Duo-Mat machine on 6 pence

[brigham]

The German penny, or pfennig, is smaller than a sixpence, being 16.5mm as opposed to about 19.3mm for the 'tanner'.

[smcd4649]

I will have to go to my local coin shop and get some German coins and make sure they pass through the coin slot

[treefrog]

Most of the German machines I have seen from this period, especially Duomats were on 10 pfennigs, not 1 pfennigs. The 10 pfennig is larger than a sixpence about 21.7mm and thicker. I remember Harold English when doing up his imported German machines would make them 20p machines as this was closed to the 10 pfennigs when using here.

Below is a set of 10 pfennigs slides with 12 sixpences lost in them. Maybe check the size of your coin tube. Also you may need other bits of linkage etc to finish your machine, I guess you may need to decide preferred coinage to head.

[brigham]

If the labels &c. on the machine refer to 6d, then it has obviously worked on that coin.
I'd say that it would be easiest to concentrate on finding or adapting parts on that basis.
It also preserves the UK provenance. Like the Model T Ford, I would much prefer an example which had actually worked in Britain, rather than one brought-in as a collector's item.

[smcd4649]

Yes, I would like to keep it six pence if I can.

[smcd4649]

Here's the machine with the 6 pence coin slot.

[geofflove]

Lovely clean machine. Did it come like that or have you been sorting? Mine has similar slot running on 3d.

[smcd4649]

I had to take it apart . Stain and clear coat the wood , strip and paint all the metal

[treefrog]

As a matter of interest, does it say 6D anywhere on the machine or awards. The Awards cards look fairly new, but difficult to read and look like it states it only pays 1 coin for the red and black and single increments for other awards up to 5. This would suggest that a single coin per slide, very unusual, was making me wonder if it would maybe have worked on 3D which are much thicker if they fit through the coin entry. The machine as previously mentioned was a 10pf machine as all the win stickers are still in German and as standard pays 2 coins per slide. The coin entries were typically butchered when being converted to UK coinage unless using a smaller coin, which yours has not and looks original.

We cannot see inside the cabinet and the coin acceptor, but does this accept and correctly pass through the 6D coin if complete?

[geofflove]

That’s a good point. You earlier said that coin slot, tube and slides were 6d. I can’t see on the instructions where it says 6d, not clear enough. However, from what I can make out the slot and tube looks exactly the same size as mine which is on 3d - which I believe was more common. Mine still has the pf amounts on the dial too. Have you tried a 3d in the coin mech? Mine is a snug fit in the entry slot (esp after spraying!) which I guess was designed for pfennigs. Usually fine but sometimes when I come across a ‘newer’ 3d it needs a little persuasion to go through.

[smcd4649]

[smcd4649]

There are some pictures of the old instructions and award card but I didn't know what this meant, for example (4 pays 2/-). My daughter made the new cards up that I put on the machine. We were assuming 40pf pays 2 coins, for example.

[brigham]

The machine HAS worked in Britain, then. Splendid.
Now is the time to ditch any further consideration of German currency, and concentrate on bringing the machine back to its operating state in this country.
Is there any evidence of overlays having been fitted to the disc numbers? It would seem that the British instructions refer to 4, 6, 8, rather than 40, 60, 80 etc.?

[treefrog]

The machine HAS worked in Britain, then. Splendid.
Now is the time to ditch any further consideration of German currency, and concentrate on bringing the machine back to its operating state in this country.
Is there any evidence of overlays having been fitted to the disc numbers? It would seem that the British instructions refer to 4, 6, 8, rather than 40, 60, 80 etc.?

Hopefully Brigham you will be able to advise on the next steps as you seem to know all about these machines....

There are some pictures of the old instructions and award card but I didn't know what this meant, for example (4 pays 2/-). My daughter made the new cards up that I put on the machine. We were assuming 40pf pays 2 coins, for example.

Yes, the awards cards do now look like number of coins to payout, which of course would be wrong. Just needs the shilling marks added. The confusion I guess is that the machine was originally on 10pf, which most were. Maybe stick an ad request in for some 6D slides. Not sure they were common, although people will have seen this thread anyway. Maybe some custom items possibly. Good luck. By the way, if it were me, I would get working on something close so at least it could be used.

[brigham]

The only thing I know specifically about these German machines is that I've spent years avoiding buying one, on the basis that having one of anything is fairly pointless.
I'm only working logically from the information I'm given. If the machine has been working on sixpences, then it's unlikely to have been converted back to a German coin.
If 4 pays two shillings, and 6 pays three shillings, it's fairly obvious that we are talking about tanners here.
Red or Black pays a shilling, as 2x6d, which is the bottom slide. 4 pays 4x6d, which is the bottom two slides, and pro-rata up to 10, which pays 10x6d, or five bob.
In other words, there are five slides, each holding two sixpences. Quite a simple layout.
The only odd thing is the disc, which still says 20, 40, 60, instead of 2, 4, 6 etc..
Perhaps the punters just put up with it?

[geofflove]

Mine runs on thrupences but also has the old pf coin amounts on the top wheel. I guess it was too fiddly or maybe some thought it looked untied so didn’t bother.

Each slide on mine also pays a pair of coins, although mine only has 3 slides so it’s 2, 4 or 6 coins. I suspect this is a result of the thickness of thrupences. I doubt the lift of the payout lever would be sufficient to cover the distance required to differentiate between 5 of these thick slides.

[treefrog]

Re-reading the original instruction card, it states awards relating to a modified machine, so overlays should exist. Also importantly it states pays token for the lower awards, unclear if this was the case for higher, but maybe the machine used tokens of a different size for payout, otherwise why mention this and would not have two payout systems on this type of machine. One way to tell is to check diameter of the coin chute as a German coined tube would cause sixpence to be lost in it and not stack properly......also I need to check against my machines, but if coin is deserted to cash box after leaving acceptor it would confirm this

[brigham]

I thought it unlikely that "...makes token payout 1/-" meant "One shilling in tokens".
After some thought, I decided it meant ' a token payment', a consolation prize because you lost on the Roulette.

[geofflove]

The mech looks entirely standard apart from the missing slides so I don’t think token payout is involved.

[treefrog]

We are talking about the coin or token used here, often different size tokens were used to original coinage. Not saying this the case, but is possible. What is clear is it paid in tokens if award card is correct....