Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #077 - 1981 - July [International Arcade Museum]
Next, the tricky questions. Weprobably asked Dick Bueschel
Letters to the Editor continued
this one more than everybody else combined.
machines they stuck them on the front of the machine, inside.
was originally scheduledforprinting by The Vestal Press back
in 1978, and still no sign ofit. Fact ist Coin Slot Books sells a
Where is
LEMON, CHERRIES AND BELL FRUIT GUM? The book
That is, a Mills jackpot is mounted inside the front, and afar
lot of Vestal Press books, and Harvey Roehl — our good
distance away from the back. The collectors and restorers that
friend, and as honest and marvelous a man as the day is long —
work on Mills Bells can tell you, they're a bear to get at.
sells a lot of Coin Slot Books books. So we both have a vested
interest in the book. Vestal Press more than ourselves as a
publisher, but us too, as we expect to sell a lot of copies of
LEMONS, CHERRIES AND BELL FRUIT GUM.
According to Steve Gronowski, the operators had the same
problem, and complained bitterly to Mills. It probably didn't
help when Jennings came out with the CENTURY, and later
the CHIEF line, and bragged that their mechanisms were all
"one piece", meaning that when you took out the mechanism
If we had the books!
The situation is thus. We know it. Harvey Roehl of Vestal
the jackpot came along with it. But not with a Mills. They
Press knows it.
stubbornly stuck with their awkward jackpot placement.
perfectionist. It's driven us nuts here at Coin Slot Books at
The problem is that...Dick Bueschel is a
back in place. Then, from thefront with the inspection cover off,
times. Just when a book is set to go to press, Bueschel calls and
says, "Stop The Presses!" For what? Well, something's wrong,
or a fact is screwy. So we do stop the presses, and Dick sends in
a correction, or a bunch. That's small potatoes in a book with a
hundred machines, but when you project it to the immense and
super-comprehensive book Dick envisions as LEMONS,
CHERRIES AND BELL FRUIT GUM— with over 5,000
machines and 600 manufacturers identified and described —
you can see the complete workings and see if the jackpot trip
it can be nothing but a nightmare.
So, according to Steve, Mills added an "inspection cover" to
thefront casting. As Steve tells it, "The panel is connectedfrom
the inside by two screws. That means you 'vegot to go inside the
back with the mechanism out to remove the screws to remove
the cut-out. It also means that somebody on the outside couldn 't
take it off to get inside of the machine. But once you had the
inspection panel offyou can fix the mechanism, and shove it
lever is working or not. Then, ifeverything is okay, you pull the
And that's what's happened. Vestal Press has had the first
mech, screw the cover back in place from the inside with the
third of the book in manuscriptform for over three years, with
screws going into two brackets that have been drilled and
many other sections already completed. In that "Pioneers"
tapped, with these two mounting bosses holding the cover in
section alone, covering the years 1871 through 1900, Dick has
exactly the right position. Then put the mech back. It's a lot of
changed things at least a dozen times. We asked him why, and
steps, but that's the way Mills did it". So that's that one!
he told us: "Well, it was wrong. Since the manuscript was
written I've discovered at least twenty more slot machine
manufacturers that worked between 1889 and 1899, and
*•
J&R
Saloon
Novelty's
1
literally hundreds ofmore machines". We've all told Dick he's
got to cut it offsomewhere, or he won't live long enough tofinish
the job. But he tells us, and Vestal, that he works on the book
"every weekend; every month and almost every day in one way
or another" since he started the job in 1968.
What'II be in the book? We've seen some of the pictures —
thousands ofthem — and the original catalog pages, artwork,
and copy, and thejob is stunning. Dick has interviewed people
you wouldn't believe. Has photos that seem impossible (imagine
a machine on location in a super elegant saloon in 1888! Or
25$ STANDARD CHIEF (Floor model cabinet)
restored
$2,250
10$ Pace BANTAM, restored
$1,300
10C Mills EXTRAORDINARY, restored
5$ Mills SKYSCRAPER
$1,400
$1,100
1$ MIDGET Roulette Trade Stimulator, restored... $450
1 $ Exhibit Cast Iron Coin Changer, restored
$235
Jennings side vender, quality mints, no back door... $250
Cigar clippers: 50 Cinco
(beer barrel shape)
$300; John Gund brewing,
$300.
Mills Upright OWL case
$550
Wooden Zeno Gum Machine
$475
Bakers Pacers Rolls, recuts.
*****
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312-464-5661
Cla wson A UTOMA TIC DICE MA CHINES on location. The
production line of old "Iron Claw" OPERATOR BELL
machines, photos of all the key individuals in the business,
from Cla wson to H. S. Mills to the Watling brothers, even
Arthur L. Pratt, the inventor ofthe electric upright in 1893, and
loads of stuff like that) and has them by the drove.
In short, it's THE BOOK that we are all waiting for, and
we're waiting on Dick. That's the way it is. And...as he keeps
telling his publisher Vestal Press (who calls him monthly!)...
"it's coming".
And on to your third question. We asked Dick Bueschelfor
the answer. Well, the term "Slots" came early in the game. If
you look at the Jones SLOT MACHINE in Vol. 2 of" 100 Most
Collectible Slot Machines" you'll see it used in 1893. It even
came earlier. As for "One Arm Bandit", well, that came in the
late 1930's. Orwasitearly 1940's. Dickknows. He interviewed
the man that said it first! And it caught on like wildfire. Dick
tells us it was used in a legal opinion, and says that he'll let us
all know...in LEMONS, CHERRIES AND BELL FRUIT
GUM.
Continued on page 10
8 —THE COIN SLOT
© The International Arcade Museum
July 1981
http://www.arcade-museum.com/