I worked at a bowling lane in 1961 as a high school summer job. Always liked that job. Maintained the AMF machines and cleaned and oiled the lanes. About 25 -30 lanes. Hit by flying pins a many times. Sweeps were like the ones in this video. Repaired machines when they malfunctioned.
It's amazing how little the designs for these things have changed over the years. The 82-90XLi EDGE machines that my center uses are very similar in design to this.
Good question. I believe the original AMF pinspotter was called the 8210 (I have a video up of that one, too). And the famous AMF 8230 was next. That was the one in which the rack-in-waiting could be seen when the table came down to pick up standing pins. (Do a search for AMF 8230 and I'm sure you'll find some videos of it. You'll recognize it immediately.) But where those names came from, I have no clue. I suspect it has something to do with trying 82 times to get a machine that works.
I vaguely remember hearing of those bowling tournaments at the Connecticut Street Armory in Buffalo back then. I believe I first bowled on a small community eight lane 8270 equipped alley, too.
The 82-70A had a severe defect right from the get go. You can see it in the storage bins, the perforated metal plates the pin falls on wound up tearing the pins surface apart and severely damaging the pins within 90 days. AMF came up with the metal bins the 82-70 is known for that stored the second rack off pins on top of the 10 pins that were ready to be set. The 82-70A was overly complicated distributing the pins with solenoids that were an electrical problem then AMF came out with a newly designed distributor that was simpler in design and execution and followed the same pin distribution pattern time after time without reversing the pattern like the 70A did. All these improvements came out in the the first major upgrade the 82-70B design which eliminated the pin damage the 70A had and a mechanical instead of an electrical distribution system eliminating a host of problems that cropped up with the 70A. The distribution system the 82-70B introduced was so good it's still being used today 50 plus years later on the newest 82-90 version AMF builds today. The only aggravation with this distribution system is it sometimes has a pin dropped and get in the wrong position and it piles up the pins until it stops working due to not enough pins in the correct position. A small company has modified an 82-70/90 with a solenoid that when the number 9 pin drops into the bins it stops the pinwheel from rotating eliminating mess of pins when they go nuts on top of the bin without shutting down the motor that runs the distributor and pinwheel and carpet continues to run. It simply loosens the drive belt for the pinwheel to stop it and in testing has exceeded 500,000 frames without a failure. The bowler never noticed the pinwheel stopping while bowling.
James Shanks interesting. I'm curious about the bin switch design that stops the pin wheel. Does the nine switch not tell the machine it's ready to set a full set on the 90s? Becuase if you were in second ball and had your first ten pins waiting in the bin, (9 switch active) and the pin wheel at a hault, wouldn't that slow down the machines efficiency? Seems like it would make for a slower strike cycle.
Good post. That kit eliminated a problem that was fodder for a comic relief moment in the 1979 movie Dreamer, one of many underdog sports movies back then (see basketball's One On One, cycling's Breaking Away, baseball's Bad News Bears, that one movie about boxing, ad inf.)
This is an interesting video showing how the automatic pinsetter works. They really make it out to be an incredible scientific marvel, even though today it's perfectly normal. I wonder if there are any promo videos on the automatic scoring machines.
The automatic pinsetter truly WAS a modern marvel during those early years. AMF, Brunswick and other companies tried with little success for years and years to develop one. As for promo videos on automatic scoring systems, I'm sure there were videos. Whether there were promo videos or not, I'm not sure. I've never seen one. But I'll bet there were videos made to explain how they work to proprietors and their maintenance staff. I haven't unearthed one though.
Awesome! My 70's were installed in 1965.I had the "B" stepper and relay chassis and the double solenoids until 2008.I still have a box full of the original respot cell fingers.
I worked at Regal Lanes in Provo, Utah, before they converted to Fat Cats, and I even videoed some of their conversion as they removed 4 lanes to make room for a small arcade, and the mechanic showed me the computers that had been converted from relay systems a long time before.
I wish I had this film in its original format. But what you see here is the way it was when I got it. If I had the original format, I would have encoded it in a way that would have preserved its original aspect ratio and resolution. But alas, I suspect prints of this film in its original form are probably lost to the ages. :-(
I work on these at my current center I work at along with 8 lanes of 82-30's they have yet the distributors are updated though on our 82-70s compared to this video. I also worked 6 years on the 82-90s which is similar to these just updated versions.
