Coin Slot Magazine - #015 - 1976 - January [International Arcade Museum]
THE
BELL SLOT
by
Marshall A. Fey
The Liberty Bell is a treasured relic of American independence. It was rung
July 8, 1776 to announce the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Today
this bell is symbolic of our Bicentennial year. In honor of this famous Phila
delphia landmark the 1st three reel slot machine was dubbed the "Liberty
Bell". From the use of the appellation Liberty Bell, in reference to the early
slots, evolved the generic term "bell slot machines". This designation was used
by the industry to catogorize the popular three reel slot machine.
The bell slot came into existance in 1895,. when an ingenious gambling device
was created in San Francisco that was to be the backbone of the entire coin
operated gambling industry. The inventor, Bavarian immigrant Charles Fey,
probably chose the name for its synonymy with the freedoms and opportunities
offered in America.
Charles Fey placed his first Liberty Bell machine in a San Francisco saloon to
test its worth. It was such an instant success that he quit his job to devote all
his time into building more of these little money makers. Additional machines
were placed on location as fast as they could be built.
As the lucrative business continued to mushroom, Fey found he could no longer
operate out of his home. To accommodate the growth he set up his first shop at
406 Market Street in San Francisco. He remained at this address from 1897-
1906 building Liberty Bells and inventing other successful slot machines. As
more and more locations demanded Fey Machines, prosperity at the Market
Street address accelerated rapidly. Eventually Charles Fey & Co. was to ext
end the operation of machines as far south as San Jose and across the bay.
Charles Fey would not sell or lease his machines but chose to operate them
locally on a percentage basis. The monopoly of the bell slot machine could pot
last forever, for the fame of this mechanical marvel spread rapidly. A major
catastrophe occurred when one of the Liberty Bell slots disappeared from a
local saloon. The worst of Fey!s expectations materialized when the machine
surfaced at the Mills Novelty Company, contemporary manufacturers of coin
operated games. Although the Mils factory was in Chicago, they had a branch
office in San Francisco from 1899-1910. The tremendous success of Fey!s
Liberty Bell was no secret to Mills and it was not long before the mass manu
facture of Mill!s Liberty Bells began. Mills was soon to become the largest
manufacturer of bell slots in the world a position they would maintain for over
fifty years. Following Mills, two other pioneers of the coin machine industry
also maintaining branch offices in San Francisco at this time, were to manu
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Although there h was
machine business was still thriving in the early months of 1906. Early on the
morning of April 18, 1906, the City of San Francisco was rudely awakened by
the violent shakes of a tremendous earthquake. The Fey residence, which the
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