Matthewson (Automatic Sports Co.) games

[gameswat]

Here's some more interesting history on the Automatic Sports machines. These scans come from a Jan 29th 1972 World's Fair magazine.

[coppinpr]

i wonder if that shed in a field is still there with the "scores of machines" still inside

[john t peterson]

Many years ago, I was contacted by one of you blokes (to remain unnamed) asking me to see if I could find part of a mermaid that was rumored to be hidden in plain sight in Pasadena, California, possibly in a nursery. As the story went, the mermaid base was being used as support for an aquarium. I arranged an over-night in Pasadena, rented a car and hit the circuit. I never did find the mermaid but did locate a two-man helicopter race game in one of the antique shops.

I like to think the old girl is still out there, holding up the tank full of little fishes.

J Peterson
Fishing for fantasy in America

[gameswat]

JP, what year would this have been?

[john t peterson]

Memory is uncertain but to the best of my recollection, Gameswat, it would be around 2001-02. I'll PM you with some more details.

[sweetmeats]

About seven years ago, when visiting America for a COCA convention I was talking to Ken Rubin (Drop Coin Here author) about the cast iron shooters and he mentioned that some years earlier he had heard of the base of a mermaid in New York being used as a birdbath. I seem to recall he hadn't seen it personally. Could this be the same reported as a fish tank? Or maybe to the one Bob reported on in Oz.

[bob]

Many thanks to Sweetmeats and Gameswat for their further contributions to the Matthewson machines thread. It’s really great to get all this information documented on the Pennymachines Forum pages and perhaps I can throw some further light on Matthewson and his coin op machines.

The two accounts by Bolland are from an interview conducted by the late Jon Gresham in connection with a book on coin op machines that he was writing. Sadly, although completed, Jon’s book was never published, as Ken Rubin’s book Drop Coin Here came out and publishers told Jon that there was not room for two books on the subject of coin op at that time.

Jon very generously shared the Bolland interview with coin op collectors including myself at the time. The two Matthewson gun machines had been found by Les Hinsley in Folkestone and were bought by him and Jon Gresham. Hinsley, as the finder, had the first pick of the two and consequently chose the mermaid cased one and had it repainted; Jon Gresham kept the fort machine in its original colours. The account by Bolland clearly puts the date of his conversions as having been done from 1946-1948, not as is sometimes stated during the '20s or '30s.

The belief that the Matthewson cast iron cabinets had started their life intended for another purpose stemmed from Bolland, and according to Jon Gresham the belief that they would have been intended as aquarium tank bases originated from Joe Pettit, another very early coin op machine collector. My discovery of the original design patents by Matthewson however disproved this theory.

Both of the letters in the World’s Fair/Coin Slot cutting recently put up here by Gameswat stated that a Mr Rowland of Manchester and his father operated nearly 800 of the Matthewson machines, mostly cast iron football machines in the north of the UK and many seaside piers. Indeed most of the football, golf and cricket machines that have turned up in the UK have Rowland’s name on the Directions/Instructions plate. On the other hand most, if not all, of the Matthewson’s machines that have turned up in Australia have Matthewson’s not Rowland’s name on the plates, indicating that they came here before Mr Rowland began operating them.

In the late '90s I corresponded with a friend in the UK and we endeavoured to do some research on Rowland’s operation of the Matthewson machines without any luck whatsoever. Rowland is not mentioned in the books by Braithwaite or Nic Costa. The only information that we had was in the article from the World’s Fair/Coin Slot. I am sure that there is much more to be learnt about the operation of the Matthewson sports machines during the interwar years.

Of the Matthewson machines that have turned up in Australia, these would have come here before Rowland commenced operating them. What has turned up in Australia to my knowledge are 3 Cricket Match machines complete in their cast iron cases and one Cricket Match mechanism, 3 six man Football Games, 2 two man Football Game machines, 4 Golf machines and 1 Mermaid Yacht Race. My Yacht Race, Golf and six man Football Match and, I think, one of the two man Football Match machines have gone to the US. I have the serial numbers of most of these machines and it would be useful, at some time, to compare the serial numbers of all the known remaining machines to help estimate how many of each type were originally manufactured.

