Apr 15, 2022 5:50 AM
bowlingmech
117280
1174
11
Lightsmith
Technology is cool.
scoutMoonDiver
spooktree
FlawedSquad
My dad ran the mechs at the bowling alley at Vandenburg AFB. I got to bowl for free, although back then you got 3 lines for a dollar.
LightningMcQueef
Ball elevators is what they call underwear in England
Imustupvotealltacos
And we're supposed to have sex back here?!
HallReiser
Who invented this madness!?
redpandascaredbyarock
Now I'm dizzy
SteveTheEgg
In the 1930s, when my dad was 4-5 years old bowlers use to pay kids like him a nickle a game to set pins.
DorkJedi
Used to repair the Brunswick model A and B. Started as a pinchaser, moved up to maintenance. Actually enjoyed that job a lot.
mineoc
I love that sound!
Rott3nsinner
Balthasar!
thricebakedxyz
My Dad set up pins by hand as a kid.
colrdokatie
Linguistically, is that where the word pinwheel comes from? Like, the children’s toy?
feren
I presume it's just as straight-forward as you might imagine. It's the wheel that the pins ride upon.
ATLandNerdy
How do the pins get turned the right way? I saw some backwards
There is a turn pan. As they fall into it, they all turn the right way. Or don't sometimes and then it jams up your deck.
WaxDragon
Is loud back there, one of those for every lane
Jetthix
Driston
Was hoping somebody would post this
HarryDresdenIsMySpiritAnimal
That looks like a neat place to take my wife's ex husband.
mward1984
...the Simpsons lied to me!
bogdog799
put your dick in it
dobroweigh
CyanideBreathMint
Had an uncle lose a couple digits in one of these several decades back.
nomorehate
Ball elevator *giggle*
NemosParadise
How much do these big do-dads cost? Online it says $18-45k per lane?!
berlinson
Between $18-45k per lane.
joeyecho101
Eli93
That's the American dream.
iraslak
Our go-to-joke when the pin setter is working slowly "that damn lazy ass robot lathe always sleeping on the job"
MidnaDS
This seems accurate. One tree per pin.
HorseonaBike
brandonblk
i always forget that the simpsons has weird ass memes
Mentok
That's fucking amazing
Thandruin
wobblecopterrrr
This seems excessively dangerous.. neat!
Billy2sweet
I almost died at least three times running outback trying to fix a jam or something.
Excludos
My friend's dad used to run a bowling alley. Lost a finger the one time he didn't turn off the machine before trying to unstuck something
sirava
My Uncle Lefty used to work on these.
hhggg3000
Is he all right? It does seem dangerous…
Weblord
Why do they call him... oh never mind
YoloMcSwagginsteinDaFith
I dare anyone to design a better automated way to do it
madeejit
Is like steam engines. You think if you sat down with a pencil and enough paper you'd eventually figure it out. But of course, you wouldn't.
Nacon
Ok sure, let me just whip out the script editor for my hologram program.
Jokerthehulk
Challenge accepted. Check back in exactly 20 years.
Berendtable
.
MarsIsAfire
Define better.
Winchester427
I say we go back to just having kids reset them
KingKnowhere
I go to a bowling place that already has a different way of automating it. The bowling pins have strings attached to the top of them.
TheExplorerOfDankMemes
String machines are actually older than the A series shown here. Even older than that, they used to pay people to reset the pins by hand!
This was the job my grandfather had as a teenager.
DaveMeowthewz
Really? Doesn't a string affect the way they fall? Seems like it would.
Jineapple
It does a little bit. I would assume that something really high-tech would do without strings.
Not really, the strings are loose when the actual bowling happens, so the pins knock nicely. When they need to be reset, they're pulled up.
This is so damn cool to watch. Thank you, @OP! I am amazed by how much is going on here. Like total crazy chaos but all to plan.
cazzegiare
"Total chaos but all to plan" would be a great name for a debut album.
Well, I play bass, I know a pianist ....
linexnewt
In college I worked at the alley in the student center. This gives me flashbacks. It's only dangerous if you clear jams w/o shutdown.
CrimeBrulee
Be interesting to meet the absolute manic who dreamed this up.
ReconditeEidolon
I work for a company that specializes in bowling alley computer systems from the 80's & 90's. We take the old unix systems and put them in
I am somehow pleased and also not surprised that all this stuff lives on some old SCO UNIX AT tower mildewing away in the back office.
New(er) computers capable of running Windows. The hardware cost and labor costs us about $1000 and we sell them for $12-20000 depending
On the number of lanes. AMF would charge these bowling alleys $50-250000 for the same service bc they don't repair old alleys, instead
They force the alley to completely upgrade everything in the building. So if their register breaks, they would have to get all new pin
setters, ball returns, scoring systems, etc. Etc.
AlwaysInTheshadows
No wonder a lane is usually down at every bowling alley. That's a lot of moving parts running all day.
eclips1st
Hubby worked at a bowling place for a long time. There’s usually a mechanic on site at all times.
AMF and Brunswick use a planned obsolescence business model. They don't service or ship parts for any legacy alleys. Only sell new.
kindpanda
Oh that's shitty
Believe it or not, MOST bowling alleys are still running the same hardware, software, electronics, and mechanics as when they opened.
thrillhousegaming
Software I'm not surprised
I was reminded of that at a Lucky Strike in Massachusetts last weekend, the flying burger&drink across the screens is straight out of 1980.
