Exhibit Supply Co. Imperial Crane

[arrgee]

Saw this Merchantman recently, made by the Exhibit Supply Co. of Chicago, label states 1936.

Lovely piece of slot machinery and in full working order.

[sjt1803]

Hi
It's NOT a Merchantman but a more rare crane made at the same time called IMPERIAL. Though not easily seen in the photos, the name is on the cast emblem on the front near the bottom.

[brigham]

No Ship?

[sjt1803]

The Imperial has the front of the ship but not the casting of the ships bridge behind it.

[paul]

Hi all,
The pictures below are from my collection - the IMPERIAL is a stunning art-Deco machine.

[ddstoys]

Exhibit sure made some stunning machines.

[arrgee]

Strewth, that's taken almost 12 years for a response

[sjt1803]

Hi all,
The pictures below are from my collection - the IMPERIAL is a stunning art-Deco machine.

If you look carefully at Paul's machine, you will notice there are two signs on the left and right of the ships bow. They are, on the left, all the patents for the machine and on the right instructions. They are toward the back where the Bridge casting on the Merchantman would be mounted.

If anyone reading this knows of someone with an Exhibit Supply lattice boom please PM me. I need one for my machine.

I am also looking for the Exhibit Supply brochure / catalog for this machine

exhibit-supply-illustrated-catalog-digger_1_32357ae86f4b928d521ea81fa0b4cee1.jpg (21.42 KiB) Viewed 4522 times

Here are those signs

[brigham]

Does the Imperial pre-date the Merchantman?

[pennymachines]

Yes, apparently - arcade-museum.com has it as 1931 and the Merchantman was introduced in 1935. Exhibit Supply produced a great range of cranes in various cabinet designs, starting with the Iron Claw of 1926. My Imperial also has a broken lattice boom - seems to have been a weakness.