Hoopers Automatics

[jefrilig]

Can anybody tell me what happened to Hoopers Automatics (1930/'40s)?

[slotalot]

Can anybody tell me what happened to Hoopers Automatics (1930/40's)?

Hi, welcome to the forum
a quick search shows a few references to Hoopers here, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notice ... Automatics
It may tell you what you want to know
Can I ask you what your interest in Hoopers is?

[jefrilig]

Thanks for this. Lots of interesting info about liquidation but I haven't been able to find out much about the company when it was operating. As a child, I remember playing with Hooper Automatic machines whilst visiting my grandmother. I believe that her family / brother(s) owned the company in the 1930/'40s but I don't know if they sold it after that. I have a photograph somewhere of the shop front from this period.

[slotalot]

Hi, I have done a scan of the "Hoopers" information in Paul Brathwaite's book Arcades & Slot machines, it may be of help to you.
I/ we would love to see the photo of the shop front
If you manage to find it, would you be willing to donate a copy for my own website? http://www.slotmachines.bravehost.com/page8.html I am always looking for vintage slot photo's.

[jefrilig]

Thanks so much for this as it fills some gaps in my family history. My father was born in Penton Street (I assume that this was where the Penton Arms was). This is just round the corner from Pentonville Road. My Grandmother lived in Bounds Green, after the family moved from there so this all fits nicely. I'll certainly know if I find the photograph and you are more than welcome to have a copy. I wish I had some of the original slot machines, I know that my grandmother had some in her back room when I was about 10, together with piles of old pennies, but I believe that she decided to clear them out one day and they we're put in a skip. All I have now is a few of the pennies!

[slotalot]

but I believe that she decided to clear them out one day and they we're put in a skip.

I wish I had a pound for every time I have heard that story... so sad.
I did have two Hooper's machines in my collection up until a few months ago, I let them go to make room "& money" for other machines.
Do you remember them??

[silverbitz]

Would this one be from the same stable. Just missed it last night!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nice-Antique-Oa ... v4exp=true

[slotalot]

Well done silverbitz..
That is indeed one of Hoopers, dates from 1935.

[pennymachines]

Nic Costa provides quite a detailed history of Bill Hooper's company on page 119 of More Automatic Pleasures.
Output consisted mostly of single reel conversion one arm bandits and tivoli type wall machines. The bandits pre-dated the more famous Tom Boland of Leeds conversions and continued into the 1950s. They included the Screen Stars, Stock Exchange and Greyhound Racer. Judging by the picture below, little was retained of the donor mechanisms and the unusual front-mounted knob, together with the 40 stop screen stars drum in place of the three reel fruit symbols, was part of the effort not to resemble a one arm bandit. Designed by Charles Stickland, "a turbine engineer from Brighton", they were very Plain Jane, lacking the pizazz of Boland's conversions and had low predetermined payouts (2d - 6d). Some even adopted the future pay system. Clearly great care was taken to keep their product legal, even more so with their tivoli games, none of which offered automatic payout.

Messrs. John, Bill and Lal Hooper

Screen Stars

Screen Stars

screen-stars1.jpg (12.92 KiB) Viewed 8226 times

Screen Stars mechanism

Additional to their bandit conversions and tivolis like the Discotelle (1934), Silver Whirl Trials (1939) and Skill Score, etc. they built the aforementioned Skill Score pintable, a small counter-top Volta electric shocker, a horoscope converted from a Bovril vender (possibly Mystic Ball of 1938) and continued production of BM Co.'s Electric Rifle shooter when that company folded. Nothing they produced was very ambitious or very successful but they maintained a niche within the industry which kept Bill Hooper in business from 1899 until his death in 1956.
The London Gazette records an Extraordinary General Meeting of Hoopers Automatic Supply Ltd. on the 31st December 1971 to wind up the company. W.G. Hooper is named as Company Secretary at that time.


Three Tivoli types

Silver Whirl Trials?

½ penny "Electricity is Life" Volta shocker

volta2.jpg (10.83 KiB) Viewed 8215 times

Hooper logo

[coinopbelgium]

Sorry Siverbitz, the machine found a new home in Belgium.


Thank you for the great info on this forum! It is a surprise that the machine dates from the 1930s.

[silverbitz]

No problem. Nice machine..

[adskiad]

Help! (hopefully!) I have a Hoopers Discotelle just like the one featured in this thread but without the ornate wood moulding on top. It has lost all its coloured discs along the way & I'd really like to restore it. Can anyone help with this? I remember them as a kid being metal discs with enamel or painted centers. You can just about see them in the image of the one that featured on this thread (I've attached a copy).
Hoopfully yours, Adam!

[treefrog]

I guess a good start is welcome to the site. I am probably the wrong person to assist here, but I am sure someone will advise more in the know...a good start would be some pictures of your machine to give people an idea of where you are starting at.

[coppinpr]

Like treefrog I'm no expert on this sort of machine, but like TF I wanted to welcome you to the site.

[pennymachines]

Let me also welcome you to the Forum Adam (if you're still with us). Unfortunately, I doubt we can help much. These Hoopers bagatelles are actually very rare. I've not seen any other examples of the Discotelle. It does appear Hoopers used the same discs on several games, but even if somebody here has one, you'll still be faced with finding suitable substitutes.*

I wonder if the carved top on the above example has been added later to make it look older/more interesting. It just seems too elaborate and antique for Hoopers. It would be interesting to know if there are any marks on top of yours indicating the placement of a pediment.

*If you can work out the correct diameter and thickness (e.g. experimenting with different coins), maybe this company could help: Tagmakers.co.uk

TagMakers can produce full-colour bespoke and customised tags at a very low price, and with a minimum order quantity of just ten tags...

Currently, we offer steel or anodised aluminium tags for Thermal Transfer Processing...

Using 400-degree(f) thermal pressing, the images and text are sublimated into the tag, leaving a permanent and durable finish that will not wear, fade or tarnish.

Alternatively, they could be turned on a lathe out of some round metal stock and in-painted with Humbrol.

[pennymachines]

I don't often visit eBay these days but just stumbled across this front sold for £166 on Aug 2017: Vintage Allwin arcade machine coin spares or repair parts fair ground

Another typical Hoopers' Automatics product, conveniently identified by the little paper label, "Telephone: Bowes Park 6509".

[badpenny]

You're checking eBay for stuff that sold 9 months ago Mr. P ?

[pennymachines]

I save a lot of money that way...

[badpenny]

I can see that ...... Nursey! He's out of bed again!

[pennymachines]

Hoopers machine in November's EH sale.