Coin Slot Magazine - #088 - 1982 - June[International Arcade Museum]
RESTORATION & REPAIR
By Marc Harrison
payout unit at a contra-interval, resulting in the alter
ELECTRIC
CONSOLE PAYOUTS
Why the electric console machines do
not enjoy the popularity amongst collec
tors as do their bell-type cousins is a
mystery to me. These units truly repre
sent the paragon of slot machine design,
offering
the
ultimate
in
appearance,
mechanical sophistication, and play
appeal. If you are not enamoured with
their fine wood cabinetry, bright lights,
and brilliantly colored glass panels, then
perhaps their elaborate electro-mechan
ical circuitry, complete with increasing
odds, wild symbols, and special payout
features will excite your interest. But you
will surely be swayed into the ranks of the
console collectors once you have ob
served a payout, for the automatic ma
chine gun staccato of coins being spit
ten, twenty, or even one hundred at a
time is the most satisfying sound in all of
slot machinedom.
The solenoid
payout system
is the one unique
feature separating the true electro-mechanical ma
chines from the more conventional consoles incorpor
ating a standard bell mechanism enhanced with switches,
wires, and lamps. No such simplistic arrangement,
however, can compare to the complex collection of
relays, coils, and steppers required to drive the payout
nating rat-a-tat-tat rapidity of payout which would be
impossible to obtain with a single unit.
In typical pinball fashion, 110 volt current to the
solenoids is controlled by contacts on a payout relay,
which in turn is pulsed by a lower 24 or 48 volt circuit
governed by contacts resting on a motor operated
cam. A resetting type stepper switch is frequently
coupled to the payout relay and provides a method of
limiting the payout pulses to the proper count.
Another popular method is to pulse the payout relay
by using a circular,
multi-track contact board and
motorized wiper arm assembly. The wiper arm makes a
complete revolutionforeach payout cycle, the number
of pulses being determined by the number of contacts
in the particular track being energized by the wiper
arm.
In order to eliminate the mechanical delay inherent
with multiple impulse slide units, and thus increase the
speed of payout, Mills Novelty created what is by far
the most rapidly operating system of all. Two coin
tubes, side by side in a Siamese arrangement, are
terminated on their lower ends by a pair of vertically
moving gates. Operated by a rack and pinion attached
to a solenoid activated resetting stepper unit, these
gates lower the thickness of one coin with each step of
the solenoid. The operating solenoid is continuously
energized when a payout is to occur, but its circuit is
interrupted by a set of N.C. contacts which open at the
end of its stroke. This results in an oscillating action of
unbelievable speed, advancing the stepper and lower
ing the coin tube gates for as many as sixty coins in just
a matter of seconds. When the proper number of steps
has been achieved, a forked payout slide is fired,
pushing the twin column of coins into the payout cup in
a single shot, much in the fashion of the Mills VEST
POCKET.
Continued on page 46
solenoids.
Usually mounted in pairs, the payout units consist of
a long vertical coin tube feeding a spring-loaded slide
of single coin thickness. Attached to the plunger of a
om
m.c
powerful 110 volt solenoid, the slide remains unloaded
at rest. When energized, the solenoid pulls the slide in,
:
rom -museu
f
d
the slide. When a
de cade the solenoid releases
o de-energized,
l
r
n
the plunger
and
slide,
spring pressure to
ow to w the
w.a permitting
return D
the slide
rest
position,
where the coin
w
p:// slide into the payout cup. Because this
drops from
htt the
allowing a coin from the tube to enter the opening in
cycle takes close to a second to complete, the overall
operation
time
June, 1982
is halved
© The International Arcade Museum
by energizing a second
"... for when any true
collector beholds such a
machine as it is taken
through its paces, the coins
may as well have been shot
through his heart, for he will
surely have to possess it."
THE COIN SLOT—45
http://www.arcade-museum.com/