The Crane Article (Autosaved) - Coin

The Crane
Part One: 1926 The Birth of The Digger-Crane
“Digger” machines were first introduced to the relatively new American Coin Machine
Industry in 1926. “For more than 90 years “Digger-Crane” machines have been operated in most
countries around the World, Freddy Bailey as compiled a short history that follows the rise of
these wildly successful amusement machines from the roaring 1920’ , which are still going
strong in 2014 after more than 90 years”
In 1924 a company called The Erie Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut.
Introduced “The Erie Digger” a new novelty game that was designed mainly for the
“Carnivals” and the “Arcades” that were dotted along the Eastern Seaboard of the United
States.
The “Erie Digger” 1930 Model
“The Erie Digger” 1c Model 1926
Exhibit “Iron Claw” 1926
The “Erie Digger” would become the first in a long line of machines to become known amongst
coin machine operators as “Merchandisers” a term that would be used by the American coin
machine operators for the next 90 years, and is still used by many of the American operators
today.
From 1926 till 1930 The Erie Mfg. Co. enjoyed virtual domination of the Digger market
supplying their Diggers mostly to the traveling Carnival people, but in 1926 William Bartlett
a carnival man took the Erie Digger concept and created the “Miami Digger”. Of which he
would operate at more than 40 traveling carnivals for the next 20 years.
.
A Erie digger add in “Automatic Age “ from 1932, Exhibit would soon take over the “Digger” market.
It was in 1926 that the first “Miami” digger was designed by a travelling carnival man named
William Bartlett following World War I, and was patented in the U.S and Canada in 1935. It
was never offered for sale to other operators. These Diggers were operated with great success
from the mid 1920’s until 1951 travelling with major carnivals in the U. S. and Canada.
Employee-Agents were hired and trained by Bartlett to operate carnival concession units of 1216 diggers each. The awards offered to the players as prizes were coins (nickel coins and on up
to silver dollar coins) these games were known as “Nickel Diggers”.
At the time of Mr. Bartlett’s death in 1948 he had over 40 operators in the field supplying digger
concessions to all of the major carnivals of the day, Bob Parker continued this business
operation successfully, acting as the manager for the estate of William Bartlett, but the end of
the U. S. operations came abruptly in 1951 with the implementation of a new federal antigambling law known as the Johnson Interstate Transportation Act. The Bartlett type of digger,
and all others which were powered by an electric motor, were illegal to cross State lines from
1951 until the min-1970’s. Some of the Bartlett/Parker type Nickel Diggers operated for another
20 years in Canada, but they were finally closed-down for good by the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police in Edmonton, Alberta in July of 1975 on the grounds they were Gambling
Devices. (The information on William Bartlett is courtesy of James Roller)
James Roller’s “Miami Digger”
Playing a “Miami Digger” on a Carnival. Restored “Miami Digger”
“Miami Digger” 1950
“Automatic Age” trade magazine February 1932
(All references to Automatic Age magazine is courtesy of The International Arcade Museum).
The Exhibit Supply Company started in 1901 as a printing company, it produced millions of now
collectable cards of various subjects, from Baseball players of the day to film stars of the various times.
Exhibit Supply Company got into the coin operated games business manufacturing initially Card
Dispensing machines for the cards that they printed. By the early 1930’s they were the largest
manufacturer of novelty amusement machines in the World, Exhibit Supply Company ceased
manufacturing amusement games in 1962, they then went back into producing their famous collectable
card series, this was carried on until the early 1970’s when they closed their doors forever.
By the early 1930’s Frank Meyer president of The Exhibit Supply Company was taking out
lawsuits for patent infringement of their “Iron Claw” Digger, one of those lawsuits was
against their number one rival International Mutoscope Reel Company, Inc. By this time both
companies had become very successful in the manufacture of various novelty games and had
deep pockets to fight any lawsuits that would be brought against them
.
William Rabkin President of International Mutoscope Reel Corp. quickly Counter sued Exhibit
for $500,000 after denying the claims by Exhibit Supply Company. of Copyright infringement,
the cases would later be settled out of court, and both companies sued several of the other
smaller Digger manufacturers, who quickly went out of business.
