11-07-2019, 07:25 PM
When I was about 14 or 15, almost 50 years ago, I built a sort of fruit machine. It got used at school fetes and collected for charity at home.
You put 2p in the slot, then turned a handle (old door handle!) which started it running. All the logic was GPO 3000 and GPO 600 relays along with 3 uniselectors for the 3 "reels" which were nixie tubes. There might have been a few transistors and diodes. ISTR most of the bits came from Proops in Tottenham Court Road. I found the sole surviving fragment this afternoon while clearing out an old cupboard. This was the paying out mechanism. See picture. I reckon it would still work, with a pile of 2p coins in the tube. The solenoid was mains voltage and a bit too powerful. It needed a step down transformer or ballast resistor.
The whole thing made quite a racket, what with the uniselectors whizzing round and hefty thumps from the coin mechanism if you won.
I don't think any photos of the whole thing survive but I've an inkling that some circuit sketches might. I'll find them when I'm not looking for them!
You put 2p in the slot, then turned a handle (old door handle!) which started it running. All the logic was GPO 3000 and GPO 600 relays along with 3 uniselectors for the 3 "reels" which were nixie tubes. There might have been a few transistors and diodes. ISTR most of the bits came from Proops in Tottenham Court Road. I found the sole surviving fragment this afternoon while clearing out an old cupboard. This was the paying out mechanism. See picture. I reckon it would still work, with a pile of 2p coins in the tube. The solenoid was mains voltage and a bit too powerful. It needed a step down transformer or ballast resistor.
The whole thing made quite a racket, what with the uniselectors whizzing round and hefty thumps from the coin mechanism if you won.
I don't think any photos of the whole thing survive but I've an inkling that some circuit sketches might. I'll find them when I'm not looking for them!
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
