Bryans Spinning Games
Bryan devised a number of spinning games of different forms. These were basically gambling games, although on the Bullion it was possible to place bets on the outcome, which made it more interactive.
Compared to the more common One-Arm Bandit, these games only had a single spinning disc; so they lack the element of suspense that the Bandit has, where each reel stops in turn. However, the Clocks were sold in very large quantities, and the public probably thought that they had a greater chance of lining up a single disc than three spinning reels. It is also reported that the authorities were initially fooled by the machine, thinking that it was a real clock! I wouldn't have thought that they were fooled for very long!
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| CLOCK 6-WIN
(1930) Rotating the key would wind up the mechanism and release the clock hands. The clock would pay out according to the position that the hands came to rest. This was Bryan's second machine and it was a runaway success. |
CLOCK 12-WIN
(1947) The same as the 6-Win version, but with a payout on every hour.
The Clocks were extremely common, and were made in large quantities, and
a number of different case styles. |
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12-Win Clock and mechanism in the rarer crackle finish case. (photos courtesy S.Parkes). |
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| Part of Bryan's patent specification for the original Clock. The bellows seen at the top right were used to provide a gradual run-down of the mechanism. These bellows exist on the prototype machine (shown on the right), but were replaced by an escapement mechanism, probably before production began. (photo courtesy Paul Angel) | |
What a lovely pair! 12-Win Clock and Fruit Bowl in matching streamline cases. These have serial Nos. 162 (Fruit Bowl) and 2162 (Clock). It is thought that they were bought from the factory as a pair and have been kept together from new. Below: Mechanisms of the Clock (left) and Fruit Bowl (right). The mechanism of the later Clocks was almost identical to the Fruit Bowl, as can be seen from these photos. Earlier versions of the Clock used a slightly different mechanism (see photo above). (photos courtesy J.Darvill) |
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| CLOCK TOWER
(1961) The Clock Tower was a clever name for a Clock version of the Quadmatic, which housed four Clocks in a square case. (Photo courtesy S.Stern) |
Internal view of the Clock Tower |
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| Nice shot of Clock Tower and its four separate clocks. Which one is showing the right time?! (Photos courtesy Peter Jones) | |
| WINDMILLL (1933) | |
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On inserting a penny and turning the key, the windmill
slowly rotates. The player presses a knob on the front of
the game, in an attempt to drop a pointer onto the edge of the sails
as they rotate. If the pointer lands in one of the notches
on the sails, he is rewarded with a payout. The payout is
the same for all notches, and can be set to any amount from 1 to
18 pennies. |
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| FRUIT BOWL
(1965) The Fruit Bowl was a simple gambling game (gambling machines had been legalised in Britain in 1960). Rotation of the handle would spin the dial, and the machine would pay out 2-12 coins, if the numbered symbols lined up with the pointer at the bottom.
The jackpot on the front is a dummy. The pennies are there merely
to attract the punters! |
 Value: £500-800 |
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| BULLION
(1963) The Bullion was a gambling game in which you could actually place bets upon where you thought the pointer would come to rest, effectively a mechanical Roulette. A coin would be placed in the chosen slot at the top of the machine, and the handle turned. This wound up the mechanism and set the pointer spinning. When the pointer came to rest, the machine would pay out the value of the bet if you chose the winning number. You could insert coins into more than one slot in the same game, so multiple bets could be placed. The windows above the dial were used to store and display the coins during the game, so that the player could see which numbers had been bet on. The Bullion was a very popular game, although it wouldn't score any points for attractiveness! The Bullion exists in old penny (1d) and new penny (1p) versions. The decimal version can be recognised by the five smaller coin entries, and white paper labels stuck over the '12's to convert them into '10's. Unfortunately, the size of the coin windows was not changed, which makes it difficult to see the small 1p coins in the windows designed for the old penny. 2p versions are known, but they are rare. Values: 1p version - £300-400; 1d version - £350-450 Quadmatic version of Bullion |
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| Bullion Operating
Instructions Sheet (courtesy Simon
Parkes)
Until recently it was thought that all new Bullions supplied after decimalisation still used the old '12' dials with white paper '10' labels stuck over them, and no new dials were ever printed. Then this example came to light. New dials must have been printed very late in the Bullion's career. A new printed dial has also been seen on a late 2p Bullion. |
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The mechanism of the Bullion. Another feast of Bryans mechanicals! This game was purely mechanical - a considerable achievement for a roulette game of this type, with multiple automatic payouts. The toothed segment at the top engages with the rocking bar above it, which provides for a timed run-down of the mechanism. The Bullion was Bryan's last great mechanical contraption!
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