Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co. bandits

[aristomatic]

Very subtle that Brigham...

Surprised Double Diamond didn't pair up with Wonders...rather than Bell Fruit?
Another classic line in their advertising was "The Beer The Men Drink"............ Not sure how well that would go down now.... the strapline I mean.... not a pint of DD.........

[pennymachines]

Ah yes, the good ol' days when the ads were sexist and the beer tasted like piss.

So 'SOCCER' is a genuine BFM offering, then? I thought it was home-made.

Was yours the same? The graphics look almost too stylish for Bell-Fruit.

... I think Action Line might well have been a means of using-up a stock of Watling-type mechs., Henry Ford-style.
My 'Double Diamond' works wonderfully!

Freddy Bailey, in the History and times of Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co, Ltd explains how American entrepreneur, Kenyon Wilkinson founded Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Ltd. in 1963, having acquired the tooling from Watling Manufacturing Co. No mention is made of any old mechanisms, although it seems likely Watling may have had unsold stock at this point. Freddy also describes how the company targeted the breweries.

[brigham]

Very few, if any, actual Watling mechanisms were used in the new Bell Fruit machines, but the newly-built Watling type mechs were so close a version that they are still used as a source of spares for the original machines.
The abundance of these Nottingham-built mechs, I suspect, led to the introduction of the famous 'Action Line' console, a machine already obsolete by the time it appeared.

[bryans fan]

Ah yes, the good ol' days when the ads were sexist and the beer tasted like piss.

Personally, I have never tasted piss (but have been taking it for many years!!!)
I prefer a nice bottle of Whisky at £800,000+ a bottle!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... e-45731647

[pennymachines]

Three Alike & Action Line consoles

[brandojames]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

Probably one of those exceptionally rare examples but unlikely to warrant an exceptionally rare value kinda machine.

So I recently purchased this machine, and cannot find any information besides what's been posted with this picture. How or where can I get info on this?
Thanks

It's a Bell Fruit Tic Tac Toe with the giant jackpot.

[aristomatic]

What info are you looking for/do you need? E.g., is there some issue with machine not working or are you looking for history of machine and manufacturer?

If it's on the operational side, then a brief outline of the issue, e.g. what does it do or not do, plus some pictures would be helpful for members to try to assist you better.

[pennymachines]

Welcome to the site brandojames.
As far as I know, the posts in this topic and the links they contain constitute all that's been published about the Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Company and products.

www.bellfruitgames.co.uk - about us
Freddy Bailey Reflects on the History and times of Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co, Ltd
Museum: Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co. Ltd
There are also brief mentions of Bell-Fruit in the Arena articles: Michael Green: Celebrating 50 Years in the Business & Veterans at the Speakeasy
Of related interest is: Balfour Silver Queen Identified

The Silver Queen was made by Balfour (later BAL-AMi) and preceded the Bell-Fruit machines:

BAL-AMi originally made a fruit machine for a short while, it was called Silver Queen. The tooling for that machine was later passed on to Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Ltd who used the tooling for their very first fruit machine called "Three-Alike" in 1960.

Richard Beuschel's encyclopedic Lemon's Cherries & Bell-Fruit Gum contains just three references to the company, with essentially the same information.

I'd be interested to know how the "WORLD'S LARGEST AUTOMATIC JACKPOT" on your machine worked. Some sort of solenoid-activated release I'm guessing.

[brandojames]

Here's some pictures, was hoping to find documentation that would help me understand more of these mechanics.
As for the part that was snapped off, I drilled and tapped and bolted it back on.
This is only the 5th machine I've worked and it's the 1st I've worked on in years. I mostly just do pinball and video arcade.
Thanks for any info.

[pennymachines]

As mentioned above, the mechanisms were derived from the old Watling Rol-A-Tops, so the Watling manuals would cover most of it. They in turn were developed from Chas Fey's original Liberty Bell, so the basics are the same with all these mechanical bandits.

These images are from a working Bell-Fruit bandit. I've tried to photograph the areas you highlighted, but let me know if you need some other angles. Looks like the spring in your first picture just needs moving to the split pin.

