Bowl-Mor vintage candlepin bowling at historic Woodfords Club Portland, ME.
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- A look at the historic Woodfords Club bowling alley in Portland Maine and how the mechanics behind the whole thing work. From what I have been told the lanes were originally built when the building was constructed in 1913. The mechanics were added sometime between the 50s-70s. Before the mechanics were installed students from local Deering high school set pins for the Club members as a part time job. There is also many members who claim at least two lanes before the mechanics were put in were originally used as a rifle range!
I have seen Brunswick A2 machines run. But, just recently learned a little about candlestick bowling. My machinist mind instantly thought, I'd like to see those pinsetters. Thank you for the video.
A seriously great example of a bowlmor candlepin machine. One of the best looking/ running ones I've seen
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So there are 25-26 pins in rotation in a single lane? I never thought about that and it explains why they can reset so quickly after a strike
Looks like hitting the pins is a dying breed also xD
I was holding a camera haha not my best form.
@@lifein207 d
The machines actually look pretty well maintained
You can tell these lanes are old electrically anyways, the wall switches are possibly 120 volt. Where as in most houses low voltage toggle switches at the front desk turned the pinsetters on. They called it the "house relay" that was in the control box above the catwalk. It seems the pilot relays have been replaced with a more modern control box with the red lights, not to mention all the Potter and Brumfield relays have been replaced too. The "house relay" seems to still be there though.
Wall/control desk switches are for 24VAC“ house relay” coils. 220 volts was supplied to each machine, all motors were 120 volts. I installed and maintained the (2) pin setters used on CANDLEPINS FOR CASH. They were located in the parking garage at WNAC in Boston . Joe Sullivan was shows producer, Bob Gamere was the host. Shows for the following week were taped on Saturday. I babysat, “ policing” the machinery in case of a jam or malfunctions, which never happened on my watch. Contestants bowled (1) frame/box. Get a strike and they win the jackpot. I spent quite a few Saturdays there. This was over (25) years ago.
@@richarddrozdowicz1531 Are you Hank the Guru of Pinsetters or related to Hank, since Hank was no kid back in 1975, your last name rings a bell with me? I was a part time pinsetter mechanic for Riverside Lanes in Watertown for 5.3 years, a 40 lane house and I met you once when you came to Riverside for some repairs in early 1975. You must remember George Cappy, the head mechanic there for years. You are correct about the 24 volts, I made my comment too early in the video before seeing the "house relay" in the control box, its just that those wall snap switches seemed so overkill I made an early assumption. I recall the 2 pole circuit breaker above each control box that I'd shut off when doing any repair on the equipment. I could say so much more but I will leave it at this for now.
I worked on BowlMor pinsetters for years and I can tell you that these machines are in nice shape. The BowlMor is the best machine out there. Extremely reliable.
I was the caretaker at Woodfords Club for 4 years and had so much fun learning how maintain them and fix them. I spent many hours troubleshooting the broken lanes when I first started there. When I started 3 out of the 5 were not functioning. When I left 4 out of the 5 were back in functioning order. Sadly one of them had some serious issues and missing parts.
@@lifein207 I’m sure that with the proper parts , that machine could be up and running very quickly. These machines don’t have the ball lift, table modification where the ball lift motor is removed using the motor from the turntable. Couldn’t tell if the brakes had been removed from the pin lift and plugs installed instead of hardwiring. Most Bowl Mors had those revisions done years ago. Also it appears that tube on lane one had the old original gearbox on it. It’s a workhorse but it’s much slower. Some places just speeded up the tube with a smaller pulley. But those machines are clean and in very good working order.👍👍
@@lifein207 outside of Saratoga NY in a small town by the name of Greenwich there was a Bowl-Mor with tenpin machines. He had to get parts from a machine shop.
@@robs531 Where was that? From Albany
@@surfinbird208 Greenwich. It was last known as PJ Lanes. I like that trip in the summer better. LOVE the Ice Cream Man and Windy Hills Golf Course is the best kept secret within 10 miles of the track. You can play it in 3:15 on a dark day!
When I was a boy, I bowled candlepin in Maritime Canada...the former ATV televised candlepin bowling for a few years in the 1980s and 1990s!
I enjoyed working on Brunswick A-2's and AMF 82-70's years ago but I have never worked on the Brunswick GS-X series or any candlepin machines. This was a super fun video to watch and started my brain thinking about ways to maintain and preserve them.
Pretty much the same (I worked on A's. Jetbacks and A-2's, as well as 80-30's and 82-70's. had one house here in upstate NY that had Bowl Mors as well, but of the 10 pin variety (pretty much the same critter as the candlepin machines, but with obviously needed differences). My mind is telling me that if a Brunswick A-2 pin deck it MIGHT be able to to sit not only 10 pins, but perhaps candles and duckpins too with a bit of modification?
I wonder what ever happened to Bowl-Mor. Info about the company itself is hard to come by as most search results just refer to the Bowl-Mor branded bowling centers and not the original company itself.
When you were showing the inside of the control box, I see a smaller gray box with four LEDs on it, and it looks much newer than the surrounding electronics. What is the gray box for?
They also made some Duckpin pinsetters, when Bowl America Westwood was all duckpins, that was their equipment, instead of the Sherman machines.
That was cool! Little less complex than the A2's.