(Courtesy of Greg McLemore, International Arcade Museum)
International Mutoscope Reel Co, would share the lucrative Amusement Machine market with
Exhibit Supply Co, right up until the outbreak of World War II. When both companies would
turn to producing various items for the U. S. war effort.
After producing various Novelty Amusement games for the next several years both companies
were giants of the industry, both producing and pioneering various Novelty machines such as:
Exhibit Supply Company:
“Rotary Merchandiser”,
”Smiling Sam”,
“Hi-Ball”,
“Love Meter”
“Rudolph Ride”,
“Love Tester”,
“Grandma Predicts”,
“Novelty Merchandiseer”,
International Mutoscope Rel Company:
“Voice-O-Graph”
“Mutomatic Merchandiser”,
“Punch Bag”,
“Photomatic”,
“Magic Finger”
“Bowl-A-Game”
“Lift-A-Graph”.
Both Exhibit and Mutoscope would dominate the novelty game market, shipping their games
around the World, then in 1941 everything stopped and every coin machine manufacturer in the
U.S turned their production to supporting the War effort. In 1945 after World War II, the G.I’s
were returning from five years of war in foreign countries and were hungry for home spun
entertainment, the Penny Arcades would have more popularity than ever.
In 1948 William Rabkin President of International Mutoscvope Reel Company, died suddenly,
his son Ray took over and carried on for several more years, but closed their doors in the early
1960’s, but the hey day’s of the Penny Arcades was fading away, the new breed of
manufacturers had arrived and entered the market with new and ingenious electronic games.
Lena Horne
Perry Como
Pearl Bailey
Paul Anka
Dinah Shore
Al Martino
Patty Page
The famous Exhibit “Collectable Card Series” every subject and event over a fifty year period was depicted,
And so these two giant companies that started at the turn of the Century was no more. But
what a run they had, even in the early day’s of the modern arcades, the traditiuonal Exhibit and
Mutoscopes could still be found operating, if only in a corner, they still held many memories for
their operators.
In 1945 International Mutoscope Corporation. Celebrated 50 years of building every kind of
novelty amusement machines that will forever be in the minds of the customers that were
privalidged to be part of an hera never to be seen again, from the roaring 20’s to the turbulant
1960’s when the “Sportslands” and “Penny Arcades” were the places to be entertained.
The Exhibit Supply Company better known as ESCO, left an indelible mark on the novelty coin
machine industry, not only with it’s now classical and highly collectablenovelty machines but
for it’s highly recognized collectable card series that covered every subject from the cowboy’s of
the silent screen to the movie goddess’s of the silver screen, to the Baseball and Boxing greats of
these great times, All of this because of the invention known as the “Penny In The Slot”.
“Street Operators and Digger-Cranes”
By the early 1930’s coin operated “Merchandise” machines were being operated in the U. S. on a
nationwide basis, also several other amusement game manufacturers were by now building
“Digger-Crane” games, amongst them The Exhibit Supply Company. And International
Mutoscope Reel Co., Inc.
Both The Exhibit Supply Co. and International Mutoscope Reel Co., Inc. had been making
various coin operated novelty games since the early 1900’s.
The Exhibit Supply Co, early “Iron Claw” add from 1931
The success of the “Digger-Cranes” would not only find popularity in America, but also in
Europe, Exhibit cranes were produced under license in France, while in the U. K. International
Mutoscope had licensed the Mutomatic Biograph Company, who were already making the
penny-in-the-slot Mutoscope moving picture machines, several British manufacturers started
producing cranes, Charles Ahrens and Jim Bryans were manufacturing cranes for distributors
such as Freddy Bolland and The Burrows Automatic Supply Company. The Glasgow based
Capaldi was selling Cranes, while in France Bonzini was building cranes under license from
Exhibit Supply Co. it is claimed that Bonzini built more than 5,000 cranes during 1933 alone
during the early 1930’s there were more than 33,000 cranes in operation in France.
