THE
COIN SLOT
MARCH
1975
Coin Slot Magazine - #007 - 1975 - March [International Arcade Museum]
minute repeater, produced in 1887. Waltham is the only American
Company to have ever mass produced a repeating watch, and, needless
to say, these items are extremely rare today.
One of the problems a collector of American watches faces today is
the identification of the movement. Many of the earlier movements are
not signed with the manufacturers name, just the model name or
number. Some of the most common Walthams just have the name P.S.
Bartlett engraved on the back plate, along with the serial number.
Another has the name Wm. Ellery. In the earlier stages of watch
company development in the U.S. it was common to name a movement
after a member of the firm, a famous person, or a well known place, and
this was felt to be enough identification. Each of the larger companies
used hundreds of names, and many times they used the same names. A
few of the more common Waltham names are:
Samuel Curtis — The first backer of Howard, Davis and Dennison.
P.S. Bartlett — A mechanic for The Boston Watch Co.
C.T. Parker — A technician for Tracy, Baker and Co.
R.E. Robbins — Treasurer of the company from 1859 to 1902
In addition to the above, the following names were also used:
Crescent Street, Adams Street, Broadway, Rark Road, Riverside,
Martyn Square, Hillside, Commander, Franklin, Traveler, Bond
Street, etc.
Without a doubt, the very best book available on all American
watches is called Almost Everything You Wanted To Know About
American Watches and Didn't Know Who To Ask, by Lt. Col. George
E. Townsend, USAF (Ret). It is available from all the horological
booksellers, or directly from Col. Townsend (406 Orchard Street,
Alma, Michigan 48801) for $5.25 ppd. Much of the information in this
article was made available to us by Col. Townsend. The cover
illustrations were printed with special permission of Col. Townsend,
and are from his book.
Front View Mills "Dewey" Mechanism
A front view of the mechanism of the Mills "Dewey" and
"Chicago" floor model slot machines. H.G. Mills, president of the
Mills Novelty Company in Chicago, was always ten steps ahead of his
competition. Mechanically, his machines were the most advanced,
particularly in terms of operator advantages.
The
"Dewey"
mechanism already existed when Admiral Dewey became a national
hero in the Spanish American War, so Mills put his name on the
machine. When Dewey was being boosted for President in 1900, it
was like free advertising all over the country. The distinct mechanical
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advantage of the "Dewey" was its coin head (patented by Mortimer
Mills, the father of H.S.) and the reliable mechanism. If you look
© The International Arcade Museum
5
confd on page 8
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