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When the likes of Mills and Jennings supplied their machines to operators would the cashbox locks have matched the backdoor lock or would they have been numbered differently? In other words, would one key have opened both?

Just interesting as I am trying to restore an old machine.

It was pretty much standard to have a different key fitting the cash box. This meant a 'keyman' could get into a machine to clear a jammed coin or correct a mechanism problem without helping himself to too much cash. You will find that allwins also usually have a separate cashbox key.

Thank you for the speedy reply.

does anyone know who sells old brass allwin locks? not repro looking

The big Yale-type brass locks often found on allwin cash doors (eg. Wondermatics) are still manufactured and available from any good locksmith (quite expensive).

The small brass locks on the mechanism doors are no longer made as far as I'm aware and haven't been for a decade or more. I tried to hunt them down a few years ago and visited Willenhall (just a few miles from home), the traditional heart of British lock manufacturing. All the remaining top makers are based there. I tried every factory in turn, but although they recognized the little lock as a product they'd made for years, they'd all ceased making them.

For a while they were available from Germany and Italy I think, but it seems you can only find cheap Chinese copies now which are not of comparible or sufficient quality. Still, I can't help thinking that somewhere out there a decent version is still being made.

The only remaining option is to find old originals. Presumably they were used on other cabinets, apart from slot machines.

See: A Gazetteer of Lock and Key Makers.