Mechanism No. 13

Early A&B (prepayment) coin recognition mechanism, which were first fitted in the Boxes, Coin Collecting No. 13.

Note that the buttons are actually labelled A and B and early casings had no A and B markings on them.  The GPO soon realised that people were not seeing the letters on the buttons, so very early on they marked the upper casing cover with A and B in white paint.

This mechanism was superseded by the Mechanism No. 14 which had a fixed plug, consisting of a small row of connectors, to the lower right of the mechanism, instead of the large brass stud connector fitted on the left of the Mechanism No. 13.

The pictures below were all dated 1926.

Front view of the mechanism The brass connectors are to the left, the timing mechanism can be seen centrally and the coin gong can be seen to the top right of the connectors.

Sideways view of the mechanism showing the coin transmitter (the bell shaped object to the upper left).  This mechanism differs from the one above and is possibly an early prototype.

Component parts

Close up showing the brass bullet connectors on the mechanism and the connector strip on the back of the coin box.

Extreme close up of the connector strip

 

Last revised: September 11, 2024