Expert: Rodger Knutson - 1/6/2009

Question
Roger,  I have a 1910 Mills Novilty Co,  Bell fruit gum .25 slot machine.  I live in Longmont, Co (north of Denver.  I have been trying to find someone to repair it for a few years now and been unsuccessful.  It worked when I bought it, but has now will jamb after about 4 or 5 quarters every time.  I have to empty all of the coins, reset some of the leavers inside the machine.  There are no obviously missing springs.  Also I have not found screws or anything loose inside the machine.  any help you could provide would be appreciated.
thanks
John

Answer
Hi John,

First off I am sure your Mills machine was not made in 1910, this date is on the reel strips and is the date that mills copyrighted all there reel strips and used them on machines made even just before they went out of business. I have to take a guess here, does your machine have an escalator, that is the part of the machine that takes your coin in on the left and shows the coin going across to the right side of the machine under glass and above the reel windows? If so, then your problem is most likely the coin escalator. The coins are separated in this glass by a space when you play it, if they bunch up and touch each other the machine will jam. Is this what is happing? If so, there are three screws sometimes painted red but that paint is usually gone, take these three screws out, one on the top, and one on each side, remove your coin escalator and clean-clean-clean it. This might work unless it is wore out. Send a photo of your machine if you like to jackpot7@ix.netcom.com and I'll tell you more about, it's name, model, year etc, etc. Also there might be someone around you that fixes machines or knows how to work on them but I would really have to do some digging to find out if you want. Attached photo is a Mills Coin Escalator and part names.
Cheers!
Rodger Knutson