Getting so much done ..

[badpenny]

I can totally recommend to you all this "losing your job" malarkey. The more times I do it the easier I manage it as well. I suppose I should allow the bankers and the government some of the credit but I don't like them so I shan't.

In two and a half weeks I've taken 3 of my basket cases and done this .......

I've not touched the outsides, the only one I was tempted to was The Personality with the red paint. However it has a distinct Fairground feel to it so have decided against meddling.

Inside however was a different story. Although amazingly simple and uncomplicated I could have gotten half a dozen bandits up and running in the same time. Bandits tend to confuse themselves in expected areas and the cycle can be broken down into easy to understand lumps. These machines however rely on switches designed by Enid Blyton and progression gears and ratchets that seem woefully skinny for the job and require more precision in their operation than anything NASA drives round. By the time you adjust something at one end so it's right the other end is miles out.
The cantankerous of them all was The Passion Meter. It was never a popular machine to operate due to the amount of strength needed to turn the knobs. Still, I persevered and by making some changes to the linkages I got it so that an adult can operate it. I fear to make it even easier would require adding grips or wings to the knobs. The effect is great though as the lights progress up the thermometer scale due to the rake of contacts against the metal rods on the wooden drum.
I think they make a lovely trio and will probably keep them.

So guys, over to you for identification and probable ages.

[slotalot]

Nice one Jeremy, Mr Whales would have been proud of you
as for probable ages? I think we were born around the same time weren't we?

[badpenny]

......... half six in the morning?

[arrgee]

So guys, over to you for identification and probable ages.

I would guess early to mid 50s for the iss meter but a bit earlier for the personality, at around mid-late 30s with its hint of Art Deco style, but I could be completely wrong (I'm used to that at home). As for the Cupids Arrow - well, Cupid being the god of desire, affection and erotic love, I have absolutely no idea (as I said, like being at home).

[andydotp]

Nice work BP.
That 'Personality' reminds me of some of the early Jubilee bandits - similar diamonds on vertical striped background.
Not making any assumptions to maker there.

Oh, Argee, one assumes the missus doesn't read your posts
--------------------------------------------------------------

[toibs]

Looking good there Jeremy - good to see that you're keeping busy - hope you find something to pay the bills soon

[gameswat]

Hey BadPenny - I operated a Cupids Arrow for a few years and it did really well. Part of that was the way I set it up. I adjusted the damper very slow, so the arrow stopped by itself and not by the notched wheel. So this meant sometimes the arrow was right in between fortunes. Then about 5 to 10 seconds later the damper allowed the stop pin to engage into the notched wheel, and this would sometimes change the fortune by one postion either way. People loved it, as if the machine had decided to change its mind, haha!

[gameswat]

Oh and nice job on all three machines by the way! They don't look over restored (something I saw too much of at Chcicagoland) but just right.

[badpenny]

Hey BadPenny - I operated a Cupids Arrow for a few years and it did really well. Part of that was the way I set it up. I adjusted the damper very slow, so the arrow stopped by itself and not by the notched wheel. So this meant sometimes the arrow was right in between fortunes. Then about 5 to 10 seconds later the damper allowed the stop pin to engage into the notched wheel, and this would sometimes change the fortune by one postion either way. People loved it, as if the machine had decided to change its mind, haha!

What a cunning ploy Gameswat , I like your style, your wallet and most probably your wife.

[gameswat]

What a cunning ploy Gameswat , I like your style, your wallet and most probably your wife.

yes - no - no

[badpenny]

I bow to your wisdom in such matters

[gameswat]

No money - no wife - and no clue!

[badpenny]

Ah .... cleverer than me as well eh?

[badpenny]

I'm beginning to wonder why I ever went to work, all it ever did for me was stress me out, make me resentful and pay the bills.

Now I'm into week four of unemployment I'm relaxed, happier and hiding behind the sofa from the postman.

So here's the next machine restored, I'm rattling through them now.

For anyone who hasn't experienced a Clown or Shield Catcher. There is a lot going on inside.
This one works on the old ha'penny.
When you win the payout is automatic, you get your money back, a bell rings you win a token from those in view and another is added to the back of the queue.
A lot happening and all reliant upon everything being freed and springs being correctly tensioned.

It had taken me a while to get round to this one as I had convinced myself there must be a bit missing as the tokens weren't moving. It was only over the weekend that I took the trouble to really get it under the scrute-a-scope. I was thinking that it was one problem I was facing when it was two.
The tokens weren't paying out due to the release being stuck in dried grease, and the mechanism that released another one from the tube to be added to the back end was actually working, however they were disappearing down a gap at the side of the chute and not getting as far as the window on the front. I unscrewed the back of the mech away from the playfield and found a couple of dozen tokens stashed away between the two.
Any-Hoo everything now back to normal.

Anybody any idea as to its origins, I'm never sure which is from where or when........... ?
It has marks on the top where a pediment probably went.
The number 414 is stamped onto the roof of the case.
None of the furniture is chromed it all looks Nickel Plated and rather crude. The payout is a tray and not a fork.

All suggestions welcomed, scribbled on the back of a banknote and posted to the usual address........ food parcels would be nice too.

[slotalot]

Hi Jeremy, yet another nice machine, by the way don't call it being out of work , call it early retirement, I did and I love it
By the way was the number 414, AD or BC? maybe this could be the oldest machine

[gameswat]

BadPenny - wow, that's unusual for the coin to return as well as a token. I've never seen one do this before, only a token payout. I was looking at the mech photo and can't see how that works. But I don't have access to one of my own machines at the moment to compare with and it's been a while since I've messed with one of these games. Looks like a Jentzsch and Meerz German made to me circa 1912 ish.

[badpenny]

The coin played ends up held in a gate by a pin. Coins played after fall through a slot in the gate above the trapped coin into the back of the case. Part of the winning cycle opens and then closes the pin allowing the coin held to drop through into the payout tray. Next coin played replaces the one paid out.

I forgot to mention that upon winning you also get the ball back as well. Consequently if you win again you get another token and another ball in play but no coin return.

In the photo if you follow the coin track down and come past the ball trip then behind the swing arm that takes the ball to the top, you'll see the gate and the lever with the pin on the end.

[badpenny]

The next machine receiving my attention is a Mills Puritan with a preference for stopping half way through its cycle and spitting the coin back at you.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself and felt I was getting through the pile awaiting restoration until I got a PM from a forum member asking if I had any projects I wanted to sell.
At first my reaction was to consider what I have with me in Lincoln, then my mind started to wander over the other two counties where my rubbish is spread.
To my horror I started quoting various Beromats, a defunct Mills Extraordinary, Jennings Governor with shite chrome, one of those football flick ball vendor nasty things we were discussing a month ago, a pair of 30's pintables (pre flipper) never even looked at them.

I need to get my act together.

Swinderby end of May ...... Coventry November ...... PMs from Forum members ....... and no job!

[treefrog]

I went all the way to Newark a few weeks ago to see your fine collection BP, what happened ......if you run out of new projects I can get some of my machines over to you

[badpenny]

I went all the way to Newark a few weeks ago to see your fine collection BP, what happened ......if you run out of new projects I can get some of my machines over to you

You mad fool you! Anyone heading this way is compelled to shout first so I can get the kettle on and hunt out some clean socks.

I was too late for Newark, was there owt there?
I'm booked for Swinderby, it's a one day'er.

I've finally managed to find my boxes of funny shaped bits of metal I enthusiastically call spare bits. I'll photo them in piles and if anyone sees anything they can't live without I'm happy to talk.