Automatic Age

170
A U T O M A T IC A G E
Stoner Factory Burns at Aurora;
Rebuilding at Once!
A utomatic A g e :
We are inclosing front page copy
of the Aurora Daily paper of Wed­
nesday, May 9th issue concerning
some details regarding our recent fire
in which everything was destroyed.
We are at this time equipping our
new place which is also in Aurora.
inet, we will appreciate very much
anything you m ight do towards dis­
tributing this information throughout
the industry.
Our new home will be one of the most
complete factories in this industry
and will include a very complete
woodworking shop as well as metal
working facilities as we manufacture
ninety-five per cent of all parts in our
games.
Since the Chicago Show, in addition
to our own Aristocrat line of stream­
line cabinets and games, we have
been building complete games for
other companies.
In order to let the jobbers and
operators throughout the country
know that the Aristocrat line of
games is not out of existence and
that very shortly we will announce
our latest game in the Airstream cab-
Aurora, 111., May 9.— Fire of unde­
termined origin, sweeping through
the highly inflammable paint shop,
last night destroyed the Stoner M an­
ufacturing company plant, better
known as the old Aurora Door H ang­
er Bldg. on Parker Avenue and
Bangs street. The loss is estimated
at $50,000, only part of which is cov­
ered by insurance.
The fire raged for several hours,
attracting thousands as the flames
mounted high into the sky.
The
structure, with its oil soaked floors,
wooden interior and pitch roof, quick­
ly became a blazing inferno as the
fire gathered headway.
Firemen
were handicapped by the fact that
Stoner M anufacturing Corp.
Following is a clipping w ith news
of the fire:
© In t e r n a t io n a l A r c a d e M u s e u m
May, 193 k
there are no water hydrants nearbyi
the plant being outside the city lim­
its. It was necessary to run a hose
line 2,000 feet to the nearest connec­
tion in Bangs street, north of Park­
er avenue.
The Stoner company, which occu­
pied the building, erected in 1899 by
the late E. N. Hurley, and the birth­
place of the present Independent
Pneumatic Tool company, had been
operating three eight hour shifts*
employing a total of upwards of 150
men. The concern makes coin oper­
ated amusement machines, of the
type in which the player operates a
plunger in shooting balls into slots.
W ill Resume Operations
The fire will temporarily throw the
employees out of work but Ted Ston­
er son of M. H. Stoner, owner of the
business, announced he will immedi­
ately seek new quarters where more
than $50,000 in orders for coin ma­
chines, on file last night, will be com­
pleted as quickly as possible. Stoner
said nearly $10,000 worth of orders
were in production and completed and
ready for shipment were machines
valued at $5,000. In addition a $2,000
order from London, England, was be­
ing executed and was fast nearing
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