Restoring a 1950s Penny Slot Arcade Machine - the mechanics

A second break from steampunk; although it does involve a fabulous 70 year old mechanical games machine. Not an electron in sight!

The "Easy '9'" is a classic Allwin penny in the slot arcade game from the 1950s. It's completely mechanical and this one needs a lot of tender loving care. In the last video I completely dismantled the badly bowed hardwood cabinet before indulging in a session of sanding, planing, adding extra thin bits of wood and lovingly polishing it with beewax - I do love wood! I then reassembled it almost back to its original glory.

Now it's time to sort out the mechanics. I have to say, just like roast dinners, I do like to keep the best bits for last (Yorkshire Puddings and mechanics).

These machines are ever so clever. The player provides the penny and motive power and then gravity does the rest. Allwin produced a vast range of games machines all based on the mechanics within the "Easy '9'", which makes you appreciate the brilliance of the design.

The first problem is nothing happens if you win - not a good feature to encourage the insertion of pennys! It turned out the issue was caused by a sheet of 1950s plastic that had, as all the other plastic has done, warped. So to replace it with a piece of laser cut 2mm Acrylic. Use a ruler...naaa, scan it. Even though it was transparent, most interestingly it had a red hue to it that faded wherever the plastic had not been in contact with the wooden panel.

Then there's the most amazingly cunning anti-theft device - a ratchet, pawl and spring. Something that would be so simple to achieve these days with elecmatronicals, has been achieved so brilliantly with a simple mechanism. The winning coin dispenser is also brilliant - simple and effective - amazing what can be achieved with a bit of bent metal.

I apologise for continuing to expound the virtues of the design... but then there's the mechanism that catches the spent ball and releases it using the weight of a penny using an escapement, similar to clock escapements.

It took ages to work out the purpose of another 'stiff' mechanism. Finally I worked out it allowed the proprietor to control whether you got another go along with your returned coin having won!

Having solved a variety of other mechanical problems, I finally got it working perfectly.

I've so enjoyed this project. It's so special to have the opportunity to get an old machine working again. Old machines definately have a personality and deserve lots of tender loving care!

As always, information on all my inventions can be found at https://steamhead.co.uk/