Balfour Silver Queen identified

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jonesthegarage
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Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by jonesthegarage »

Thought I'd start by searching for Silver Queen on this site and lo and behold found the most fascinating thread in "Speakeasy" in the Arena section. If you are too parsimonious to have paid your £2 for access then do so now if only to read this entry!

The machine was apparently manufactured in Ilford using old Watling tools, brought to the market in 1960 and was not very reliable. I thought it had been cobbled together from a bunch of old parts someone had lying around and then used various bits off a tractor or old Ford transit to finish it off. Elegant it ain't.

Reacts to one in every 4 sixpences you put in, reels spin and stop reasonably well. Any archive pictures of another would be useful to see if I am looking at what I should be,
Thanks in advance.
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badpenny
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Re: silver queen information please

Post by badpenny »

Impressive.
The slides look like manhole covers and the anti slam bracket looks designed to stop a tank.
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operator bell
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Re: Silver Queen information please

Post by operator bell »

Interesting. The old Watling tooling was originally bought by the Bell Fruit company, but as I've remarked in another thread, I've never seen a mechanical slot made by Bell Fruit. If they ever had a location in Ilford, this is probably the missing link.
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Re: Silver Queen information please

Post by pennymachines »

Your hunch that the Silver Queen is a kind of Watling/Bell-Fruit missing link appears to be correct OB.
Freddy Bailey describes the convoluted story of how Watling tooling made its way from Bell-Fruit Corp., Reno, Nevada, via France to Northern Ireland and eventually to Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Ltd. in Nottingham: The History and times of Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (PDF)

Silver Queen we're told was made in 1958 using Watling tooling by Sam Norman of Balfour Marine (Engineering) Ltd. (based in Ilford, Essex) under license to Wilkinson & Prock, five years before Bell-Fruit (based in Nottingham) was formed. Balfour became better known as BAL-AMi, making jukeboxes from 1958-63. The BAL-AMi Jukebox website has lots of information about the company and shows a similar red-cased Silver Queen: Behind the BAL-AMi Factory Gate.
factory15.jpg

Operator Bell wrote:I've never seen a mechanical slot made by Bell Fruit.
Derek Horwood explains, in this Coin-op Community article, Ken Wilkinson & Bell Fruit Manufacturing Company, how the Bell Fruit Model 7-T (TIC TAC TOE 777) was designed by Lou Bennetti and "then produced in the Nottingham factory under the supervision of Lane Fleischer who was Lou Bennetti’s partner in Reno".

I hope Freddy gets that book published one day.
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coppinpr
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by coppinpr »

I've never seen a mechanical slot made by Bell Fruit.
I have read that the tooling for the "Silver Queen" went on to be used for Bell-Fruit's "Three Alike", although I've never even seen a photo of "Three Alike" :!?!:
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by pennymachines »

There are several pictured in the Bell-Fruit thread I linked to above, starting from Page 2.
You can also see them depicted in Freddy's History and times of Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co., Ltd. PDF.
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operator bell
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by operator bell »

Well! Now I can never say I haven't seen a Bell Fruit mechanical again. Although, I did mean the Nottingham Bell Fruit Co. This one apparently pre-dates that facility.

Image

Now I'm off to research Lane Fleischer, a new name to me.
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by pennymachines »

I think those early Nottingham-built Bell-Fruits, including the mech above, have "Bell Fruit Corp. Reno Nevada USA" cast into their base plates because they were made using the old tooling.
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by pennymachines »

On Carter's Steam Fair arcade - almost identical to the Silver Queen, but badged Mills Penny:
http://www.visit.carters-steamfair.co.u ... rcade.html
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jonesthegarage
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by jonesthegarage »

another one has appeared - albeit it might be briefly

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Silver-Q ... 6016.l4276
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by pennymachines »

Two more from the EH sale April 2016.
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brigham
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Re: Balfour Silver Queen identified

Post by brigham »

These must surely be the last new machines to offer the old-style Cherry pay-out of two Cherries plus Lemon or Bell.
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