Bollands Working Models
Do you remember way back in issue 2, in the feature on Steve Maxted's collection at
Rye, I said, "I shall not go into too much detail here about Bollands' machines, as I
have something planned for the next issue"? Well, eight months later I've finally got
the space to include what I'd intended for the June issue last year. Sorry it's late!
From the 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Fredrick Bolland ran the highly successful
Bo/land 's Amusement Machine Supply Co. Ltd, supplying a large range of machines to
the automatics industry. The company was also engaged in repair and conversion work,
and in the manufacture of it's own machines, in particular, wall-mounted fortune telling
machines. At the outbreak of WWII , Fred ceased trading and moved to Wales, where he
operated an amusement arcade, by all accounts very successfully. However, after the war
he returned to London to recommence trading, but now joined by his younger brother
Arthur. It is likely that it was Arthur who was the driving force behind the direction the
business would take, and continue for a quarter of a century: manufacture; supply and
operating working models.
Early makers such as the Dennisons and the Lees built working models in fairly
small numbers as ' one offs ', generally earning a living from operating rather than selling
them . During the 1920s and 30s, Charles Ahrens produced a small range of models, but
in larger numbers, probably incorporating a small element of mass production in their
manufacture. However, it was the Bollands who were to do for the working model, what
Henry Ford did for the motor car (in relative terms). It is thought that over four hundred
machines were produced from the late 1940s to the mid '70s; an output that probably
represents at least half of the total number of working models ever produced.
After the war, arcade operators throughout the country found that their (largely
American imported) cranes from the pre war years were rendered redundant, due to sweet
rationing. It was Arthur's idea to convert these cranes into working models, utilising the
existing cam mechanisms for the movements. So Fred started to acquire as many cranes
as possible, and supplied them to Arthur for conversion. Arthur's ingenuity in creating
his models is truly amazing, particularly some of the movements, bearing in mind that
the cranes operated on only three cams. He devised all the model designs, layouts and
movements, and built each model as an individual machine, although using many mass-
produced parts. His wife helped by dressing the figures and making such things as
curtains, and his son (Arthur Jnr) assisted by painting such things as the labels on the
beer bottles in the Drunkard's Dream.
Fred retired in 1961 , but Arthur continued building and operating machines. It was
about this time that the supply of crane cases started to dry up, as arcade operators were
now able to obtain swag for the cranes, and were once again able to use them for the
purpose for which they were intended! So Arthur built his own cases, including the
mechanisms. These later scratch built cases are very distinctive, and can be instantly
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