Radio Rifle

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gameswat
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Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Currently trying to find some missing information on my 1930 Radio Rifle so as to get the restoration underway. I picked this machine up from an old time US collector and I really dig it. I've heard of three other surviving examples but never seen them. I know of one collector who has actually played a restored machine and he loved it. The only photograph I have is from the English Amusement Equipment Hong Kong Works catalogue. Though the photo is quite small is does pass on some details. I'm missing the actual rifle, the trigger mech is all there, and the machine was also alterted to remove the film delivery system. For those who don't know the machine it's a cracker! You insert a coin and press down on the front lever, this resets the purely mechanical mech and turns a light on. The machine projects a single frame of 35mm black and white film out the front of the cabinet. This is projected anywhere from 8 to 20 feet away onto a wall or screen. You have 40 seconds or five shots to complete the game. You shoot at the projected images and try to hit the bullseyes, or other targets. The machine actually punctures the frame of film with every shot to simulate a real gun! After the time or shots are used another lever is pulled out from the machine and this slices the used frame of film free to drop out a chute at the front. A memento of your accuracy. Very cool.

I was given part of an original flyer for the game which didn't tell me anything but had some nice graphics. It'd been stuck into a folder and yesterday I decided to try and soak the page free to see if there was anything on the back. It worked! And I found a wealth of info. It gave me the worldwide Patent numbers which allowed me to find the US Patent from 1930. Though the patent drawings differed enough from the actual machine to not be much help. Then I decided to check the PennyMachines Patent list and while looking I ended up at the Espacenet site. I typed in the heading "Marksmanship Indicating Device" from my US Patent and four different European Patents turned up. Absolutely amazingly one was for my machine from 1932, "Improvements In Feeding And Cutting Film Strips" !!! This is exactly the mechanism in the machine. While photos of another machine would be great this should be enough to restore the film slicing parts. But I'm still looking for the exact type of rifle used on the machine, anybody???????
I was very lucky to find some small rolls of NOS film in the base of the machine. There are 88 different pin-up girl images before they start again, I plan to have enough copied that I'll never run out!
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radio rifle film_1_2_2_1.jpg
radio rifle mech rhd_2_1_1.JPG
radio rifle_1_1_1.JPG
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john t peterson
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by john t peterson »

Gameswat,

What a fascinating game. You sure have a talent for finding the treasures! This beauty showcases more than just the pleasures of time's past, it demonstrates the evolution of society in general and the woman's movement specifically. Using woman as shooting targets??! I don't think so, boys, not in this millennium.
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by coin-op »

John T. Peterson wrote:Using woman as shooting targets??! I don't think so, boys,
Surely it depends on whether you're shooting blanks :twisted:
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gameswat
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Yeah John, you just have to love those target films and the placement of some of those bullseyes. There's a great one of a girl on her hands and knees looking back over her shoulder at you, and you just know where she was getting shot! I've heard that John Papa of National Juke has some wartime film that shows Hitler and Tojo, maybe I can get hold of some of that?! I've just asked him about a machine he may have too. I found one frame of sliced film that came out of the guts of a UK machine I exported. Even though it's been shot I actually think it was an advertising frame that was supposed to only be showing between plays. It shows three bullseyes and says "Radio Rifle Is Safe - 3 Shots A Penny". So these things were definately being operated in the UK in some numbers - where are they all now? If anybody knows of surviving film please let me know.
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daveslot
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by daveslot »

I used to own one of these - the film with it had cartoon characters on it. I have a picture of the rifle somewhere.
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gameswat
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Dave- a photo of the rifle would be great! Did you have the machine running? The flyer I have says that normally the film carries ads every second frame to induce people to play the machine, but that the operator may prefer to sell that advertising space to someone else for added income from the machine. My machine only came with non-advertising film but after looking closely at the English film frame I found I noticed that there is lettering showing on the frame above it? Maybe that was so the film could never get out of sequence when being played? This frame hasn't been shot so it must've been the advert.
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radio rifle penny film_1_1_1.jpg
radio rifle penny film_1_1_1.jpg (55.12 KiB) Viewed 4186 times
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gameswat
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Was just searching the net and came across these used film frames for sale on eBay. I have yet to do any work on the mechanism but it looks like there must be some adjustment built in for how much film is moved with each play, to allow for the ad and target to be sliced.
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radio rifle ads 2.jpg
radio rifle film ads 1.jpg
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operator bell
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by operator bell »

I notice the original pin-up film is "nitrate film". The Ebay example is "safety film".
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daveslot
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by daveslot »

Here are some pics of the rifle. I have a film somewhere - there were 12 different images on it but no adverts.
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gameswat
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Awesome Dave!! More than enough information for me to make the missing rifle. I'll probably end up hand making that stock to match the photo, and the barrel is just a length of pipe. It really only needed something to act as a sight anyway but since I have to make it I'd much prefer it to be exact. Thank you, rory.
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by slotalot »

gameswat wrote:Awesome Dave!! More than enough information for me to make the missing rifle. I'll probably end up hand making that stock to match the photo, and the barrel is just a length of pipe. It really only needed something to act as a sight anyway but since I have to make it I'd much prefer it to be exact. Thank you, rory.
Hi gameswat :D , I don't know if it will be any help to you :!?!: but if you check out this link it has lots of info on rifle stocks.... good luck Stuart. :tarah:
http://riflestocks.tripod.com/links.html
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by chrisfabs »

Hi guys, For those interested I have an original NOS ADOLF, BENITO, & THE JAP film for the radio rifles. I will be making some copies of it soon. Would love to see some more pics of your games. Thanks, Chris Would love to purchase or trade for one too! I am in US and would be able to find you some of your wants.
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by badpenny »

Welcome to the forum Chrisfabs :P
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gameswat
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Hey there chris, yeah, I'm definately interested in some more film for my machine! I'm planning to have a bunch of my original stuff copied so I'll be able to play the hell out of the game. As yet haven't had the time to restore my machine but did have a stroke of luck recently finding two patents for the mech. rory.
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by chrisfabs »

Hi Rory, Are the patents online? Can you send me the addresses? Thanks, Chris
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gameswat
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by gameswat »

Hey Chris, I don't have the links as i just printed the patents out when i found them. Took a lot of detective work to discover these two. First is a US Patent #1,776,816 "Marksmanship Indicating Device" dating from 1929. Not as useful as I'd hoped as it differs considerably from the machine as made. This seems to happen quite often, the original design not working in the real world the way it was imagined. Then I came across the second one which is UK Patent #367,975 dating 1932, and this is exactly what i was looking for as it's the machine mech that i have! I followed a link from Penny Machines Patent pages that took me to the UK Patent library to obtain the second one. rory.
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Re: Radio Rifle

Post by pennymachines »

Both patents can now be found here:
GB367975
US1776816
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