One of the Golf machines listed above is in Australia, but I am unaware of its present ownership or location. There may exist another Football machine which was operated at a tourist site about forty years ago and is unlikely to have been thrown out. Similarly, there is mention of a Mermaid Yacht Race (see attached newspaper cutting) that was operated on a Queensland pier many years ago. This could be the same Yacht Race that I had which came from an Adelaide operator and which he may have brought from England, or he may have obtained it from the Redcliffe pier operator. However, it could be another Mermaid Yacht Race and is still out there somewhere. The same operator on the Queensland pier also had a Matthewson Golf and a Cricket Match, but both of these are now in the Queensland Museum.

For many years it was thought that Matthewson invented the three Mechanical Trading Company machines, the Twist your Grip, Try Your Grip and the Automatic Shooting Range but I could never find Matthewson’s patents for these. Not really surprising as these were found to be the inventions of others who patented them. That this misattribution was finally discovered was due to Sweetmeats querying why Matthewson was considered the inventor (as I should have done but did not do) and as established by the researches of Gameswat and Sweetmeats and published on this forum.

Whilst Matthewson invented and patented many other things, there are still two coin op machines for which we have the patents, but the machines do not seem to have survived. One of these is patent specification 19,243 1892 “Improvements in Coin or the like Operated Apparatus for testing the Force of a Blow”. This is a coin operated High Striker type of machine the like of which I have never come across.

The other is a much later patent, 196,650, 1922 “Improvements in Coin Operated Machines”. This is a comparatively simpler mechanism and cabinet than Matthewson’s other coin op machines in a wooden cabinet, for a game called “Police Station” or “Jail”.
That this was manufactured and operated by Matthewson was attested to by Matthewson’s step grandson who was interviewed by my friend in the UK sometime around the year 2000. The step grandson remembered the machine and drew a detailed picture of it, similar to that shown in the patent illustration. Perhaps someone has come across such a machine still existing somewhere?

[bryans fan]

Absolutely fascinating stuff Bob, thanks for sharing.
A welcome change from discussing bandits!

[13rebel]

I'll second that!

[hottoddy]

The two accounts by Bolland are from an interview conducted by the late Jon Gresham in connection with a book on coin op machines that he was writing. Sadly, although completed, Jon’s book was never published

I could read these stories for days. Is there a book waiting to be published? Please keep this going..

[bob]

I am glad that my recent contribution to the Forum dealing with the Matthewson machines has proved of interest. I had also intended to mention that there are records of another Matthewson Cricket being operated in Australia. This was in the old Melbourne Aquarium housed in a building that was an annexe to the Royal Melbourne Exhibition building. The Exhibition building is a still existing World Heritage Site listed building dating from the Melbourne 1880/1 World Exhibition. The aquarium housed a whole variety of unusual exhibits other than marine life including “The Cricket Match, ancestor of all pinball machines” so described in a newspaper column which listed a whole series of other novelties including two engines emitting “automatic music” on insertion of a coin. Sadly the aquarium annex building was destroyed by fire in 1952 resulting in the loss of all of these objects including Matthewson’s Cricket Match, although mercifully the seals on exhibit were saved.

It was also not clear from my last contribution that whilst the restoration on the 18 Matthewson shooters was undertaken by Fred Bolland in 1946, not earlier, he had in fact bought out some of the surviving stock of Matthewson’s Automatic Sports Company in the 1920s as reported by Nic Costa. Also Nic was certainly well aware of Rowland, even if he did not write at length about him. Indeed, as he commented in a letter to me in 1986: “almost since the start of my interest in machines (in the early '70s) I’ve only had two names thrown at me by all and sundry - Matthewson and Rowland. According to popular consciousness they made almost all the old machines, and single-handedly pioneered the industry. Nobody else existed!”

