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BMR and BDR bandits

Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:44 pm
by fourfive
Can anyone identify this machine for me?
It stands around 4'6" tall, it was originally painted dark green. I can't find any maker's name anywhere on the mech or case.

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:06 am
by badpenny
BDR .... British vending machine manufacturers in Bristol, they made those massive chromed cigarette machines you used to see on railway platforms. They also ventured into gaming machines.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/comm ... ed-bristol
Not a good link I'm sure there are others out there, haven't time to look at the moment .......

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:32 am
by malcymal
Interesting, but what a god damn ugly machine...

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:29 pm
by badpenny
Beauty is in the eye of the bee holder ................. wear thick gloves then you won't get stung! :-o

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:06 pm
by daveslot
I think these are great machines, vastly underrated. Incidentally they are made by BMR: Brecknell, Munro and Rogers (BDR came later- the Munro part becoming Dolman). This is a version I have not seen before.

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:02 am
by badpenny
I agree with you, I adore them. I nearly bought one of those from an aged collector in Doncaster but its handle assembly was loose and it was dribbling oil everywhere, so I walked away with a Jennings Victoria instead ................ incidentally, I have a lisp my M sounds like a D :mrgreen:

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:17 pm
by daveslot
Was that the machine in Doncaster? :D
Fourfive's machine looks like it was made after the New Tote and before the black one.

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:45 pm
by badpenny
No I reckon it was the first one, I don't think I'd have been able to resist the one you've posted.

I have the more standard BDR upstairs, the one that looks like a stainless steel bread bin, it has the jackpot and its original stand, fantastic mechanism that looks like it could power a battle ship! I really don't think they have ever been appreciated enough and consequently have been fantastically cheap. :P

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:04 pm
by Bent Copper
That's because they're ugly and look like a stainless steel bread bin. :P

Re: Can you identify this machine for me?

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:23 pm
by pennymachines
Nice BMR line-up Dave. I didn't realize there were so many variations.
And interesting link BP - useful bit of background history to the company.

Brecknell, Munro & Rogers (1928) Ltd. also made ticket machines for the London Underground. According to Paul Braithwaite they made 11 other types of amusement machine, but examples of these seem, for the most part, non-existent.

The early version of the Brooklands Racer was a (heavy) counter-top game. The manufacturer clearly went to some length to ensure it didn't resemble a three-reeler fruit machine. The reels were replaced with flat discs and the fruit symbols became British racing cars. Most remarkable, the mechanism was reinvented, instead of copying Charlie Fey's design like almost every other bandit. Instead of multiple stacked payout coin-slides, a rotating disc slices out the coins one-by-one. This payout mechanism required a second timing clock. Patents GB429625 (1935) and GB452877 (1936) describe the mechanism in full.

The conical reels on the floor-stander were a step back to something more like a conventional bandit and by the sixties they felt safe to adopt the ubiquitous fruit symbols on the Brecknell, Dolman & Rogers stainless steel "Bread Bin". The mechanism remained as quirky as ever.

The humorously named Metro Golden Player looks to me like a BMR product, but I've never found one so I can't confirm it.

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:41 am
by treefrog
I have come across one of these floor standing BDR's and looking in nice condition, although it is on offer for £895, not sure what the value of these are as I have never seen one for sale.

It is at an interesting Antiques Emporium called Junktion Antiques, which is about 20 miles north of Boston in Lincolnshire. I have past this place a few times and keep meaning to pop in as they appear to always have a selection of Allwins and Bandits for sale as well as Funfair items....certainly worth a look

http://www.junktionantiques.co.uk/index.htm

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:18 am
by badpenny
I've visited this venue many times and agree it is well worth a visit and not just for slots. If it's collectible chances are he's got one.
As for the prices? ........ I've always found them to be adventurous.

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:57 am
by raj
Two of these came up at Tennants a few years ago in a railway and dinky toys auction. Went for about 100 a piece, if I remember right. They look awful in the metal, in my opinion, like old washing machines, but love the horizontal reels, just a pity they never really took off.

More British treasure here in the States

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:04 am
by john t peterson
Topic merged - Site Admin.

Anyone care to illuminate the rest of us with identification of this auto racing machine currently up for sale on Ebay-US?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0893582329

I emailed the seller giving him the country of manufacture and he replied with "Thanks. I found a big British penny in the game."

First the Autoscope and now this Art Deco monster; we're on a roll.

J Peterson
American Roll-Master

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:56 am
by mervyngoodhew
Looks like a Brooklands Racer.

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:12 pm
by treefrog
It is the same as the version at Junktion Antiques, except the jackpot has been blanked on that one....Worth a punt JP, although way too expensive to ship back to blighty as it is. A shame, as it looks like a nice one.

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:18 pm
by cheeky
Bent Copper wrote:That's because they're ugly and look like a stainless steel bread bin.
That's a bit unkind. Bread bins are far more attractive. :lol:

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:50 pm
by raj
I think the beauty of BDRs is under the skin, as the engineering of the Bread Box horizontal reel bandit is second to none. They used tolerances more akin to aircraft than slot machines and must have lost money on every machine they made. A design classic in my opinion and much underrated both to own and play.

Re: BMR bandit identified

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:53 am
by badpenny
That man speaks the goddamn truth and no mistake.

I was bullied into selling my last one by someone who relentlessly went on and on for months to let him have it until I relented and then on collection swore blind we'd agreed a price £50 less than we had. That'll never happen again. Git!

I shall have another, with stand and visible jackpot.
They're greatly underrated ........ not unlike myself.

BP

Help to indentify this rare machine

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:49 pm
by morris63
Topic moved & merged - Site Admin.

Can anyone help to identify this machine?
It is an Automatic Machine Co. Ltd.
Takes pennies, so assume it is British.
Can't find any info on it.
Can you help?
Any info would be great.
Thanks.