A Peep Through The Keyhole viewer

[treefrog]

Topic split & moved from: Stevenson & Lovett Fireworks allwin Site Admin.

Well not quite a Fireworks, but certainly was one once. A "Peep through the Keyhole" is now this machine's purpose. Looks like a nice modification......

[daveslot]

I like these. Every one I have seen has unique hand painted artwork, but the mechs are made of cheap rubbish.

[gameswat]

I've had some of these but can't remember any signs of a conversion from Fireworks? I assumed made new by S&L? I'd have imagined if it was a conversion they'd have recycled the front door wood like many other doors I've seen on various machines, by just filling in the old holes. But these have their own doors. I do remember seeing recycled wood used for the outer cases though, and underneath. Mine had all sorts of wartime serial markings from shell boxes I think.

[pennymachines]

The fronts are oak but the outer cabinets are cheaper wood, usually hidden under a sort of khaki green paint, reflecting post war production austerities. I guess S&L had a quantity of cabinets made for the Fireworks, but when a lack of demand emerged for that elaborate and expensive allwin, the cases were re-purposed (by S&L or some other manufacturer) to house this much cheaper machine.

As Dave says, each Key Hole has a unique hand-painted flash. The mechanism is very simple and reliable, consisting of a clockwork timer controlling an electric lamp, wound by turning the large chrome knob, which is also linked to a long shaft, allowing the user to scroll through a series of bathing beauties. The funny thing is that the punter paid a penny to view a short strip of film inside a tiny plastic viewer which cost little more than a penny from a seaside souvenir shop!

[JC]

Topic split and copied from: Circa 1980 British pinball doco name? Site Admin.

Anyway, so what's the wall machine at 0:36? It's a Stevenson & Lovett machine, in a similar case to the Fireworks and peep show machines, and indeed does appear to be a peep show (you can just about make out the keyhole at the top of the door) - but the picture on the front of the machine doesn't look very saucy. Does it perhaps display pictures of cartoon characters for children?

[gameswat]

JC, hard to see the artwork clearly but looks like someone on the left is paying to view a stereoviewer or peep show on a stand, while on the right someone is literally looking through a keyhole for a free view. I've had a couple of these both with handpainted artwork and only one had a sexy lady but both used the same risque toy viewers.

[pennymachines]

Sadly their arcade had already gone before I heard about it, but this is what it looked like.

picture on the front of the machine doesn't look very saucy.

Every one of these seems to have a different hand-painted image, probably by the same artist, and they're all cartoon-style.

[ahedger]

Hi - I appreciate this thread is quite old now, but just wondering if anyone knows something about the coin mechs that the ‘peep through the keyhole’ machines had?
I’ve bought one at auction, I’ve got the lamp/viewer/timer working OK - but it’s just on free play.
Essentially the coin just runs down a chute at the moment when inserted, so I can’t figure out how a coin mech would integrate and enable the lamp and/or timer?

Any help gratefully received!

Alex

[pennymachines]

Hi Alex and to the site!

It's not wired up at the moment, but hopefully this picture will help.

Coin enters at a and comes to rest on the end of b. This causes b to tilt, raising its other end so that the post on the end can engage with the vertical bar at c. This vertical bar oscillates when the large handle is turned at the front. As the vertical bar drags b to the right, the coin is released to the cashbox and b pulls the lower end of lever d (about which it is pivoted). Lever d pivots on the fixed horizontal crossbar so that its upper end pushes against the timer winding lever. This in turn allows the leaf switch to make the circuit and illuminate the viewer.

The extent to which the timer unwinds can be adjusted by setting the bolt e. I think mine runs for about 40 seconds.
If you need more, just let me know.