The days before OSHA...
WOW ! Four lanes. The first time that I ever bowled in my life was at Half Moon alleys at Weirs Beach, NH, summer 1967. I was six big years old and immensely enjoyed it. The automatic pinsetter machine in particular absolutely fascinated me. LOVED pushin' that button !!!
I thought I counted 5 lanes
i've been a bowler all my life and still am at 71yrs old.
Te estoy diciendo esto por radio el que está haciendo el video porque yo no sé escribir muy bien entonces tú quiero que me lo diga en radio me gusta tu video
Who left that pencil!!! 3:05 lol
No idea lol
I was thinking the pencil was left there for scale
I think someone lwft pencil forever
Left
@@ITZ_SLENDER R.I.P Pencil 2021-2021
"I...drink...your...milkshake...I drink it up!"
The sound of operation is pretty satisfying
This is awesome. I hope they keep this forever. It's strange how there is 5 lanes. Why not 4 or 6 lol
From what I was told when I worked there it was due to space constraints.
@@lifein207 oh thank you for the information. I hope they preserve it.
what is the pin plate made of? it looks like steel.
I grew up playing candlepin on the weekends with my dad, sadly our alley closed down about a year ago. I always wished I asked for a tour of the machines while they were still running. I'm planning on making a 1:12 scale mode of a bowl-mor with an arduino and some 3D printed parts but up until now I had no idea how the ball separation in the turntable worked, so thanks for this! There aren't many videos out there showing how the ball pit area functions.
It should be fairly easy even without the plans since balls are much wider than pins and don't fit into the pin lift, and pins are too long to fit into the ball lift. Too bad the lighting wasn't better to see the separation. Have to further search and visit the local bowl-a-rama.
Thank you for making this Video! It is so nice to see such an old machine. I'm sure if you take some kids with you back there they would play with this all day inserting balls in the machine to see how they are hauled up the elevator and then roll down the ramp.
John Renner's easy replacement control box. Pins setter inc. Machine work??
Love to see these old machines.
Great video! I have never seen candlepin bowling until now.
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I wish I could try Candlepin, its way more fun and less frustrating than Duckpins.
My first time bowling was at Half Moon Alleys located along 'the strip ' at Weirs Beach New Hampshire. I was 6 years old (1967). The place had 12 alleys with Bowl Mor pinsetters which fascinated me ! Loved pushing that button at the end of my turn ! The gentleman who owned and operated it was a WW II vet who had lost an eye.
How old is this machine?
I used to work there and I've heard reports that the bowling alley itself (lanes) were put in in the 30's. The bowl-mor pin setters were put in the 50's-late 60's. I'm no expert so I couldn't tell you an exact year. The club used to hire local high school students to reset the pins before the pin setters were put in.
An elegant and efficient design made possible by the easily automatable nature of candlepins.
I have working on Brunswick and AMF 10-pin machines since late 1980. I recently got interested in candlepin and duckpin machines and bowling. Cool machine and looking forward to see them in person. How often are pins replaced? Those little balls are thrown as hard as major league baseball pitcher.
They aren’t replaced enough. I grew up cleaning them for my grandfather every summer. Back then, new pins cost $15 apiece. Now, I think it’s more like $50 apiece, and we used to put 24 in every machine. They are pretty durable, but you can only clean them so many times before they don’t look so good anymore.
What a quiet reset drop. The lanes I played in the 60's had a 10 pin THUD, like a rumble, as they hit the table.
I loved candlepin bowling back in Hanover Massachusetts I would go to the Hanover Bowladrome but now it’s called Boston bowl it has half 10 pin bowling and the other half candle pin bowling
Great video i just hopped on your bowling bus
Reminds me of the ally I bowl at in Shelburne falls MA, it has only 6 lanes and has been in operation since 1906. Has that old time feel.
Are there leagues?
@@_1ben I was in a league there a few years ago, 5 per team. Not 100% sure these days because it's been a few years
@@Sweetguy1821 I bet it was a good night out,
Interesting! I've never seen this before and I am a former A2 mechanic!
This is good place to get realese stress
Preserve this place
Thanks for this.
That's pretty cool I wish I had candle pins for my collection
Well, if you want candlepins, order them on ebay.
@@evanwilson2465 i did never seen em sadly ain't seen em on ebay for over a year now
Who wants Belmo to take a few shots here?
Or even better Osku Palermaa
@@PinoyBowlerGS92 Yes!
I actually didn't know there were other forms of bowling other than the regular 10-pin bowling we we play in the US
There is the candlepin the mini pin the 6 pin bowling idk play galaxy bowling you will see all the mods
@@IhateschooI do you not know how different games are than bowling in real life?
@@tweeleaf ok i did not ask though
There is Duckpin Bowling only available in the US East Coast, however my home country Philippines has more Duckpin Bowling Centers still running til this day than the Duckpin Bowling Centers in the US East Coast
@@IhateschooI That's 5 Pin Bowling. A Canadian variation of Bowling
Thanks for the show.
Hi
Yuij. .
😃😃
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Very cool
So cool
Is it possible to get new pins?
Yes. A local company manufacturers them. Garland MFG. Quite expensive I understand
I live in the Midwest, I would love to see this kinda of alley center in this part of the country !!
It not very good at bowling with those tiny balls.
Hi Hi
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