Jennings Bronze Chief

[WS65711]

My wife and I (well mostly me) had been thinking for the past several months about buying an antique slot machine. Our original interest was sparked due to being fans of "Pawn Stars" and "American Pickers" on the History Channel. I soon started searching out information on the internet, finding this site and a few others, and began checking eBay and Craigslist every few days, hoping to find a machine near me that I could drive to see and pick up, without having to be concerned about shipping damage.

After finding a "Golden Nugget" machine (that looked TOO new) right in my backyard, and stumbling onto Dave's article about how to tell the real-deal from a reproduction, I decided to pass on that one. About 10 days later I found the machine in the picture above on Craigslist. This machine was only about 90 minutes from me. The Craigslist ad had no pictures, but I got the seller to email me a few. From what I could see in the pictures, it appeared to be just what I was hoping to find...... an authentic old machine, that worked, and looked fairly decent. I was told by Don Creekmore (based on the seller's pictures) that the machine is a 1941 model, as determined by its styling details.

Anyway, I drove to see (and buy) the machine on Friday. The cashbox is missing (cigar box in it's place), and the back cover doesn't appear to be original (fabricated from heavy gauge galvanized sheet steel with pop-rivets). Other than that, the machine looks original as far as I can tell, but I'm not sure about the reels/reel strips.

After we got it home on Friday, my wife proceeded to shovel about $50 of quarters into it, at which point it seemed to stop paying out quarters. Not knowing much of anything about how these machines are supposed to work, I figured maybe it was just "out of quarters" to use for the payoff. There were no quarters in the "Jackpot" stash at that point. After a while I took the mechanism out of the case, and saw that I could manually add quarters to the Jackpot reservoir. I added quarters there, but upon putting the machine back together I quickly found that that didn't help. I went back to the internet and discovered enough clues to make me realize that the 3,5,11,13,18 payouts didn't come from the Jackpot, they came from the bottom end of the coin tube via the payout sliders. Sure enough, the bottom payout slider was sticking. I made it operable with a bit of (gasp) WD40, not realizing till later that the payout sliders are supposed to be "dry". Well, it had grease on it before......... that's what caused it to stick . . .

So now everything works on the machine, except that I haven't been lucky enough to hit the "Jackpot". So I can't be sure whether the Jackpot works or not . . .

My questions at this point (if anyone cares to help out) ---

Is there any adjustment that make the machine more likely or less likely to payout or hit the Jackpot, or is it a totally random thing?

Is there any way to "force" the Jackpot to occur, so I can confirm that it works?

I can read the serial number stamped into the exterior bottom left side wooden panel. Is there any way to confirm the year by the serial number?

Thanks!

More pictures -

[Chkita]

The machine pays, as you said, strictly randomly. It can be "bugged" with a small nut and bolt to keep it from hitting certain Payouts (the nut and bolt simple bolt into the Star Wheel to keep the fingers from stopping at that spot) but not any adjustment to hit more.

To make the machine hit: Remove the back cover, Put a Quarter in the machine and pull the handle. Once the reels start in motion stop the clock with your hand/fingers (This is the Fan looking thing that is spinning in the back) Once you stop the clock simply line up the reels that you want and release the clock. "Jackpot!"

I expect that you can tell the year by the Serial Number, but I don't have any knid of list for this... Maybe somebody else here can shed some light on this for you...

[WS65711]

Chkita -

Thank you for the helpful information! With your instructions, I was able to get the machine to pay off the Jackpot. It paid $17.00 (68 quarters).

So now this brings up another question.....

There are still quarters in the Jackpot "reservoir" up above the claw-like gate near the top of the glass. After forcing the Jackpot, I played about 12 or 15 more quarters during which time about a dozen quarters dropped down below the claw-gate, a few at a time. There are still more quarters that I can see above the claw-gate. Is this normal operation? I guess I don't know how (or how fast) the Jackpot below the claw-gate should refill?

Also, I believe I read in a "Chief" service manual I found online that the Jackpot on this machine was "adjustable up to $37.50", so I guess there is an adjustment to increase or decrease the Jackpot?

I'm hoping that someone who owns a Jennings Chief will chime in and let me know how things are supposed to happen . . .

[Coin Ops]

The late great Dick Bueschel compiled a list of serial numbers and corresponding dates a long time ago. The list is published in "An Illustrated Price Guide to the 100 Most Collectible Slot Machines - Volume 3" If you post your serial number, I can look it up for you.

Have fun with your new toy!

-Al

[WS65711]

Yes, we've been having lots of fun with it so far! The serial number is 137849. If you could take a minute to look that up in your book that would be great!

I'm still hoping someone can give me a kind of "description of operation" as far as how the coins are supposed to travel through the machine......

1) Deposit quarter into slot.

2) Pull lever.

3) Coin travels on escalator, allowing machine begin operation.

4) Coin at right-hand end of escalator drops into coin tube.

Some of the next steps are somewhat unclear to me.....

5) Coins stack up in coin tube until coin tube fills?

5a) Coins pay out for 3,5,11,13,18 wins from the payout sliders at bottom of coin tube.

6) When coin tub fills, coins begin to spill into cash box?

or

6) When coin tube fills coins begin to spill into Jackpot reservoir?

or

6) I must always fill Jackpot reservoir manually?

7) After Jackpot is won, coins remain in reservoir above the claw/gate. With usage, some drop down. What about the rest? When will the Jackpot (below the claw/gate) refill completely?

[Coin Ops]

According to Bueschel's book, the serial number 137849 appears to be from 1938.

I believe the jackpot gets filled before the cashbox. The reserve should refill the main jackpot on the next pull after a jackpot is won.

[WS65711]

Coin Ops -

Thanks for the helpful info. I guess there must be a problem then with refilling the Jackpot from the reserve on my machine....... because that didn't happen . . .

Edit:

I've added pictures of the lefthand and righthand sides of the Jackpot mechanism, in the hopes that someone might notice something out of the ordinary (like the problem) . . .

[shortrackskater]

Yes it's a 12 year old thread but it COULD HAVE helped others out. That's the purpose of a forum. I would have LOVED to see the photos of the mechanism because I'm having trouble with my jackpot mech and need to see the front right side. If the forums image system was used, they'd be here. But NOPE!!!! Off site image hosting... and they ALWAYS DISAPPEAR over time.
Very frustrating.

[oldslotman]

[WS65711]

Yes it's a 12 year old thread but it COULD HAVE helped others out. That's the purpose of a forum. I would have LOVED to see the photos of the mechanism because I'm having trouble with my jackpot mech and need to see the front right side. If the forums image system was used, they'd be here. But NOPE!!!! Off site image hosting... and they ALWAYS DISAPPEAR over time.
Very frustrating.

I know what you mean about pictures disappearing from forums as time passes. I linked the pics because back then this forum didn't allow any uploads.
But I do still have the machine as well as the pics I had posted way back when. It's 5:30am here now and my dog just got me up. If you need more than what oldslotman posted I'll locate my pictures and add them back to this thread... later when I'm more awake.