photo courtesy Don Speakman |
from original sales leaflet |
photo courtesy B.Klepner |
from original sales leaflet |
ALL SQUARE METAL CRANE
(1936) |
ALL SQUARE WOODEN CRANE (1936) |
| The All Square Crane was made in two versions. The
metal version was beautifully stylish, with its sweeping curves and
narrow-waisted pedestal. The wooden case style appears to be very rare,
at least in the UK |
(photo courtesy
D.J.Tucker) |
(photo courtesy
W.Tear) |
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Very nice All Square Metal Crane, showing views inside crane
and lower mechanism.
At the end of the game, the crane jib retracts and drops any prizes into
the central hopper.
(photos courtesy Rudy Dobbenie)
All Square Crane
Instruction Sheet
(courtesy Jim Hacking) |
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NEW CRANE
(196?)
A late version of the crane, which replaced the All-Square Crane in the
1960s.
A feature of this crane is that the jib was constanty luffing in and out
to attract passing punters.
(photo courtesy Kevin Cairns) |
Bryans Crane mechanism, from the Bryans museum
(photo courtesy Paul
Angel)
Crane Instruction Sheet (early version)
Crane Instruction Sheet (later
version)
(both courtesy Jim Hacking) |
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(courtesy W. Tear) |
(courtesy Old Sled Works) |
(courtesy Rudy Dobbenie) |
WALDEN GOLIATH CRANE
(1935)
Made by Bryans for the Walden Automatic Company of Longford Street, London.
This giant crane stands nearly 7 feet high, and could hold a very large
number of prizes. It was available in manually-operated or motorised
versions. The manual version was particularly useful for places like
end-of-piers and other outdoor locations, as it could be operated where there
was no electricity supply. The success of this crane led to Bryan
introducing his own Crane designs the following year. |
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PENDULUM
(1937)
Left: Sales photo.
Prizes were knocked off a rotating turntable by three swinging pendulums
with heavy ball weights on the end. Players inserted a coin and turned
the handle to release the pendulum. What happened when all three players
let their pendulums go at the same time, I don't know!
Below: Photos of an unrestored Pendulum recently discovered
at the back of a warehouse in Belgium! Thanks to this web site, the
finder was able to identifiy it as a rare Bryans machine, otherwise it would
have been trashed. This is the only one known to exist.
(photos courtesy Rudy Dobbenie) |
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(sales photo
courtesy D.Lavender) |
(courtesy Jim Hacking) |
| AUTOMATIC POSTCARD
VENDOR (1937)
This was an ambitious machine that was never put into production. It
is thought that only one or two machines were ever produced, one of
which stood in the office at the Bryans factory. The
colour photographs are of the vendor in the Bryans Museum at Drayton Manor.
The machine in the photo is filled with saucy seaside postcards and scenic
views, which were sold in enormous quantities at British seaside
resorts. In view of this, it is rather puzzling that this machine was
not developed into a successful product. A sales leaflet and
operators' leaflet was produced, and a number of empty cases were in
storage at the factory, so it is likely that the design suffered from mechanical,
operational, or perhaps legal problems. |
| The vendor could be adjusted for 1, 2 or 3 pennies. 51
different postcards were displayed on a rotating rack, and picked up by a
pneumatic mechanism. The customer manipulated the 2 knobs on the front
to rotate the rack and position the vertical pickup arm to select the required
postcard. Upon inserting the coin, the vacuum pump would start and
the selected card would be picked up by the rubber sucker and delivered to
the customer.
As a safety measure, the machine checked to see if a postcard had been delivered
before depositing the coin(s) into the cash box. If the customer
mis-operated the machine or the selected compartment was empty, resulting
in a postcard not being delivered for any reason, the coin(s) would be returned. |
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