American Machine and Science had also recently bought out the Mills family’s biggest rival, Jennings & Company, and a plan was hatched to merge the two former competitors into one firm that would dominate the slots markets. Tony Mills, one of the direct descendents of Mortimer, was in charge of the company during that time and he made the decision to sell the family business to the American Machine and Science Company, also known as AMSC. By the early 1960’s, Bell-O-Matic was a close second in the market to its biggest competitor, Jennings & Company, the founder of which had actually run the Mills Spectatorium pavilion at the World’s Fair years earlier before forming his own successful slots manufacturing business. This business took over the slot machine operations from Mills Novelty and, over time, became a powerhouse within the industry. Mills Novelty Company established a separate corporation to operate its Coin Machine Department in April of 1946, calling the new venture Bell-O-Matic. The Mills’ team presented the Spectatorium, a penny arcade that was a huge hit at the international show. Louis World’s Fair, the young startup had already made enough of a name for itself in the arcade industry that it was drafted to provide an exhibit for the big event. The company branched out to introduce its first slot machine in 1897 and in 1898 Mortimer’s eldest son, Herbert, took the helm from his father and the company was renamed the Mills Novelty Company, Inc.

He named his new business MBM Cigar Vending Company based on his patented method of delivering the desired product to the customer from a vending machine. The company was founded in the early 1890’s by Mortimer Birdsul Mills, a Canadian immigrant and inventor. Although these divisions of the once powerful corporation are now defunct, the company was also well-known for their widely celebrated automatic music machines and that aspect of the business is still alive and well in Chicago, Illinois to this day. The Mills Novelty Company had a long and storied run that had a significant impact not only the slot machine manufacturing industry, but which also affected the development of vending machine and arcade games for decades.

Mills Novelty Company Gaming and Slot Machines – The First Slots Manufacturer

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