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Hi folks,
I’ve recently acquired a Saxony allwin reserve in totally original (but absolutely filthy) condition. Am just sending the cabinet to my furniture restorer for a bit of repair and polish when I noticed a hole in the side of the cabinet. It appears original and even has a brass ferrule inside the hole. There’s also a mystery bit of wire screwed to the inside of the cabinet. Can any one shed any light on the purpose of the hole and piece of wire. Thanks.

The wire appears to be there as a spring to return the button that was once in the ferrule. Considering the location then would seem to be a reject button or somehow associated to coin entry?

As gameswat says, it was for a coin return button which pushed open one side of the coin acceptor to release jammed coinage - a common feature on Jentzsch & Meerz machines. The wire (if I remember correctly) was threaded right through a hole in the rear shaft of the release button, possibly to prevent its removal by tampering punters. I think a spring on the hinged coin acceptor side was sufficient to return the button.

Many thanks for the quick replies and information. Mystery of the hole solved!

I do have another question for the experts. What size of balls should my allwin reserve have? I’ve tried it with half-inch balls and they are too small to stack high enough in the reserve tube for the machine to operate correctly. However the pins in the ball catcher are only marginally wider than half-inch. Before I go ahead and buy some 9/16th balls it made me wonder whether the machine would originally have had metric size balls? A quick google search showed that Saxony (Germany) adopted the metric system in the 1870s, so well before my machine was made.

The balls in my Saxony three ball reserve, measured with a digital vernier gauge are 13.96 mm/0.549 inch. 9/16 inch is 0.563 decimal.

A few pics as requested following a clean and de-gunk. Machine has double entry slots for coin and token, has working 5 tube payout (but unfortunately no tokens) and functioning reserve. No cashbox or reject button, but other than the odd replacement screw appears complete and original. I’ve still got a repair to do to the hammer guide/cover but then it’s ready. Really appreciate any observations from eagle-eyed forum members if you spot anything in the photos.

Nice original Allwin Deluxe.

Looks like the trigger stop has been replaced - a lathe and some round brass stock required. A simple fix for the dented payout cup is to unsolder, flip it around to the good side, and resolder. The upper door lock was presumably added when keys went missing for the one below it.

arrgee wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 2:04 pm can't quite make out what the text is below the reserve ball window though?

Just Patent number info on every one I've seen. Look up Seven Mysteries thread on here for many photos.

Finally the allwin is fully reassembled and working. Just to conclude the saga of the balls - I tried half-inch, 9/16ths and 14mm - all without success. Either too small to stack high enough in the reserve, or too large to get through all the guides. Eventually 17/32 proved to be the perfect fit. Can highly recommend Simply-bearings online who provided a very quick postal service at a reasonable price.