Friday, March 15, 2024

1933 Jigsaw differences

Turns out my Jigsaw has some features of an early model.  Here we will jot down notes about what features are found on earlier edition Jigsaws.  All of this info was provided by Bruce Zamost, who also gave me the information about the two editions of Rock-Ola's World Series.  

early version on the left, more common later production version on the right.  Note how the later machine's puzzle is more orange in the bottom-right corner.  The early version is more yellow.

 My version has 2 leg bolts. Most versions will only have one.

2 bolt holes, and the more common stamped shooter plate

The later versions have a single bolt and legs with the lovely chrome plating.

cast shooter plate.  Also note the leg shields here, which are only found on the single-bolt (the more common) models
 A note on the shooter plate:
Also, note that a reproduction rough cast of the shooter plate was available from Hal O'Rourke (Buckwerx predecessor) which required extensive smoothing and polishing.  When smoothed/polished, this repro part looks more like a thicker version of the stamped plate than the cast shooter plate.  However, an untrained eye might, at a distance, mistake this repro part for an original cast shooter plate.

My shooter plate is stamped metal.  This next picture, provided by Bruce, shows the cast shooter plate AND the cast puzzle frame:

This Jigsaw has the cast shooter plate and puzzle frame, but the parts were swapped into a later cabinet that only has single leg bolts


The puzzle frame on mine is the stamped version:

stamped puzzle frame
 
the early version cast puzzle frame is more angular

When I was opening it up, the first difference I noticed on mine was the trough for the ball return tray:

my cast ball return tray, only found on early models

the more common ball return tray is not cast.

Mine has an earlier version of the coin slide:

old coin slide version
the typical ABT-style coin slide

Some early versions have a coin box that is segregated from the rest of the cabinet, meaning if you wanted to get something deep in the cabinet you'd have to remove the playfield.

segregated coin box section found on some earlier models
 

This version uses an unhinged coin box.  The later versions would have a hinged coin box.  Mine is hinged, and not segregated.

The later playfields have patent text near the bottom, but the early playfields did not.

earlier playfield: no patent text at the bottom



later playfield: patent text at bottom

On early models the colour behind "A CENTURY OF PROGRESS" is blue, and if you look at the machine above, you'll see it's green on later models.

From my machine, "A CENTURY OF PROGRESS" with the blue background, a mark of an early machine.

Other differences:

  • There are also apparently differences in the early vs later tilt mechanisms, with the earlier ones being more robust and taking up a slightly different footprint.
  • Early cabinets were apparently black, and then the majority were gun metal gray.
Bruce gives the full details himself on his pinballowners page. (archive)