Evolution of Brunswick automatic pinsetters (www.oldbowling.com)

[rivierarick]

Interesting that these had features the wouldn't get public until AMF came out with the ACCU-SCORE chassis in the 80's

[BIGGREENLEAF1]

The problem for early pinsetter designers for years was not the setting or loading of a new rack or returning the ball but was the picking up and respotting of the pins after the first ball. That issue had stymied designers for close to 40 years...

[slb785]

that last feature with a gutterball is something ive never seen on a modern day brunswick machine. I know AMF machines can do it with the right scoring system

[Schmicko007]

actually, all the pinsetters in the gs-series have that function, they do the same thing if you only hit a 7 or 10 pin on the first ball

[Predatorocks]

@slb785 I don't think I've ever seen that either, but maybe it has to do with not many people getting a gutter on the first shot, and people seeing it a lot less.

I find it funny how that one machine has 2 guard things. The ones they use today for the guards just look so flimsy like they would break easily if you throw a rocket of a bowling ball down the alley.

[slb785]

@Predatorocks I work on both brunswick A-2s and AMF 82-70s. (mostly amf). And know that only the AMF is capable of cycling like that. And as for the rake/sweep. The AMF sweep is actually VERY durable. Ive seen them get blasted with a 15lb ball and they hold up well. Working full time at my job in the AMF house i havent seen a sweep bar broken in years

[stannous]

The second pinsetter looks like an A-2, or an early version of it. The first one doesn't look like any Brunswick or AMF machine I have seen.

[red7pin]

Did anyone catch at 2:39 the guy bowling is left handed and the next shot comes in from the right.LOL nice try guys...

[DSnWiiRocks]

@red7pin if he hook the ball?

[janchapman1969a]

@red7pin - sorry, it is normal for a lefty to attempt this spare from the right

[bigalz420]

@red7pin so he throws a reverse curve, alot of people bowl like that u dirty nigger, fuck you

[SonicBowl]

the concepts from brunswick are very good

[Retrobowler]

DID any body see the ball bounce 3:07 to 3:20

[RiversHDS]

yep. i guess he hitted the pin, that was allready down & behind the land :)

[vitaphonedisc]

The second pinsetter appears to be a very old prototype dating to the 1920's. It seems that they just dressed up some old prototypes, and slapped them behind new masking units. The fact being that AMF beat them to the punch in automatics. I am sure they were really scrambling to show "something" to the nervous customer base. The second machine in the video was patented on November 20, 1928 by J.W. Bishop. Patent number 1,692,796.

[uberbcs]

Err, not the A-2, but rather the A... same thing though :P

[uberbcs]

Brunswick had the first semi-automatic pinsetter, but AMF had the first automatic pinspotter with the 82-30. Brunswick responded to this competition with the A-2.

[BIGGREENLEAF1]

@uberbcs Brunswick responded with the model A machine as the A-2 wouldn't come about for a few years later around the time the AMF was getting ready to launch their second machine the 82-70 A machine the had the roll over bin and the first 82-70 machine nearly put AMF out of business because it was so bad, the redesign of the bin and distributor just in the nick of time saved them...

[HGJYBRANDON]

hey what is a prototype pinsetter

[cwf1701]

early concepts. sometimes the prototype might get rejected because of cost (in the 1920/30s some public bowling alleys in Detroit MI was as small as 4-6 lanes (anything over 12-16 lanes at the time was large), which would make the machines money-losers). sometimes the machine might be too complex to work on, etc.

[EdmDude]

yeah, cool looking GS-type sweep. I guess history repeats itself.

[HGJYBRANDON]

haha yep

[ke3wh]

@EdmDude didnt seem to be that way to me, but my eyes suck now days

[HGJYBRANDON]

omgosh i found something! guess what you know the first pinsetter (automatic) if u notice the sweep thing is just like the gs-x series of pinsetters omgosh

[HGJYBRANDON]

hey can u put more of theses things on you tube if u can

[alterman156]

It is amazing to watch the earliest example of Brunswick's automatic pinsetter at work. It appears that the Brunswick "A" series pinsetters were developed from this initial model. It must have been a wonder to watch the 1920's Brunswick pinsetter in person when it was first introduced. It foretold the future of bowling when most bowling alleys would use automatic pinsetters to handle the bowling pins, return balls back to the bowlers and even keep score.

[Toomany10pins]

Must have been the protypes between the Bruswick B-10 and the "A" machine. Cool old footage.

[yruwatchingnow]

Very cool post.