Mechanical Memories Magazine

Oliver Whales Kiss O Meter
By Jeremy Clapham
I bought this machine at The Coventry Auction last year. I already had two other small
Whales machines Cupid and Personality, and I fancied adding this larger one to the
collection.
These have never demanded a very high price although they are housed in a
large, attractive and solid wooden case. I had heard that they weren' t overly popular
with operators due to a design in the mechanism that tended to present difficulties
especially for small hands. Although the operating knobs aren' t small they are smooth
and have a lot of levers to manoeuvre inside. In the picture below, I' ve placed a penny
against the cash door for comparison. Incidentally isn' t it interesting that there is
more wear on the Gents side?
The attraction of this machine is that in play the thermometer doesn' t just light up
at the level that's next, it actually climbs up the stem as you tum the knob . This is
achieved by a wooden drum that rotates to the next stage; it has vertical metal wires
which in tum make connection with a row of copper strips. The length of the wire
dictates how many switches it touches, which in tum dictates how far up the stem it
lights. Because the switches are raked they come into contact one after the other.
Clever eh?
Page9