Rock-ola 1930s pinball parts

[bill gates]

Lot 282, £1650 - did look nice.

[coppinpr]

Paul, I am sure you have seen, a very kind person has put all your bits you need on eBay

Not one single piece I needed. The bottom half of the plunger surround is there, but it's always the top half that's missing, The only other part actually missing was the tilt reset lever, but I made one of those yesterday.

Lot 282, £1650 - did look nice.

It did look nice, but I think mine a bargain at £700. I'd already decided to re paint the case black with the white highlights and re work the legs, and a friend might be making the missing part from the plunger surround and some leg bolt plates.

[coppinpr]

Post merged - Site Admin.

Ok, stupid question I dare say but what is this type of bolt through bracket called? I'm sure they must be on the web but I'm searching for the wrong name

[pennymachines]

As you probably noticed, Buckwerx call them 'leg plates' and sell them for $13 a piece (plus postage etc.)
Together with the Marquee, it must be the most commonly missing part of Rock-Ola '30s pins, followed closely by the legs - in other words, anything that was easy to detach. They're made by Rock-Ola and not an off-the-shelf item, although they wouldn't be hard to fabricate. As Buckwerx say, 'the original leg bolts for most early Rock-Ola games were made with "acorn" cap nuts', but they supply a close match.

[coppinpr]

My first search was "leg plates" ...it didnt help. You do see these on other items, so I thought they might be available. A forum member has kindly offered to make them for me but he is very busy testing for a new job and I'm loath to bother him. It's interesting that you see as many photos of Jigsaws with double leg bolts as singles. Any idea which was original or were both an option over time?

I needed to make a new tilt reset lever for my machine (the old one being missing altogether) which was fun to work out. The tilt mech is quite clever, yet simple. A large metal ball sits in a shallow dish holding the tilt sign back, rock the table and the ball falls off the dish and the tilt shows.

I also re-shaped the legs (which were definitely not original) and after much soul searching decided to re-spray the much scratched and marked case and it looks really good now. Just need those plates (but not really at $13 each plus a stupid $40 postage).

[yaksplat]

I'm currently pondering

[pennymachines]

You do see these on other items, so I thought they might be available.

I've never seen them anywhere but on '30s Rock-Ola pins, but if you find some please let me know.

It's interesting that you see as many photos of Jigsaws with double leg bolts as singles. Any idea which was original or were both an option over time?

I think the early ones had two before they realised they could get away with one. Reason for thinking this is you don't see double bolts on the later World Series.

The tilt mech is quite clever, yet simple. A large metal ball sits in a shallow dish holding the tilt sign back, rock the table and the ball falls off the dish and the tilt shows.

Oddly, if you ask pinball historians who invented the first anti-tilt device they say Harry Williams, who used the ball on pedestal idea on his Advance pinball of October '33. He even described how it was named:

...he initially called this innovation the “stool pigeon” until he observed a patron exclaim, “Damn it, I tilted it” after activating the device and decided it should be called the tilt mechanism, though this story may be apocryphal.

Problem is, Rock-Ola's Jigsaw came out in August '33 and has a more sophisticated indicator with 'TILTED' cast into it. In fact, it seems Gottlieb's Brokers Tip of June '33 may have been the first pinball with anti-tilt.

Good restoration and info page here: https://petesgameroom.net/1933-rocola-w ... r-jig-saw/

[coppinpr]

Post edited, moved & merged - Site Admin.

Just finished the "Jigsaw" I bought at Coventry, re-painted case, missing logos added, mech serviced and missing mech part made, all Phillips screws removed!!, legs re shaped (they looked like they had been made with a junior woodwork set), oh yes, I also managed to chip the glass.

[coppinpr]

Problem is, Rock-Ola's Jigsaw came out in August '33 and has a more sophisticated indicator with 'TILTED' cast into it. In fact, it seems Gottlieb's Brokers Tip of June '33 may have been the first pinball with anti-tilt.

Looks like we can push the Pin ball "Tilt" back a little further, The K & F Speciality Company, of Chicago, Illinois, USA released Whirls Fair in May 1933 (clearly another attempt to cash in on the 1933 World's Fair) not only did the machine have a Tilt Mech, they actually sold an add on tilt mech for any machine! I would really like to see one of those add ons.

[pennymachines]

Jigsaw looking good.

Seems The K & F Speciality Company missed a trick by not filing a patent (unless it already existed on earlier machines).

[coppinpr]

That was my first thought, and I searched to see if one existed but found none. Problem was I suspect you can't patent the concept only the design which could easily be "slightly" changed to avoid the patent. Most of the pinballs I had back in the 1970s used the standard mercury switch, but I remember many with the metal pendulum hanging in a metal ring which cut out the power if the two touched.

Continued here: The first anti-tilt mechanism - Site Admin.