Page 1 of 1

Essex Coin Slides

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:26 pm
by treefrog
With two larger arcade machines I am converting from 1p to the old penny, I realised I had sold one of my two 1D Essex Simplex slides to a colleague a year ago - just when you need one and they do not come up often. I think I saw two at the Elephant in March. Anyhow, a long time ago I bought a box of bits and pieces with mostly Essex Simplex slides and realised I have two more 1p versions, a old 5p and two 2p types. I decided to see how easy it would be to convert 2p one to 1D and after 20mins effort I now have another working example. !!THUMBSX2!!


47285017-5EA6-4674-ABAE-7A8C3162B8Ba.jpg

I know Essex still exists and found a flyer from the '60s while going through those, but their website also provides interesting info on their history:
Essex Engineering has manufactured coin slide mechanisms for over 50 years. The coin slide has proved itself highly reliable and easily repairable, resulting in over 1 million finding their way onto coin slide operated machines throughout the world. Coin slides will work in the Namibian desert just as well as in a rain forest or an Eskimo's igloo. Coin slides are also, of course, totally free from any wiring problems allowing the device to operate anywhere - and use only the energy supplied (quite freely) by the customer!

89D07940-1EDD-4577-8AA0-C57FC02F26F1.jpeg
89D07940-1EDD-4577-8AA0-C57FC02F26F1.jpeg (46.51 KiB) Viewed 3206 times

From 1946 to 1956 the company made 150,000 small sewing machines each having around 35 components, again all presswork and machining done in house, and with practically complete customer satisfaction. From 1946 to present it has made hundreds of thousands of terminating tools and hundreds of millions of fixing clips and saddles with a rejection rate that is quite trivial. From 1959 to the present, the company has made and sold all over the world around 1.2 million coin slide mechanisms each having around 35 components, all presswork and machining done in house and with enviable customer satisfaction.

A618C8E8-C7C8-4659-8720-FFC51762FF57.jpeg

The mechanism has only slightly changed and is the same size and design on the backplate. I am tempted to ask them if they would do replacement slides for 1D as they state they can do most coins, assuming of course it would fit earlier models... Nice to see an old British Coin Op company still going in their original premises in Wanstead in East London... !!CHEERS!!

I wonder how many ended up working in the Namibian desert. !OMFG!

Re: Essex Coin Slides

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:24 am
by ddstoys
Treasure can never get enough slide mechs, I’ve converted a few Aussie 20c coins but sadly the American and other aussie mechs are too thin to convert.