Mechanical Memories Magazine

The only patent relating to allwins (until a number of British patents, many years later),
was granted in 1913 to Rudolf Walther, the German manager of the French branch of the
New Polyphon Supply Co. The patent specifically covered the ball release mechanism,
rather than the entire machine, and it's significance is probably widely missed by
collectors today. But I shall cover this in more detail at a later date.
The following years saw some unpleasantness within Europe, which eventually
embroiled the entire world, so the development of the allwin was not of paramount
importance. It was after the war that the story of the allwin really began. Germany started
production on a huge scale, which would continue throughout the 1920s and into the 30s.
Machines were produced in the old Saxony province of Leipzig, and vast numbers were
exported to Britain. Because of the anti German sentiment in this country after the war,
the machines were labelled 'made in Saxony' (I don't know how many were fooled by
this - someone must have known where Saxony was)! So these early German machines
are now known by collectors as 'Saxony allwins'.
Heureka of 1900- the precursor of the al/win?
It certainly bears all the hallmarks of what was to come twenty years later.
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