Lightsmith
Technology is cool.
scoutMoonDiver
spooktree
FlawedSquad
My dad ran the mechs at the bowling alley at Vandenburg AFB. I got to bowl for free, although back then you got 3 lines for a dollar.
LightningMcQueef
Ball elevators is what they call underwear in England
Imustupvotealltacos
And we're supposed to have sex back here?!
HallReiser
Who invented this madness!?
redpandascaredbyarock
Now I'm dizzy
SteveTheEgg
In the 1930s, when my dad was 4-5 years old bowlers use to pay kids like him a nickle a game to set pins.
DorkJedi
Used to repair the Brunswick model A and B. Started as a pinchaser, moved up to maintenance. Actually enjoyed that job a lot.
mineoc
I love that sound!
Rott3nsinner
Balthasar!
thricebakedxyz
My Dad set up pins by hand as a kid.
colrdokatie
Linguistically, is that where the word pinwheel comes from? Like, the children’s toy?
feren
I presume it's just as straight-forward as you might imagine. It's the wheel that the pins ride upon.
ATLandNerdy
How do the pins get turned the right way? I saw some backwards
bowlingmech
There is a turn pan. As they fall into it, they all turn the right way. Or don't sometimes and then it jams up your deck.
WaxDragon
Is loud back there, one of those for every lane
Jetthix
Driston
Was hoping somebody would post this
HarryDresdenIsMySpiritAnimal
That looks like a neat place to take my wife's ex husband.
mward1984
...the Simpsons lied to me!
bogdog799
put your dick in it
dobroweigh
CyanideBreathMint
Had an uncle lose a couple digits in one of these several decades back.
nomorehate
Ball elevator *giggle*
NemosParadise
How much do these big do-dads cost? Online it says $18-45k per lane?!
berlinson
Between $18-45k per lane.
joeyecho101
Eli93
That's the American dream.
iraslak
Our go-to-joke when the pin setter is working slowly "that damn lazy ass robot lathe always sleeping on the job"
MidnaDS
This seems accurate. One tree per pin.
HorseonaBike
brandonblk
i always forget that the simpsons has weird ass memes
joeyecho101
HorseonaBike
Mentok
That's fucking amazing
HorseonaBike
Thandruin
wobblecopterrrr
This seems excessively dangerous.. neat!
Billy2sweet
I almost died at least three times running outback trying to fix a jam or something.
Excludos
My friend's dad used to run a bowling alley. Lost a finger the one time he didn't turn off the machine before trying to unstuck something
sirava
My Uncle Lefty used to work on these.
hhggg3000
Is he all right? It does seem dangerous…
Weblord
Why do they call him... oh never mind
YoloMcSwagginsteinDaFith
I dare anyone to design a better automated way to do it
madeejit
Is like steam engines. You think if you sat down with a pencil and enough paper you'd eventually figure it out. But of course, you wouldn't.
Nacon
Ok sure, let me just whip out the script editor for my hologram program.
Jokerthehulk
Challenge accepted. Check back in exactly 20 years.
Berendtable
.
MarsIsAfire
Define better.
Winchester427
I say we go back to just having kids reset them
KingKnowhere
I go to a bowling place that already has a different way of automating it. The bowling pins have strings attached to the top of them.
TheExplorerOfDankMemes
String machines are actually older than the A series shown here. Even older than that, they used to pay people to reset the pins by hand!
feren
This was the job my grandfather had as a teenager.
DaveMeowthewz
Really? Doesn't a string affect the way they fall? Seems like it would.
Jineapple
It does a little bit. I would assume that something really high-tech would do without strings.
KingKnowhere
Not really, the strings are loose when the actual bowling happens, so the pins knock nicely. When they need to be reset, they're pulled up.
feren
This is so damn cool to watch. Thank you, @OP! I am amazed by how much is going on here. Like total crazy chaos but all to plan.
cazzegiare
"Total chaos but all to plan" would be a great name for a debut album.
feren
Well, I play bass, I know a pianist ....
linexnewt
In college I worked at the alley in the student center. This gives me flashbacks. It's only dangerous if you clear jams w/o shutdown.
CrimeBrulee
Be interesting to meet the absolute manic who dreamed this up.
ReconditeEidolon
I work for a company that specializes in bowling alley computer systems from the 80's & 90's. We take the old unix systems and put them in
feren
I am somehow pleased and also not surprised that all this stuff lives on some old SCO UNIX AT tower mildewing away in the back office.
ReconditeEidolon
New(er) computers capable of running Windows. The hardware cost and labor costs us about $1000 and we sell them for $12-20000 depending
ReconditeEidolon
On the number of lanes. AMF would charge these bowling alleys $50-250000 for the same service bc they don't repair old alleys, instead
ReconditeEidolon
They force the alley to completely upgrade everything in the building. So if their register breaks, they would have to get all new pin
ReconditeEidolon
setters, ball returns, scoring systems, etc. Etc.
AlwaysInTheshadows
No wonder a lane is usually down at every bowling alley. That's a lot of moving parts running all day.
eclips1st
Hubby worked at a bowling place for a long time. There’s usually a mechanic on site at all times.
ReconditeEidolon
AMF and Brunswick use a planned obsolescence business model. They don't service or ship parts for any legacy alleys. Only sell new.
kindpanda
Oh that's shitty
ReconditeEidolon
Believe it or not, MOST bowling alleys are still running the same hardware, software, electronics, and mechanics as when they opened.
thrillhousegaming
Software I'm not surprised
feren
I was reminded of that at a Lucky Strike in Massachusetts last weekend, the flying burger&drink across the screens is straight out of 1980.