Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #023 - 1976 - December [International Arcade Museum]
1 Can you tell me something about this machine?
fields with small metal balls.
It has two tilting pin-
The nameplate says "Weston Slot Machine
Co., Pat Apld. For", When was it made, and where?
New York
A. Stumped! And in checking it out I hit
nothing but dry holes.
But there are
some clues to its age and origin.
The
first nationally popular slot machine
was the Clawson AUTOMATIC DICE
made by the Clawson Slot Machine
Company in Newark, New Jersey, in
1890.
The power was provided by a
clockwork mechanism that was wound
up by the storekeeper to keep it alive.
The
coin
released
the
mechanism,
which then lifted the two dice cups
and dropped the dice in pans for a to
tal and a winning or
losing
number.
The Weston is almost an exact dupli
cate of the Clawson machine in size and operation, only substituting a
double pinfield with ball bearings for the dice cups. The winning and los
ing scores were determined by the position of the balls after play. It was
probably based on the Clawson machine which would indicate a date bet
ween 1890-1892.
Another reason for the 1892 cut-off date is the fact that it had a delicate
clockwork mechanism.
Early machines made little concession to securi
ty as the producers were dazzled by the fact that the play principles
worked at all.
It was soon evident that the players were rough on them,
so by the middle 1890's the machines were sturdier and often used the
movement of the coin in mechanical locks to provide the needed power.
com
.
m
:
u
use were ever issued to a Weston
from No -m patents
The manufacturer is a mystery.
d
e
de firm incorporated in the states of New
load nor
Slot Machine Company,
r is ca the
n
a
.
w
Do // Ohio,
York, New Jersey,
www Pennsylvania, Rhode Island or Vermont. It has
:
p
an obvious "eastern
machine" look, and my hunch is that it was made in
htt
The Weston is older than that.
New York, Brooklyn, Newark or somewhere close at hand in 1890 or
1891.
Perhaps other readers can provide the answer.
© The International Arcade Museum
16
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