C.O.C.A. Times

The Caille Uncle Sam
Enter the Cail le Brothers Company of Detroit, Michigan, a few years later (sometime between 1906 -
08) with a higher-design version of the Uncle Sam strength tester. Cail le was known for seeing a
competitive design, cosmetically improving it and releasing its own version. In this case, the Caille
version adds a fancy top-sign promoting: "Shake With Uncle Sam; Only One Cent; He Will Tell You the
Strength of Your Grip." The Cai lie jacket lapels are striped instead of Howard's blue and the top of the
top hat is gray like many of the cartoon images instead of the Howard stripes. Perhaps Caille was
avoiding copyright issues or perhaps they were just putting their own ideas on the figure.
From a Caille Catalog:
"The Most Unique of Strength Tests. Shake hands
with 'Uncle Sam.
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Everyone wants to do it, hence
this new and novel machine pulls the crowds and
brings in the money. The correctly molded cast
iron, life-size bust of Uncle Sam is decorated in
appropriate shades of red, white and blue enamel
and is mounted on a finely built cabinet of selected
quartered oak, surrounded by a neat attractive
sign. It towers over every other machine and
attracts all patriotic Americans."
"How it works: It's all in the grip. Is your grip
powerful? Prove it by taking a firm grip of Uncle
Sam's hand and making the arrow move around
the dial. If it goes to 300 a bell is rung attracting
attention to the player and stimulating others to
the test. The mechanism is strong and perfect and
always does its work. No Penny Arcade or
Amusement Park is complete without the Cai/le "Uncle Sam" Grip
Machine and, while it is especially adapted to these places. It is
nevertheless a big money maker in every public location.
"Finish: Selected quartered oak cabinet. Nickel trimmings. Handsomely
decorated dial with large plain figures. A chased metal ring holds dial
glass in position. Descriptions contained herein are but partial, but they
convey a good idea (i.e. drawings) of the different constructions and their
uses ... "
There are replicas around. A genuine original is very rare with only 5 or
6 originals being known to exist today. The replicas have either quite
different-looking facial castings or have been converted mechanically to
be a simple rotating-dial fortune-teller.
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Fig. 4: Original Caille
Uncle Sam,
Rick Crandall collection