Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

British Coin Pioneer Still Going
Strong After 50 Years In Trade
by HARRY HOOPER
Some years back a London theater ran a
play with the title, "Who's Hooper," and
the trade used to bandy and joke with
same. Anyway, if anybody asked "Who's
Hooper," the answer was generally, "Why,
that's Old Bi1l of Islington, the daddy of
the trade. He was 70 last February and like
Johnny Walker's whisky, is still going
strong."
Ht' left school when he was 12 as he
says he could not afford the fee required
for pencils, paper, etc. (Eight cents
weekly, I believe it was.)
At the age of 14 he was a Cock Horse
Boy. He had a horse with a towing chain
that had to be hooked onto the horses and
vans that could not make the grade over
Tower Bridge and for this service I be·
lieve they get a small fee. They were a
tough bunch of boys and fights were often.
He had to go through the mill, but after
about a dozen fights he waa finally acknowl·
edged as the leader of the Cock Horse
Boys and held the title until he quit to
hetter himself.
It was 'way back in 1898 that he started
in the automatic world and for operators
they were really the good old days. In those
days he was working as a screw turner at
long hours for about 18 shillings a week
(approximately four dollars) and had to
travel about six miles by horse·drawn street
car. If he was one minute late he found
the gates shut and lost that day's work.
Not being flush with money, he had to
build his first machine from scrap as there
was also the worry of an addition to the
family coming along. He bought an old
Remington typewriter packing case for four
cents to make the case and playfield. Some
empty tin cans were cut up and he ruined
Ma's only pair of scissors to make the
works (coin chute, coin return, etc.). Then
down came one of Mother's best red velvet
curtains to cover the back flash playfield.
A penny length of rubber tube cut up with
nails stuck through made the bouncing
pins. The "win, lose and return" cups were
made from tin cans and the trigger tension
spring was one or more rubber bands, ac·
cording to the tension needed.
The object of the game was to insert the
penny to the playfield and flip it up to
pockets or cups marked "win, lost or re-
turned." If they won, they pulled out a
drawer which vended a cardboard token of
2, 4 or 12 cent. There were only one or
two 12-cent vouchers in the machine, but
it used to get the play. He improved his
machines as time went on and used balls
with a channel that receded by pressing
a knob to drop the ball into cups.
The playing public, which was always
out to beat the machines, made gadgets to
hold the knob and fix the channel so that
the ball dropped into the winning pocket
every time. So Pop fItted on what he
called a dogscock, which was a round piece
of metal which stuck out if the knob was
held in, and it held back the ball from
play. It is still used today for anti-cheat
"Old Bill" of Islington
ured out a "can for you" and a "can for
me."
They had some difficulties with the
authorities, so having foresight, Old Bill
bought some rusty and dilapidated Ameri-
C:1£ l.mperial electric machines. Complete
WIth Iron stands, they cost him approxi-
mately one dollar each. He got busy with
the paint pot and painted both stand~
and machines with a brilliant royal blue
and the backflash a vivid red to draw th~
eye.
As the operators got orders to remove
their machines, Old Bill generally refitted
the pitch with one of his flash electrics
and the tops of the stands were covered
in vehet (but not Ma's curtains this
time). For many years they had a good
non-competitive run and the operators who
had sold him the "junk," as they called
it, wanted to buy it back and offered him
fancy prices; but he would not sell. He
still has them on location to this day
and they still fiddle, as he calls it.
One old wooden case electric machine
with the old-fashioned glass jar batteries
he bought for seven dimes in the renowned
Caledonian Cattle Market. He cut off about
six inches from the depth of the machine,
and to my own knowledge it has been
in one location for over 25 years and is
still earning. Of course, it has been back
a couple of times to be overhauled, reo
chromed, etc., and is now fitted with two
1'h volt dry cells.
Old Bill imported the first fruit type
machine from France. It was the French
D?mino, with three spinning reels; the
wmners paid out on the "one" or "six"
with free games. The machines were beau-
tiful but they were cast from white metal
which broke and buckled like glass, and
if the weather penetrated same, it· was
"goodnight, nurse." He imported hundred;;
of machines from France and operated
and sold them. The approximate price wa~
16 dollars per machine. The best of these
was the Caille pay-out, as there were
always buyers waiting for them. Many of
them are still in use.
He then had a verbal contract for
hundreds of German Seca weighers and
gave them the ideas for many improve·
ments such as full length till, visible slot
in case of choke, 24 stone dials in lieu
of 20, inasmuch as the heavy customer
~enerally overweighed and locked same.
He helped to push the Rainbo pin table
and made over 3,000 stands for same.
During the slumps he had many side-
lines, one of which was a shooting gallery
outside a puhlic house in a busy market
street in Islington, with electric bell fixed
to a bulls-eye. The rifles fired lead pellets
and it had a good run until one Saturday
night a few fellows who had had one too
many had a bash at it and missed not
only the target but the safety iron back-
board as well. Luckily the pellet missed
the near-passing public but hit and lodged
in the cheek of a fellow who was some
distance away. Ma went to his aid and
dug it out with her hat pin and Pop
worked him a half dollar and treated
him to a couple of pints, so he went off
happy but folk complained so it finished
the range.
Bill, my oldest brother, is the true
mechanic and has thought out and built
some fine machines; some wall machines
I ~ring to mind are the Skill Score, Roto
Dlsk, Score A Goal, No Loss, Channel
Win, etc. He also devised and built the
first flashing lights fruit machine, Silver
Stars, and also numerous payouts, not
forgetting the predetermined payout horse-
racing machines, some of which are still
purpo~es.
After that the Clown and other machines
came on the market and were operated
mostly in public houses. The operators did
not bother to count the takings when col-
lecting, so borrowed a beer can and meas-
DECEMBER, 1947
11