French 4 pocket coin drop

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gameswat
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20th Century Tivoli Jackpot

Post by gameswat »

Copied & merged from Patents Research - Site Admin.

Researching something else and just came upon a US Design Patent by Solomon Shefras dating 1929 that looks very close to this classic Tivoli as pictured in the Paul Braithwaite Arcades book page 5.
US D82227
tivoli.jpg


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And just added these pics of a Shefras Tivoli token I found which would confirm they probably did make this machine.
82227.gif


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Last edited by gameswat on Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
pennymachines
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Re: Patent Research

Post by pennymachines »

Very interesting Gameswat, not least because I currently own the machine above. There's a bit of a mystery here, because the British coin-op inventor, EC Bignell (who resided in Paris) filed a patent around the same time for an identical game: GB332881.
TivolJackpoti2.jpg

What's more, there is another version of the machine, which I suspected was French-made because it is so much more decorative. The one below came up for sale in the States a few years ago and there's another pictured on page 61 of Arcadia Slot Machines of Europe & America. Baudot says it's British, "possibly Chubbs Automatics", but doesn't say why he thinks that. !PUZZLED!
332881.gif

Disappointingly, the only Solomon Shefras patent in the European database is GB324474 for a 1930s towel dispenser and a 1933 German patent for an "automatic cash processing dynamometer" (presumably the famous Shefras punch bag machine): DE543244. Just to throw us off, it's listed as "SALOMON SHEFRAS".
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gameswat
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Re: Patent Research

Post by gameswat »

Looks like Shefras might have ripped Bignell off!
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French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by coinops »

Topic merged - Site Admin.

Hi,

I recently found this French 4 pocket coin drop machine at an auction in Michigan, USA and can't find any information about it. It appears to work on 25 centime coins or 22mm amusement tokens. There was one small 50cent token in the coin tube marked "Bussoz" . If you can flick the coin into the upper pocket, then a 50c or 75c token is to drop out or if you get into one of the lower pockets, then you get any coins in the jackpot directly below (like a Clawson 3 jackpot). The case is 33" high. I was just wondering if anyone on your side of the pond has ever seen this machine or have any other information about it.
P4090001.JPG


P4090002.JPG


P4090004.JPG

.

Regards from the North Coast of Ohio,

-Al
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john t peterson
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by john t peterson »

Al,
An identical model sold in the Bernard Pansu collection in France, 2004. It was listed as manufactured by Bignell, 1929. Comparing the pictures, yours might even be the machine sold in 2004. Bussoz was a major manufacturer of French games so it would not be unusual to find his name on a token found in the coin tube.

What did the machine sell for?

Regards,

John Peterson
NE Tennessee - hill country
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by john t peterson »

A little further research into Mr. Bignell E C reveals the following: "Manufacturer, operator and distributor of coin freed machines 1903-1930s, he marketed upwards of 100 different machines. Wall machines: le Triomphe, Roulettes: IMP, Modern Roulette and le Bicyclette with 2 dials. 3 Reel machines: le Judge de Paix, known in the UK as the Domino. During the 1930s he gave up manufacturing and became the French distributor for O D Jennings & Co of Chicago. He invented the Little Duke which he patented and was later manufactured under license by Jennings." Arcadia, Slot Machines of Europe & America, Jean-Claude Baudot.

Also, the Jackpot sold at auction in Michigan is the same originally owned and sold in 2004 in Paris by Mr. Pansu. The wood grain matches perfectly.

I wonder how it got to Michigan?

J Peterson
Michigander by birth, Tennessean by accident
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by pennymachines »

Hi Coinops, l've merged a discussion we had about this machine last year with your post, because you may find it illuminating. Lovely machine, by the way.

It seems the Shefras patent Gameswat found is a design patent (protecting the appearance of the cabinet only), while Bignell's is a utility patent, protecting the way it works - see http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

I'm guessing there was some arrangement between Shefras and Bignell concerning the British and French marketing of the game, but who knows? Apart from the fancy castings, the French cabinet is identical.
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by coinops »

John T. Peterson wrote:What did the machine sell for?
John,

I paid $800 plus BP ($928 total) for it. Not sure if it was a good price or not, but I think it's a pretty cool looking machine. It does need a little bit of work as I found that the mechanism for one of the pockets is missing a stud to allow a winning coin to trip the jackpot door below it.
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by john t peterson »

Al,

You made a knock-out winning bid! !!BOXER!! The machine sold for $3,881 in 2004 including a 15% buyer's premium. Congratulations on a spectacular catch.

John Peterson
Semi-conscious in America
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gameswat
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by gameswat »

Just spotted this partial advert for the Jackpot in a Bignell catalogue currently for sale on French eBay.
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jackpot bignell.jpg
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by cait001 »

gameswat wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 4:56 pm Just spotted this partial advert for the Jackpot in a Bignell catalogue currently for sale on French eBay.
Can you link the listing?
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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by gameswat »

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Re: French 4 pocket coin drop

Post by cait001 »

heh, I should never spend time looking at other country's ebay listings... ;)
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Machine-a-sous- ... SwVTpdnd2Q
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frenchAllwin.jpg
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