Nixie tubes in slot machines

[slotalot]

Nixie tubes must have been a swine to manufacture ... unless someone knows better.

Well you did ASK!!!!

[operator bell]

Nixie tubes must have been a swine to manufacture ... unless someone knows better.

For you and me, yes, but back in the day when things were still manufactured in the West they were some of the simplest vacuum tubes, just a stack of metal shapes between insulators. Making "ordinary" vacuum tubes was a work of staggering complexity - see this old movie about the Mullard Blackburn works. The full movie is worth watching if you have a half hour to spare.

[badpenny]

Excellent, thanks ...

BP

[chris rideout]

Nixies were first made by Burroughs, in the UK, and called provisionally 'Numerical Indicator eXperimental 1'. It looked like NIXI. By the time they hit the streets in the early 1950s they were already known as nixies and the name stuck.

Was Burroughs the computer company in the 1960s/early 1970s when they still had open reel tapes for storage because hard drives were not invented or still in the development stage? As for the machine, did the numbers change as it paid out? In the days when I wore short trousers, I seem to recall the coins being spat out 1 or 2 at a time and, as they did, the display would hit another random number. Was the machine faulty or was this normal operation?

[operator bell]

seem to recall the coins being spat out 1 or 2 at a time and, as they did, the display would hit another random number. Was the machine faulty or was this normal operation?

That would be entirely consistent with machines of that type. The numbers were flashed with a surplus Post Office uniselector, and the same uniselector was used to count out the prize, so it necessarily stepped off the winning combination. The Roto-Pool series of games did the same thing, and after seeing the insides of that nixie bandit I wondered if they weren't the work of the same designer.

[treefrog]

Got the nixies working on mine with a pair on new bulbs. Just need to get the rest of the machine working.

[slotalot]

Hi Tom, looking good
Do the numbers change if you step the uni-selector round by hand??

[coppinpr]

Seeing the film of Mallards factory in Blackburn reminded me of a story my mother told me about that factory.
When the war started she decided to take a job helping the war production and took a job at Mallard's Mitcham factory just outside London making valves for aircraft radios. When the bombing got bad later in the war that factory became a constant target and mallards moved production and their Mitcham staff to Blackburn.
On her first day there the air raid siren went and as they had done in London the Mitcham girls got under their heavy machines for protection, the Blackburn girls thought this very funny, they had never had a raid in Blackburn at that time and used the siren to signal their tea break.

[pennymachines]

Here's the Golden Mint by Sturgeon Electronic Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Bognor-Regis, Sussex, Circa 1970.

[operator bell]

Basically the same machine with three tubes instead of two, but still only one uniselector. Interesting confirmation there at the end when it steps off the winning combination as it pays out.

[badpenny]

Although I'm generally not interested in post 1969/Formica/Electric/Electronic machines, I'd give that house room so long as the music didn't accompany it.

[special when lit]

Like that!

[chris rideout]

Basically the same machine with three tubes instead of two, but still only one uniselector. Interesting confirmation there at the end when it steps off the winning combination as it pays out.

The numbers changed as it pays and that prevents the next visitor from knowing that the machine has just paid a win. I see that only the odd numbers are winners. The machine appears to be tight to put it mildly. Does anyone know the payout percentage?

[operator bell]

The machine appears to be tight to put it mildly. Does anyone know the payout percentage?

Bloody British gypsy showmen, what do you expect? If you have access to the machine, the uniselector has 25 positions. Click it round by hand and add up the winning combinations that appear. Divide the total by 25, multiply by 100 and there you have it.

[treefrog]

Well so many rare machines have popped up on Ebay recently and one I mentioned earlier in this thread has appeared "Dial for Money" from Whittaker Bros for which I have a flyer......again seller asking serious money for a broken machine...if it were a quarter of the price I would go for it. Looks an interesting variation with the phone dial

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/allwins-type- ... _22wt_1275

[slotalot]

I got the seller to post some more photos, not a lot better but you can get more idea of the mach..
All we need now is a copy of the flyer Mr treefrog..

[treefrog]

Could not resist going for one of these myself, makes a changes picking up a bandit that weighs less than an allwin. Works a treat as well. I got thrown a bit wondering why I was winning on some lines, but realised as mentioned earlier in the thread the win line changes after it has paid out. Looks great in a dull/dark room Just need to get the Beat the Bandit fully working and they can sit next to each other.

[badpenny]

If I'd had to bet who had bought that one .... I'd have cheerfully risked half a crown on TF

[slotalot]

Nice to see one that works Tom..

[treefrog]

The Beat the Bandit that was sold at the Elephant in 2014 appears to be for sale again by some kind of Neon Design Artist, for anyone interested.........wants £150 more than they paid for it, but may take offers .....

http://www.andydoig.com/beat-the-bandit ... rettyPhoto