The Sparemaker (6:50) was always interesting to me, but I learned later on that the conversion placement is designed for right-handers only (a lefty attempting the 2-7-8 or 3-9-10 has to approach it differently than a righty). And...how does one convert the 6-pin by going *behind* it, if you know what I mean? :)
It's interesting how different the bin and distributor assembly was from the 70s I worked on from 99 to 04. Almost certainly an update was done at some point, but I don't know if it was stock or later for the machines I was on. I no longer remember the dates from the maker plates.
I agree with everyone on here, what a gem of a video. Thanks for posting. One thing, I've worked on AMF machines now for going on 39 yrs.,(from 5850's to 90XLs) and in none of my parts list do I have a listing for "the Magic Carpet, and the Magic Fingers". LOL
Seriously!? I worked on A2's and 82-70ss. NO comparison ! AMF blows Brunswick away.Those original bins and distibutors are wacked out. The bin looks like the Durabin they now consider an improvement over the steel bin and shuttle. And the chassis... I converted all mine from 5 board to Omega -tek. What an improvement. God damned I miss the old bowling days! Corporate AMF ownership ruined my center and my career. All they cared about was the food service aspect of the business. The CEO at my time frame was the former Arby's CEO...'nuff said.
Who is AMF Bowling today? The AMF empire has been split up into three companies. Bowlero (formerly Bowlmor AMF) operates bowling centers across America and now controls the Brunswick bowling center business. QubicaAMF manufactures the bowling center equipment (pinsetters/scoring systems and software). 900 Global has the license to manufacture AMF branded bowling balls. It is loosely associated with Storm Bowling.
Remembering my bowling buddy in middle school. AMF, Angela Marie Farrow. She told me her initials were the same as those at the end of the lane. How do you ever forget that? I think of you whenever I bowl! I can't wait to bowl again. If you are an Angel, Angela, guide us from COVID. 😉 RIP Sweet Girl.
I believe the "70" part came from the upcoming decade the 70's. It is common to name something for an upcoming year/decade. As for the "82", it is possibly the approxamate year 10 pin bowling was created. Don't quote me exactly but it was in 1895 that the rules were organized by ABC, so 1882 would be in the ballpark of when 10 pin bowling was invented. I know bowling goes farther back than that, but then it was only 9 pins.
I work on 82-70. The distributors are not the same as shown here and we we have the steel bins which was an upgrade at some point, but now the Dura-bin is considered an upgrade which is just like the bins shown here. Also, I noticed in the first scene, a strike was rolled, the machine went through the first ball cycle. Haha. Times before the good ole strike cycle. This was becuase the table had to come down and the respot cells had to close in order to indicate spare pins. Where there were spare pins, the respot cells could sense the spare pins by the pressure against the wires ran though the cells where pins were present. (Same place you make a repsot cell adjustment) I think this is also how pindicator and spare maker was hooked up. Now it's all done with a camera which sends a signal directly to the chassis and tells 82-70 whether or not to go into first ball cycle or second ball/strike cycle. I guess that makes 82-70 a bit faster at setting a full set after strikes are made.
When a camera detects a strike, the 70s require a special modified chassis to skip the table seek. If the original chassis are in place, the table seek occurs. However, with the modified chassis: In the case of a late strike (where the scorer records the last pin standing that fell very late), the machine will go through a first ball cycle and ignore the strike, spotting no pins on a second ball. The reset will fix that, of course.
Correct me if I’m wrong that the 82-90XL came out in the early 90’s before the 2nd version with the Steel Tables. I bowled on the early models that had the 70 Aluminum Tables and it’s interesting how they run but disappointed on how it’s poorly maintained.
The Positive Pin Distribution system didnt last long. Too many problems. It was replaced with what you see today. The distributor moves from place to place. And pin jams still happen.
More right-handers than left? The digital age like today would have allowed for computers to display something like the sparemaker, and allow the bowler to choose the hand used in the operation. But, we're talking about analog-based engines back in the day, such as the sparemaker technology. No digital anything here. Therefore, one could only engineer something like this for either left or right-handers. BTW, I'm a lefty myself, but understand I live in a right-handed world.
The GS Setting Table may look similar but it doesn’t 100% copied AMF’s table. Like you don’t find detector plates on an AMF Table and the Pin Holders on GS had solenoids to open the grippers
The out of range on AMF is just out of wack, why can’t they just have 1 Out of Range function instead of 3. There are 3 Different Out of Range functions on AMF, 1. The table and sweep will raise back up after detecting, 2. The table will raise back up but the sweep will just sit there until a mechanic would reverse the sweep, and the worst of all is 3. The table will detect an out of range but the machine will cycle like normal by sweeping all pins of the deck and sets you up with nothing. The Out of Range on A2’s are better or even on GS cause they only have 1 Out of Range Function.
