Mills Vest pocket machines

[thepennyarcade]

Hi Forum
Does anyone know if VPs can take tokens?
I have two machines and neither one will allow the coin slide to seat all the way in
Is there a special way to modify the coin entry mechanism?
Thanks for your help
This is a great forum
Thanks
John

[nvmos2]

[quote="thepennyarcade"]Hi Forum
Does anyone know if VPs can take tokens?


Apparently; yes.

Coin Slot Guide 13 includes copies of 2 Mills advertising photos of the VP with tokens.
One photo shows an early 1939 VP with tokens that have the small hole;
the other undated photo shows a VP cash box full of tokens with the large hole.

[thepennyarcade]

Hi Forum
Well I figured it out, how to allow Mills VPs to receive tokens.
There seems to be a little dog on the coin entry mechanism and if you keep it up, as would a nickel, the token will work.
I removed 3 screws, a small metal plate and used a paper clip.
Works dandy.
Funny how I just noticed someone cut one side of the fan blade shorter.
I can't see how that accomplishes anything.
I have included pictures to show you how I did the conversion
John

[MONTI]

Shortening the fan blade controls the speed that the clock winds down allowing it to wind down faster and lengthens the cycle between jackpots increasing the percentage of the slot machine for the house!
Some casinos used to do this on all their mechanical slot machine to increase the house percentage, or so I'm told! LOL
I never worked in a casino that did that in the 60's, really I didn't but I do have my fingers crossed! LOL
I also heard that some casinos took the fan off the shaft completely but that was very obvious to the Nevada Gaming Commission if they did a visual on the slot machines!

[SLOT DYNASTY]

You're right on all counts Monte, but cutting off a section of only one blade, will make for a wobbly, and
noisy sounding fan, which in turn, would send a player a bad sign. Most all fan speeds were changed by
simply bending the two ends of the blade equally, which will make for a quieter spin. The tighter the bend,
the faster the clock will operate. On the other hand, if you have seen many blades cut on only one side,
like the one shown, then you know more about it than I.

[MONTI]

You're right on all counts Monte, but cutting off a section of only one blade, will make for a wobbly, and
noisy sounding fan, which in turn, would send a player a bad sign. Most all fan speeds were changed by
simply bending the two ends of the blade equally, which will make for a quieter spin. The tighter the bend,
the faster the clock will operate. On the other hand, if you have seen many blades cut on only one side,
like the one shown, then you know more about it than I.

You are correct Bill about the cutting on just one side causing issues as I have never seen that and I should have clarified that point as that was his original question. All the ones I have seen and modified for the house in the 60's were either cut on both ends equally or bent as you say in varying amounts or the "butterfly" removed all together!
As for me knowing more than you My Friend, that I seriously doubt as your research on all things coin operated is on the cutting edge!
I mean really, who do I contact when I have a question, right? LOL
MONTI

[nvmos2]

pennyarcade;

The purpose of the dog is to reject washers and other slugs (including tokens).

I'm pretty sure the Mills instructions are not;
"To convert to token play, wire up the dog with a paper clip."

I'm thinking that all you need to do to convert to token play is;
unhook the pull-down spring from on top of dog;
rotate dog 180 degrees.

The rotated dog should not interfere with operation of mech.
You might have to remove slide to get the dog up and out of the way,
so if you're happy with the way it is now, whatever works.

[SLOT DYNASTY]

You're right on all counts Monte, but cutting off a section of only one blade, will make for a wobbly, and
noisy sounding fan, which in turn, would send a player a bad sign. Most all fan speeds were changed by
simply bending the two ends of the blade equally, which will make for a quieter spin. The tighter the bend,
the faster the clock will operate. On the other hand, if you have seen many blades cut on only one side,
like the one shown, then you know more about it than I.

You are correct Bill about the cutting on just one side causing issues as I have never seen that and I should have clarified that point as that was his original question. All the ones I have seen and modified for the house in the 60's were either cut on both ends equally or bent as you say in varying amounts or the "butterfly" removed all together!
As for me knowing more than you My Friend, that I seriously doubt as your research on all things coin operated is on the cutting edge!
I mean really, who do I contact when I have a question, right? LOL
MONTI

Alright Monti, thanks for the cudos, but you don't have to 'butter my toast'! You have been in this business just as long as I, and you working
in the industry, put you in hands-on position with more machines than I have ever worked on. Hell, I am still learning on a daily basis. What
makes the Slot hobby so interesting, is the multitude of models, changes, variations, revamps, etc., etc. There was so much 'copy-cating' in
the industry, that some revamps, (which were not done in great numbers), are still showing up, having never been seen by most of us. This
was also carried out with many of the Trade Stimulators. I thought by now, that I would have seen every variation, but there hasn't been an
end to it either. And mind you, we're talking original examples here, not Crap that has been tossed together in the past several years.

[MONTI]

I am in total agreement with you Bill, whenever I think I have seen everything I am one more time amazed at what pops up!
This hobby is definitely a continual learning process!
But I must admit working in the casinos in the 60's was a tremendous eye opener on many levels and a time I would go back to in a heartbeat!
Take Care My Friend!
MONTI

[thepennyarcade]

Hi Forum
I am not sure if this posting will be duplicated, when I tried to do a Preview to check spelling and syntax the computer said Safari couldn't open the page a it disappeared in the cyberspace void.

So I took my 2 Mills VPs removed the paper clips, removed the coin slide, lifted the spring and then flipped the dog.
It took a little longer to do and of course when you fix one issue others always seem to arise.

Here is picture of the flipped over dog, now tokens work just fine.

Thanks to all