in bringing electricity to Stratford, demonstrating electric lighting and cooking to the Stratford Town Board when they were considering installing either gas or electricity. Reid had joined with Adam Porter of
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to put on the display and make a proposal to the council in opposition to a Mr Watt from Balclutha who had proposed a water gas system. The ''
Taranaki Herald The ''Taranaki Herald'' was an afternoon daily newspaper, published in New Plymouth, New Zealand. It began publishing as a four-page tabloid on 4 August 1852. It was the first newspaper published in Taranaki and it became the country's oldest ...
's'' local agent wrote against the Reid/Porter proposal. Reid's proposal to supply electricity to the town prevailed and, after arranging financial backing, he formed the Stratford Electrical Supply Company in 1898. An act of Parliament was required to allow a private companies to supply electricity. Stratford was the third town in New Zealand, after
Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast region of New Zealand, approximately northeast of Greymouth, New Zealand, Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is to ...
in 1887 and
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in 1888, to have electric street lighting. Straford went live in 1890. The company built a
hydroelectric power station Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also mo ...
on the
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. It consisted of a wooden dam and a tunnel approximately 100 yards long complete with a
surge chamber In hydropower, a surge chamber is a large pressurized underground chamber creating a free surface in the waterway to improve the dynamic abilities of the power plant waterways. It is generally used for long waterways when a surge shaft can not be cr ...
. Two
penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is of Scots origin, and was inherited from the earlier technology of mill pond ...
s led water to
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...
s driving
alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...
s which had been imported from
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. The plant produced single-phase
alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...
at 40 cycles and 2,200 volts, and had a capacity of 90 kilowatts. In town the voltage was reduced to 105 volts for domestic consumption. Parts of the installations remain.


Steam-powered vehicles

Reid next turned his attention to self-propelled vehicles. Between 1903 and 1906 he produced three steam-driven cars. The engines and boilers were imported from America, with modifications and bodywork completed in Stratford. The cars were two-cylinder, chain-driven and powered by
kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
, and had a rating of about four horsepower. Before general vehicle registration was introduced Reid's personal car carried the number plate SD1 (Stratford District 1). He stopped working on the cars' development as he thought
petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...
engines were more likely. He sold two of the cars and kept one for himself. James Livingston of Patea owned one of the first Reid cars. Its steam engine ran on a small primus burner under a tank of water. When Livingston bought a
Darracq STD Motors, formerly Darracq & Company, was a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines based in Suresnes near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he so ...
in 1904 the Reid was destroyed. Its engine was removed and used by a local farmer to run a pump, and the chassis was converted into a trailer. The trailer was sold in the 1920s or '30s.


Milking machine

At the same time he was producing his steam cars, Reid was also developing a mechanical
milking machine Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of cattle, water buffalo, humans, goats, sheep, and, more rarely, camels, horses, and donkeys. Milking may be done by hand or by machine, and requires the animal to be currently or rec ...
. Innovations included were a variable-speed pulsator and rubber cups with reinforced sections which simulated the natural sucking action of a calf. Mechanical milkers of the time were difficult to clean and therefore created a danger of contaminated milk. Reid's AWR machine was designed to be easy to clean. He founded the AWR Milking Machine Company Limited to produce and market the machine. He also had it patented. The first AWR machines came on the market in about 1907 and were sold as far away as
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. The application for a patent for his machine was challenged in Australia in 1913 with the Commissioner of Patents. Reid was granted a hearing.


"Pop top" caravan

In his later years, Reid created his own
caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...
. His first was a pop-top in which one pulled a rope, the top came up and the sides came down. The next was made from a hardboard-like material.


References


External links


Biography of Alexander W Reid

Photograph of the Reid car

Photograph of AWR milking machine display in 1915
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Alexander Walker 1853 births 1938 deaths 19th-century New Zealand inventors 19th-century New Zealand farmers Steam cars New Zealand Freemasons Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from Stratford, New Zealand Cars of New Zealand Colony of New Zealand people 20th-century New Zealand inventors