Automatic Age February 1937
Bonzini Brochure 1935
Bonzini and Bryans Cranes in a modern day private collection
In the early 1950’s Freddy Bolland was buying up cranes from the French and British coin
machine establishments for as low as 5.00 pounds each, he was able to do this because of the
shortage and rationing of sweets (Candy) that were the main prizes offered from cranes in
Europe, making the operating of cranes prohibitive for the amusement arcade owners. The
enterprising Bolland was converting the French and British cranes into Working Models.
Exhibit “Iron Claw” 1928
Exhibit “Iron Claw, Junior” 1932
Exhibit Novelty Merchantman” 1930
Exhibit “20th Century Digger” 1932
Exhibit “Men of Vision” promotional Booklet.
Exhibit New “Iron Claw” 1932
Exhibit “Rotary Merchandiser” 1933
The Exhibit Supply Co, would go on to become the World’s largest manufacturer of novelty
games, in 1905 they would supply a complete arcade set-up for under $10,000.00.
Exhibit Supply Co, Booth at the 1933 World’s Fair Chicago.
Exhibit Supply Co, “Radiogram” 1947
Exhibit Supply Co, “4-Way Card Vender”1947
Exhibit Supply Co, “Treasure Cove” shooting gallery 1950’s.
The Exhibit Supply Co, “Super Star” 1956
The Exhibit Supply Co, “Skill Score” 1956
The Exhibit Supply Co, “Spanish Pool” 1956
The Exhibit Supply Co, “Jitters” 1956
International Mutoscope Co, Inc. was more well known for their Clam Shell moving picture
machines. But like The Exhibit Supply Co, they quickly got into the novelty amusement end of
the industry and became major competitors for the lucrative “Craneland” and “Sportsland”
locations.
Since 1895 Mutoscope & Biograph Reel Co, had been at the forefront of the motion picture
industry, introducing motion picture theater legends such as Lowes and Foxto the industry.
Mutoscopes showing the stars of the silent screen Lional Barrymore and Charlie Chaplin
A typical 1 cent Vaudeville located in New York City, in 1900
Mutoscope Add from June, 1931
Mutoscope “Electric Traveling Crane” 1932
(“Automatic Age” trade magazine, courtesy Greg McLemore International Arcade Museum)
Buckley “Chicago” 1935
Mutomatic U. K. Model
Mutoscope “Traveling Crane” 1933
International Mutoscope Reel Company. Range of Products for 1938
International Mutoscope Reel Co, “Love Pilot” 1948
International Mutoscope Reel Co, “Ace Bomber” 1947
International Mutoscope Reel Co, “Fishing Well “ 1948
One distributor that supplied amusement games to Arcades along the Eastern Seaboard of the
United States was the Mike Munves Corp, who supplied both Mutoscope and Exhibit
amusement games, but for some strange reason which is still a mystery today, is that he never
sold “Diggers”.
The Mike Munves Corp catalogues were the most comprehensive in the U.S. they would fit out
an entire amusement arcade from their vast warehouse in New York City. Mike Munves and
William Rabkin were close personal friends and in 1962, International Mutoscope acquired the
Mike Munves Corp.
.
There was not an amusement arcade within 200 miles of New York City that did not have
amusent games supplied by The Mike Munves Corp.
Mike Munves, President
The Mike Munves Corporation
William Rabkin President
International Mutoscope Reel Co,
So between the Chicago based Exhibit Supply Co, and the New York based International
Mutoscope Reel Co. they would dominate the Novelty amusement games market along with
the Mike Munves Corp, for almost half a century. ,
Also among the early “Digger-Crane” manufactures were Norwat Amusement Devices and
Scientific Machine Corp, two Brooklyn, New York based manufacturers
Buckley “Chicago” Digger 1934
Mills Novelty Co. S.S Merchantman 1935
There were several more “Digger” manufacturers from both New York and Chicago, but only
Exhibit Supply Co, and International Mutoscope Reel Co, would stand the test of time, but
even these two giants of the 1930’s would also close their doors during the changing times in
the amusement games industry of the 1960’s.
Next Week: Part Two. The Modern day Cranes from the 1960’s and their impact on the
Arcade and Single site Industry through till the present day.