[brandojames]

Thanks for the reply, I’ll study up.
It’s a fun machine to play haven’t gotten the giant jackpot to see it that works yet....

There a place to find new reel art? I know I won’t find glass or case parts for this but fresh reel art would be nice.

[pennymachines]

In Archive/Services we have: https://www.slotmachinereelstrips.net/
but I don't think any American reel strips carry the strawberry symbol. An alternative is to make your own in Photoshop or the like and either print them yourself or have them printed professionally.

[coppinpr]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

Currently working on a late model Bell fruit machine (needs a lot of work but in the past I've found these can really come back to life with a little work) having stripped down the door completely ready to work on the chrome I took a close look at the badge.

I've been re-painting the background on the mostly enamelled metal badge. It occurred to me that this must surely be the most delicately made and complex badge on any bandit. A close look reveals two lions playing one arm bandits, a shield featuring an orange, plum, bell and cherry (complete with tiny green leaf) and a club (?) The central chevron shows a human arm pulling a bandit handle. The words would have been better in Latin, but we are talking late '60s here. These badges (and the large "Bell Fruit" low down on the door were made by Fattorini & Sons in Birmingham at their Bradford works in Barr Street. The quality is not surprising once you know that Fattorini and sons were (as they still are today) a jewellery firm who made (among other things) sports trophies, masonic regalia, watches, swords and it would seem one armed bandit badges. In fact the humble Bell Fruit badge moved in illustrious company, the firm still holds a royal warrant as "insignia makers to the the Queen" and I found this showing they made the badges for Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Lotus and Jensen among others.

fattorini.jpg (13.27 KiB) Viewed 6972 times

The old factory still exists in its original form although Fattorini don't own it now. I wonder if they ever made any other slot related badges?

https://goo.gl/maps/stgU4xMFYvv

[pennymachines]

I recall we discussed Fattorini and these badges in 2014. I used to get brass payout cups spun at a factory on the same street. The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter retains some of the old industrial spirit of the city; a warren of small factories and workshops offering bespoke metalworking of all kinds. The area features in BBC Radio 4 Extra's recent Precious Metal programme about silversmithing.

[coppinpr]

Well, the badge is back in place having finished the poor old Bell fruit. Just waiting for its three new locks (3? anyone know why these have a back door? Nothing can be accessed from the back, not even the cash box or removal of the mech.
These must be the worst machines for having bolts in in-accessible places. I'm guessing the apprentices were given the job of fitting those rails round the cash tray... a nightmare! They fitted a great lift off front door then stuck at least 10 bolts in places you can't reach!!

I like working on machines like this that come in so bad you don't mind making changes. The chrome was pretty bad, lots of rust, especially round the badges, but as usual with these it must have been good quality in its day as it polished up pretty well. All bar one slide was missing but an ad on the forum produced a set for sale on Ebay I couldn't convince myself to re paint the case in the original "baby poop" green so tried a red powder coat spray can which did a very good job. Lights all working with not even a tube to change. The clock was interesting to dismantle and service - does not work on the same principle as the Mills type clock, fewer parts to go wrong.

So another machine saved from the dump and given a few more years life, which can't be a bad thing.

[treefrog]

Very nice never owned a Bell Fruit usually put off by flaking artwork or chrome, but one day......

[coppinpr]

for anyone wanting to see a selection of Bell-fruit machines a new Bell-fruit page has just been added to the www.penny-arcade.info site
http://www.penny-arcade.info/the-bell-fruit-

[brigham]

Just to prove once again that I don't know what I'm talking about, I've found a picture of the 'sadly decimal' BFM Action Line with a half-crown accepter!
(One play, plus four tanners change).
Anyone remember it pre-D-day? It's back on my 'wants' list.

[coppinpr]

Having discussed the over the top design of their machine badge I found today this equally over the top design on one of their tokens. As well as the usual orange, plum, lemon and cherry, there is also a pixie, a shamrock, a wishbone, a horse shoe and... a strawberry.

[out of date fruit]

Hello everyone I’m new here just purchased my first machine to restore and am looking for some parts.
I’m in need of a rear door and the cash box that goes in the bottom has anybody got these available?