Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #086 - 1982 - April [International Arcade Museum]
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RESTORATION & REPAIR
Jennings
CHIEF
JACKPOT
"Ah, Yes— Hitting the Jackpot."
Because the first jackpots were offered as an acces
sory in kit form, their initial design incorporated them
I can just imagine W.C. Fields speaking in
his distinctive voice and manner. "The
perfect expression for the most fortuitous
event that ever befell a fellow gambler."
And so it has remained since the introduc
tion of the jackpot to the bell machine,
that coin-filled window so prominently
featured on the machine's front, enticing
player after player to go for three bars
and "hit the jackpot."
as a part of the new front cabinet casting that was
included in the kit. As the slot manufacturers developed
The jackpot that we are so familiar with today is the
product of many years of design development and
refinement. What started as an add-on feature offered
by small manufacturers soon became a standard item
of every major slot builder, each with their own special
design approach.
their own units, they adhered to this format, with the
inherent difficulties of mechanism/jackpot interface
as well as poor accessability for service. In a radical
departure from this popular but inferior mode of con
struction. O.D. Jennings introduced a jackpot which
was an integral part of the mechanism, creating what
was by far the best working and most easily serviced
assembly of any manufacturer. Their straightforward
design concept is characterized by operational sim
plicity and reliability.
The main body of the jackpot consists of a rectan
gular coin compartment faced with a glass plate. This
compartment is divided into two sections by a horizon
tal array of five spring-loaded fingera The lower section
serves as the main jackpot and is backed by the
jackpot door, which can be adjusted to accomodate
more or less coins by bowing its spring steel reliner,
thus increasing or decreasing the volume of the com
Most basic is the single windowed compartment
which fills from above and dumps through a trap door
below. Next is the double or twin jackpot — two
compartments side by side, with each one dumping
alternately. The purpose of this arrangement is to
partment. The jackpot door is controlled by a camshaft
which alternately opens or closes the door with each
90° of rotation.
always offer the player a shot at a full jackpot while the
empty one stands as positive proof that some previous
lucky player hit it big.
loaded by the coins which overflow from the payout
If the compartments are placed one above the other,
then we have a reserve jackpot. After the lower com
partment dumps, it is immediately refilled from the
reserve of coins in the upper compartment, which itself
is refilled a coin at a time with each subsequent play.
The reserve compartment can be either visible or
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the twin jackpot with a reserve, creating one of several
short-lived triple jackpot arrangements.
COIN Museum
SLOT
© The 64-THE
International Arcade
The compartment section above the spring-loaded
fingers serves as the reserve, which is continually
tube. Because the reserve fingers withdraw from the
compartment on each reset stroke, the entire coin
compartment fills as a unit from the bottom up. At the
end of the reset stroke, the fingers are released and
allowed to divide the compartment in two, so that when
a jackpot is hit, only the lower section is dumped, the
reserve being released to the lower section on the next
reset stroke. If there are not enough coins backed up in
the reserve to completely refill the jackpot compart
ment, there is no need for concern, since on each
subsequent pull of the handle any coins which entered
April, 1982
http://www.arcade-museum.com/