seeburg 3w1

[scudie]

Hello I  was wondering if any one could tell me why on the Seeburg 3w1 that I am working on has the three orange wires that go to the three circuit switch , have all been soldered together? Making the switch redundant.
Cheers Scudie

[Ron Rich]

Hi Scudie,
That switch is not "redundant"-- (Seeburg NEVER--well, ALMOST, never--spent money "redundantly"-- LOL) It is an anti cheat switch--in most instances it is not necessary, but they found that there is a way the 3W1 can be cheated, so that switch (jumped with orange wires--cut the wires to stop that type of cheating) was added, to stop the cheating. Ron Rich

[scudie]

Thanks Ron
On my 3w1 the three wires are presently connected to the switch, and to themselves because they are bridged, so the switch operates by the cam plate that is driven by a pin on the reverse side of the contact arm, the contacts of the switch open and close as it should.
If I understand you correctly before the switch was bridged it acted as an anti cheat switch, but if the anti cheat function was not required the switch was bridged?
As its not in commercial use I guess it should be OK to leave it well alone?
Cheers Scudie

[Ron Rich]

Yes-Scudie,
If "bridged (or jumped)" with orange colored, hard wire, it was factory done, and as long as you are not using it where some "wiseguy-teenager" can cheat it--leave it lone ! Ron Rich

[scudie]

Okeydokey. 👍 The wires going to it are orange but the ones that bridge the switch are not, & it does not have the appearance of a factory done job.
Actually looks like a baboon has done it with a soldering iron the size of my fist.
Cheers Paul

[Ron Rich]

Scoudi,
I can gar-un-tee that a "baboon" did NOT do this, as Seeburg had an ab-sol-ute "rule" against allowing baboons on the factory floor ! ALL baboons were quarantined in the executive office section, of the building !! Ron Rich

[scudie]

My apologies I guess I could have been mistaken about the breed of ape that did this.
Just wondering how did these so called wise guys go about cheating the system?

Chears Scudie

[Ron Rich]

Hi Scudie,
No problem-- except you missed the point--Baboons, and all other breeds of lesser animals, were not allowed on the floor of the production dept.
On the cheating problem--I dono, as that was before my time--I do remember asking someone and was told something vary vague, that I can't understand/believe-- So I let it go-- Ron Rich

[scudie]

It could be that they would have still been in business if they had kept the Baboons out of the Executive Office Section.
Cheers Scudie

[trainmaster]

This is an old thread, but I've spent several years wondering how that "3 Circuit Switch" prevented wallbox cheating on the Seeburg 3W1. With thirty years as an electro-mechanical circuit designer, I still can't figure it out. I know the switches came shorted out. Seeburg did this because they gave trouble if a customer mounted the box on a twisted surface. So it's assumed that the jumpers would be cut if needed.

I've asked many folks many times but never got a real answer. Has anyone figured out how this switching of Letter functions fought cheating the machine?

Thanks all.

[Ron Rich]

I haven't spent too much time wondering on this subject-- but I sure would like to know the answer, so if you, or anyone else, can figure it out--PLEASE, let me know ! Ron Rich

[trainmaster]

Ron, I'll pass along the answer if I ever get or figure one out. But I'm not holding my breath. I've searched for many years.

[Ron Rich]

Yep--don't "hold your breath"-- I doubt there is anyone still alive, who can answer that question-- LOL Ron Rich

[trainmaster]

The 3WA Wallbox had a different arrangement, which may offer some clues. That box has a "signal switch" which was mounted to the keyboards. Its purpose was to "open the signal circuit if the selection buttons are manipulated while the Wall-O-Matic is cycling." The signal switch prevented "fraudulent pulses" from being sent while the machine was engaged in its proper pulsing.

Apparently forcing buttons when the long pulse was transmitted could somehow be interpreted by the selector to offer an additional selection or perhaps an incomplete selection that would translate to a credit. Or perhaps it would just be engaged by meddlers to mess with other people selecting on adjacent wallboxes?

[Ron Rich]

It should not have anything to do with an "extra credit", as credits were removed mechanically, however, upon thinking about this, since "credits" are established by grounding the circuit-- perhaps-- squeezing the keyboard some how could cause a ground to be applied ?? As for "meddlers" -- I can recall "meddling" with these-- when a friend was making a selection from another box, we would "meddle" by playing a selection from another box. LOL Ron Rich