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Topic merged - Site Admin.

Hi All
Sorry to be a pain, but there is no key to the lock on this pellet machine, and I am not sure if the lock is working. There is the number 10 stamped into the wood at the side of the keyhole which may relate to the key.
Would there be any chance of obtaining a key or possible replacement lock?




http://s601.photobucket.com/user/Jimlad ... j.jpg.html
Mechanism pictures copied from photobucket. (May be useful reference for someone in the future) Site Admin.

The lock looks damaged and a new key would be an expensive and perhaps fruitless option I feel. Similar, but not identical locks are out there quite cheap. The photo is not that clear. What kind of a key was it? I'll look and see what I've got (let me have the exact size please).

Just glanced into the workshop and saw these - might fit. Let me have all the sizes.

Hi Coppinpr

Yes the lock is slightly damaged and I am not sure it would work with a key. Your lock looks similar, by putting a new lock on the cabinet - would this alter the authenticity of the machine? Would it be better to look for an old one?

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt10 ... 4infkq.jpg

Try ebay number 111900070632.
This looks similar to what you are looking for.

The lock on Ebay is, I think, exactly what you want, but it will be expensive. I suspect it will cost you over £20 by the time you add postage.

If you don't win it, the ones I have are the right size but the fitting holes are different as you can see, I can send you one to check if you like.

The ebay lock is the way to go but the postage is a killer. I can get it sent to a friend in the US for the standard postage but it would mean you not getting it till May when I meet up with my American friends in Shanghai. Let me know.

jimlad wrote:...putting a new lock on the cabinet - would this alter the authenticity of the machine? Would it be better to look for an old one?

Yes and yes. Better, in my view, to have a broken or missing lock than the wrong one. It might be possible to repair by salvaging bits off another broken lock.

Hi

Yes that lock on ebay looks the part will have a go at.

Thanks

As to the pellet tins, my guess is they would have reflected the tin shape used in the Watkins needle dispenser. The usual shape for gramophone needle tins was rectangular, round ones were quite rare, and a rectangular tin would surely suit the mech of a dispenser better than a round one.

Hi


Thanks for all the help. I have placed a bid on the lock on ebay - it is exactly what is needed, so if it is a little expensive it don't matter. With regards to the delivery package, I think it has to be round, as the tube that holds them above the draw is round and the recess in the draw is round, about 1 1/8" in diameter, so it is either a small tin or, as suggested on an airgun collectors' site, it may be a cardboard box similar to the little boxes that the toy gun reels of paper caps came in in the 40/50s.
Still looking for an answer.
Jim

I think that's right. Those bespoke Watkins' Palm Wood Vesta and Bryant & May matchbox labels I posted earlier look like they fold into little square boxes, so the pellet dispenser probably used something similar but rounded.

stupid of me not to look correctly at the photos,when I saw the round indent my brain said "penny" not "tin"

Boy I remember those toy gun caps, if you left them in the pack and jumped on them the whole lot went off in one massive bang

This is the type of tin right here: Antique tiger oak vending machine

Thanks, I now know what to look for!

It looks like a perfect fit, but I doubt, this being an English machine, it was designed to dispense Dr Kilmer & Co. (of Binghamton, New York) ointment. Nowhere on the dispenser does it say "Kilmer's Ointment". More likely perhaps, someone found a tin that fits. Although, as I said, they may have vended off-the-shelf tins, I think this case remains unsolved...

The Watkins machine with the Dr Kilmer ointment tin pictured in the thread "Watkins patent Airgun Pellet Dispensing Machine" has made its way to a new home in the states via the Chicago coin op show. This particular machine vended a round tin. It is missing the internal chute that would hold the product (tins). Anyone have an extra part or be willing to have a duplicate made?
Thanks in advance for any help or detailed pictures of the chute.

The only collector I know with one of these is Sweetmeats. Maybe he can help, but finding a spare part is unlikely.

Thread merged - Site Admin.

Just bought this Watkins Billiard Chalk dispenser. It's a little tatty, but I have been after one for a while as collecting Billiard memorabilia is one of my pastimes.

Hopefully attached some photos otherwise the following questions may be a lost cause.

There is no key. Is there any chance of finding one, or would it be possible to replace with something similar?

If there was a key, does anyone know how it opens? Unfortunately it was secured with a late 20th century philips screw (sacrilege!!) But after removing it, the front doesn't want to move (I hope it's not glued)

Any help or ideas would be much appreciated.

I have been known, on more than one occasion to first find any old key that fits the hole.
Then open up the back of the lock and start removing the locking bars/pins until the key works.

However, I'm not to be trusted and shouldn't be taken seriously.