You can always have your own blowing alley installed in your house with surface returns if you like. But be advised the Pinsetter is cheap, it's the lane installation that is expensive only because how many wooden parts go into it. You want to make bowing popular again? Figure out a modular way to install a bowling pair of lanes that is quick, reliable and meets ABC specifications. And the customers will come to you.
They kind of had to because if a pin flew forward or the ball hit the sweep then someone needs to go get it and I don’t think they want to jump over bowling balls every 20 seconds
I can't comment on the nomenclature, that is, why pinspotters are 82-series (perhaps it's the 82nd major machine of development by AMF, as I remember seeing AMF-made cafeteria china carriers in the college dining room back in my college days (in the 1980s, and they were old devices). I have put up a number of 82-30 videos of my own, feel free to check out my channel.
5:25 I was bowling under these pinsetters. And one of the pins stood back up on the gutters and jammed the 82-70. The pins remaining were 1-3-7-8. And it only picked up pin 7 and gets stuck to the pin deck
DO you get these videos from the bowling congress or from the media companies, i.e. ABC, NBC, CBS etc - I found a couple of the videos you have posted at the national archives, prelinger, and other available public domain video source. - I am making a documentary about bowling during the 50s and 60s - are these videos available for public domain and able to be used in projects? - Thank you
I like to know more about the history of the "sparemaker: by AMF; to be honest, the arrows shown are biased to right-handers. Best examples are the 2-7-8/3-9-10. On the former, the arrow is on the right of the 2 (assuming the ball will curve left to convert); on the latter, it's to the right of the 3, assuming the same curve for the righty. A lefty with hook to the right cannot convert that way.
I used to bowl in an AMF house with the Magic Triangles and never knew just what the different set of dowels in the approach was for. What do ya know, you learn something new everyday
Luscious 82-70s in use at my local here in Aus. They were fully reco'd and rebuilt in 2004. The owner says it's ironic but in Aus most new AMF centres opening in Aus now actually use Brunswick spotters.
It's all pretty much AMF anyway these days. Brunswick divested itself from bowling like four years ago (which would be the shock of the century even 30 years ago) and has been relegated to a brand name owned by AMFQubica, last I saw.
Brunswick didn’t divest itself of ten pin bowling, they simply bought a Germain computerized design that can set the same pins over and over so you can practice a difficult second ball shot. Part of the agreement when Brunswick bought the design was app production remained in Germany. The latest version is the NXT. Fascinating machine but I prefer the all mechanical A-2. Food for thought
"We have spacemen in orbit. We have... 82-70. Tomorrow? Only progress will tell..." We no longer have spacemen in orbit, but we *still* have 82-70! Loved my 82-70s. R.I.P., King Pin Alleys, West Nyack, NY
What I always found ironic, when the film 'BORAT' was released, it displayed Kazachstan is the most backward country on earth - one toilet in the entire country, flush not working, one traffic light in the entire country - red light not working ect. Kazachstan was then, and IIRC still is, the only country still able to put a man in space.
+luvsthose8230s - Yes. Search this RU-vid channel for the video named "AMF Promo Video (1955)." It may be in the search column to the right of this page. There's also another video called "Bowling's Electric Brain (1946) - the world's first automatic pinsetter." That shows the very first AMF monstrosity.
Any for the first GS? I have a video, not mine, be advised, that shows GS-10 Red Box single feed distributor. Wonder if any videos like this exists for it
I think after 60 years, it shows how much pride people took into creating something and building it to last while developing an antiquated beauty about it that is often overlooked, compared to the lighter materials used now in the more modern versions like the 90 90XL XLI and Edge. When I look at the newer stuff, yeah it's clean, it's modern, it's very efficient, but very boring by appearance. The 82-70 is adequately modern in relation to the 82-30 and the A2's, but you can never get over the sight of cast molded aluminum and iron. the gear boxes, the table assembly, the solenoid mount. they just don't make them like that anymore. a few seals here and there in a gearbox, a new centrifuge, rotor and contact switches, and the motors are as good as new again. the blufftons, franklins, nationals staters look like modern art masterpieces until you have to rebuild one, they are horror shows with what lies inside of them. I'd rather rebuild an old Westinghouse Stater any day over them.
One place I used to bowl at, they had a2 machines slowed to a speed. They ran forever the mechanic told me running them at a speed saved wear and tear on the belts and other things.