Costa was concerned that there were many, many other British inventors and operators of coin operated machines that predated them in shooters, racers and other competitive games that deserved recognition and acknowledgement. I also neglected to mention that a two man Football Game that in a wooden case as shown both in the mechanism and design patents still exists in Australia. This however was not operated in Australia but brought here from England some years ago by a British coin op machine collector.

Due to the interest in the Matthewson and other early machines I hope to make a further contribution here soon. This will deal with the discovery in Adelaide in the early 1970s of the Holden collection of coin op machines and its subsequent dispersal, including their restoration and 2 subsequent auctions. These had belonged to an amusement machine operator and included the Mermaid Yacht Race and most of the other Matthewson cast iron machines that have survived in Australia.

[bryans fan]

I can't wait to read the next instalment of this enthralling story!

[john t peterson]

You go, Bob! Great reading. It's not too late to finish writing that book!!

J Peterson
#1 American fan

[gameswat]

As most of us have found, often cashbox doors go missing on machines once out of operating life - but not so likely with any of the Mermaids. The first time I visited Bob in Melbourne to see his amazing collection his wife Bev thought it was very funny to show me what a great sense of humour Mathewson had. The cashbox key fit into the mermaids belly button and then I had to grab both breasts to lift the torso out!!

[bryans fan]

I was pleased that posting the photo of the "Castle" shooter prompted others to share photos and information. This jogged my memory of a postcard I had which I had mentioned in the past to Bob as having three mermaids in a row. Having recently discussed and shared this image with another very knowledgeable collector, it was pointed out to me that it was in fact two mermaids and a castle !! Should have gone to specsavers! The date on the bill board was also pointed out to me as being significant as it was 1929. All other postcards I have of Clacton on sea are much earlier and seem to have the same few machines, in different configurations, this is the only later card I have of Clacton with the new central shelters.

Typical view of Clacton

Later view

[sweetmeats]

The postcard posted by Bryan's fan is fabulous. It is very rare to find any postcard showing machines on a pier after about 1915. Most show cast iron mermaids (as racers), Cricketers, Football or Golf and fortune tellers and cast iron mutoscopes. These are I expect a set of the three cast iron shooters (and most likely to be some of the Bollands machines found after the war). Other than the poster advertising the latest show for 1929, the machines seen further to the right are all 1920s machines rarely seen together with cast iron machines from the early 1900s. I have about 15 different views of Clacton pier all showing machines but none after about 1915. If anyone has any late postcards showing clearly 1920/30s machines, perhaps they could post them. I have a couple of small photos showing a Pussy Shooter and an Essex race game only in 20 years of looking.

[youngerap]

I remember my Gran telling me that a lot of stuff like iron railings, gates, etc. were taken to feed the WW1 war effort. I wonder if the cast iron machines met the same fate, hence their scarcity after 1915?

[bob]

I've just looked through all my hundreds of postcards and like Sweetmeats I can find none showing amusement machines dated after 1915 or if undated wearing anything other than Victorian or Edwardian clothing. I have however got a postcard which is undated but shows people wearing '30s/'40s ? clothing which has a Salter Everitt scale. So here's one cast iron coin op that avoided being melted down in the 1st and possibly the 2nd World War.
I've also got the same Clacton postcard showing the three Matthewson machines. Unfortunately it's undated but it is much later, as Sweetmeats says, as clearly it has people wearing more modern clothing than all the other many Clacton pier postcards with coin op machines.

[sweetmeats]

Bryans fan has sent me this enlarged close up of the Clacton postcard which I received this morning, showing the three shooters. It has been printed in sepia rather than the original black and white. Just thought other people might like to share the image.

[gameswat]

Here are two great views of the same oceanfront Baths & Cinema with Mathewson machines by each entrance amongst others. I just researched the White Rock Baths and the cinema was short lived between 1913 and 1915.