Early electric Buckley jackpot

[coppinpr]

I'm just about to start on this wrecked Buckley. The mech is very dirty but works surprisingly well. I'm not sure what it is exactly. It looks like a Mills, as you might expect, but I don't think it is. It doesn't have any part numbers, Buckley or Mills, but does have the reg. number 503444. It may have had the Buckley air piston on the mech., as I can see a screw hole but it's gone now. Anyway, the bit I need help with is what I assume to be a solenoid powered jackpot payout unit, the like of which I've never seen.

One of the two solenoids has been disconnected and is broken. The other I still need to test.
Power comes in from a transformer placed in the area where a Mills handle pump would be (Buckleys don't use this space) and goes to the junction box shown in photo 1, where it spreads out to the solenoids and switches.

Photo 1

Photo 2. This switch clearly closes when the jackpot slide button hits it. The second switch behind it seems to switch it off (I think) soon afterwards and perhaps switch on the solenoid in photo 3.

Photo 2

Photo 3. This solenoid seems to be directly connected to the horizontal jackpot finger, pulling it back into its set position.

Photo 3

Photo 4 shows a switch operated by the clock. I'm guessing it switches off the jackpot unit at the end of its cycle, when the clock reloads during a handle pull.

Photo 4

Photo 5 is the most interesting; it shows the unit itself. Several parts are rusted solid at the moment, so I can't hand operate it yet.

Photo 5

I'm GUESSING the cog with the stop bar attached is released when the solenoid fires, allowing the ratchet to open and close the switches mentioned above, thus working the jackpot slide once for every tooth in the cog, paying out one coin for every cycle, allowing for a large payout using only one slide.

Photo 6 raises some extra questions:
a. This part is fixed, so I'm assumimg it acts as a stop for the cog.
b. Is there something missing here?
c. Where can I get this solenoid (2342-59)?

Photo 6

I'm very keen to make this work - lots of help please

[badpenny]

Paul .....
What does your first photo look like from the other side, are there any contacts/switches affecting or affected by the vertical fingers?
Is solenoid (2342-59) supported by anything or is it attached to the hinged lever under it?

BP

[coppinpr]

I too expected a switch on the vertical fingers, but there never has been any, as the photo below shows. This wiring is just a junction box. The only connection to fingers is to the horizontal fingers from the solenoid shown in photo 3.

Solenoid (2342-59) is mounted on the frame and is a little odd. It has no hole through the middle with a bar that moves. It has a flat rounded face that (I assume) becomes a magnet when current is passed through and pulls on the hinged lever that locks out the cog.

[badpenny]

That terminal box must have distributed power somewhere.

As you say, a jackpot win would have resulted in the micro switch on the top of the slide bundle being activated. I assume that is a n/o switch. I can't see the switch you refer to in photo 3. Is it behind the added plate?
What does it act upon?

You're right, the small solenoid on the other side is acting as an electro magnet and lifting the plate which in turn seems to take the ratchet off the cogged wheel? What puzzles me is how the down force on the other side of the cogged wheel happens. Also, the cogged wheel has an arm attached that looks as if it wants to raise a lever every full turn, but is there clearance to let it do it?

It all looks a bit Heath Robinson-ish and an after market addition.
I'd be tempted to return it to a fully mechanical machine by ripping off the wiring and added mechanics. Save the levers and solenoids in case you're ever tempted to build a turbocharger for your Morphy Richards Pogo Stick but burn all evidence of the wiring and terminal connectors lest Time Team ever link your name to it.

[slotalot]

Hi Paul
I am not into bandits but I have been looking at your photos, and from what I can see of the layout of components I think it should be set up as my photo
The pin on the ratchet wheel should, I think, be above the metal plate, (see white spot). This pin will be resting on the top of a normally open switch holding it shut. The up and down action of the right hand lever will index the ratchet wheel round and away from the switch and, when the coil "2342/59" gets a pulse of electricity, it will lift the ratchet follower plate and the ratchet wheel will then spin anti clockwise and close the switch. The ratchet wheel must have some sort of spring return fitted, but I can't see one on your photo.
I hope this is of some help
Regards, your friendly Northerner

[badpenny]

........ yes Stuart, I thought that as well .......

I still think it's a bit Fred Karno ( wow Fred Karno & Heath Robinson in the same thread, who'd have thought it?) as that cog would have no need to have teeth all the way around it.

[slotalot]

Yep I think the rusty metal gives it away as well. It would have had some kind of plate on it if factory fitted but I still hope he gets it going.

[coppinpr]

I always assumed it was an add on, being rusty and attached in odd places. After looking closely at it today I think I'm reluctantly going to have to scrap it. Slot's idea about a missing switch makes perfect sense, but the unit itself does not. Firstly, the hinged plate worked by the solenoid sits in a deeper slot cut into the wheel, so would have to be raised to allow the wheel to turn at all. The ratchet on the bar would allow the wheel to turn clockwise, bouncing the bar attached up and down as the wheel moved, but the ratchet would stop the wheel moving anti-clockwise, unless it was fully raised, but the real killer is that NONE of the moving parts on the unit actually connect to anything. The wheel has no spring retainer or bracket connections and no known way of turning and the up down bar has just one unused hole at its end, which looks like a spring retainer but, as the bar already has two springs acting in opposite directions, there would be nothing for it to do and no where to connect. It's a pity to lose it - it's well made and well thought out (if a little complex). I'll remove it in one piece, and keep it just in case of ......in case of what? I don't know

[slotalot]

Ill remove it in one piece, and keep it just in case of ......in case of what? I dont know

I will have to be left as one of life’s little mysteries. Why is it there? What is it for??

[treefrog]

I doubt this electric jackpot feature is original as with so many Mills ones that were converted in Britain to get around the laws at the time, so would not be a big loss if removed.... Having said that, I do like to see these restored if all the bits are there, as I doubt many exist now as so many have failed or been removed.

[badpenny]

I will have to be left as one of life’s little mysteries...........

That's sad Stuart ....... I've always considered you quite tall.

[coppinpr]

No bp, he said "mysteries" not "miscreants"

[markymark]

What a cracking little machine mech. Although I'm a mechanical man through and through, this "bespoke" job on a mech is beautiful. I did bid on this machine but it went too high for what it was. Shame your taking the "electric" parts off, would have been nice to see it working. If you ever want to get rid of the mech let me know, I'd love to have a crack at fixing it!

[coppinpr]

it went too high for what it was

in your view,not mine

[operator bell]

It can't be original, as that style of microswitch wasn't made when Buckley were still in business. I've seen other machines, Jennings usually, that were retrofitted with a hopper for paying frequent jackpots - this could be something similar. I also recall there was an operator down in the West Country that did electric conversions on old bandits around 1970. The ratchet and solenoid looks like it may have once been part of the reflex unit of a bingo pinball. But the quality of the job looks too good for a British showman. It's not cobbled together out of scrap wire and decaying electrical tape with lethal exposed connections.