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Coin Slot

Issue: 1980 February 060

Coin Slot Magazine - #060 - 1980 - February [International Arcade Museum]
CURRENT SCENE'
By Bob Rosenberger
Cast
iron
least
known
one-reelers
of
the
are
old
one
of the
counter-top
gambling machines. These pay-out ma
chines were manufactured largely be
tween 1900 and 1915: they are con
sidered to be the transitional link be
tween the earlier developed pinwheel up
rights and five-reel poker machines and
the later three-reel slot machines. The
cast iron one-reelers are characterized by
their single revolving reel containing dif
ferent symbols along with a cash or to
ken payout. While Mills and Caille were
the
principal
smaller
PAUPA-HOCHREIM ELK
one-reel
manufacturers
manufacturers,
such
as
Paupa
and Hochreim of Chicago also produced
! models.
To operate a one-reeler, the player bet on which reel symbol would
appear. Like the uprights, the player could put coins in any or all of the
five or six coin slots corresponding to the different symbols. The token
payout machines had several tubes containing different sized or colored
tokens.
On
a
winner, the
machine would
eject the proper token which the player could
redeem for cash. Most of the cash-pay ma
chines had several coin tubes mounted on a
rotating carousel For a payout, the carousel
turned, dropping one coin at a time from the
tubes until a proper payout was made.
Of all the one-reelers, the Elk is probably the
best-known since it was produced by at least
three manufacturers.
their Elk for $30 in
Mills, for example, sold
1907 and described it
thusly:
'The Mills Elk is a superior machine be
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cause it combines
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PAUPA-HOCHREIM PILOT
28
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
Coin Slot Magazine - #060 - 1980 - February [International Arcade Museum]
machines. It provides on one machine:
A prize giving fortune teller, a selec
tion of card hands, and a device by
which it pays out the winnings auto
matically in trade checks. When a
nickel is dropped in the slot and the
lever
When
pressed down the reel revolves.
it
stops,
it
shows
the hand
through the opening. If it corresponds
with the (poker) hand printed under
the slot played a check is automat
ically thrown out for the amount in
dicated. From one to five can play at
once, but only one can win."
The Elk, like most other one-reelers, was
offered in both a nickel-plated or oxi
dized (bronze-plated) finish.
Interestingly, the Caille Elk had a fairly
MILLS CHECK-BOY
short production run. Adolph Caille was
a member of the local Elks lodge. When members of the lodge found
Caille producing a machine with their name and symbol on it, they vocif
erously demanded that he stop. Dutifully, he did so.
Perhaps the thing that attracts most collectors to one-reelers is the
castings on the front and sides of the machine. While the Elk has relatively
simple castings, other machines such as the Mills or the Paupa and
Hochreim Pilots, the Mills or the Caille Check-Boys, the Caille Tiger and
the Base Ball, and the Mills Umpire had much more elaborate castings.
The mechanisms were often works of art in themselves, being "Rube
Goldberg" contraptions with brass and bronze fittings.
The
Elk
and
Pilot
were
initially
manufactured
by
Paupa
and
Hochreim from 1900 until 1906 when Mills bought them out. The Pilot
is an especially lovely six slot token pay machine. The front casting shows
a large sailboat under full sail. The sides have equally attractive castings of
dinghies. Due to the success of the Paupa and Hochreim machines, Mills
and Caille both introduced imitations.
The Mills and the Caille Check-Boys are six-slot cash pay machines.
They are the largest of the cast iron one-reelers. The Mills version weighed
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use
f a ro Trojan
m
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both machines show
soldier sounding a herald on the
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e
d
ad him on the other side.
forked-tongue
nloa dragon
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84 pounds and sold for $60 while the Caille Check-Boy with a simpler
mechanism weighed 60 pounds and also cost $60. The front castings of
left while a
29
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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