View of the roll frame on the right side of the photo. A player piano roll made of paper is used to control the machine. The roll has nine different holes punched in it. Seven of the holes advance the seven horses, the other two holes make the roll change direction. Unlike a player piano roll, these rolls control the machine both in  forward and reverse. 
    The hole count on the roll is equal for all seven horses and so each horse has an equal chance of winning. Just as there are card counters today, the manufacturers of these machines were concerned about someone's ability to memorize the pattern in the roll. When two or four coins were paid to a winner, there was a fifty percent chance the roll would change direction making it harder for someone to keep track of the hole pattern. If an operator was concerned his machine was paying off too much, he could change the roll to one with a different hole pattern. Old original rolls have numbers stamped on them to indicate different series of holes. 
    There must have been gamblers who were talented in memorizing the patterns in the rolls. In addition to what I have already explained, very late Bakers machines have elaborate shifters that scramble the tubing signals from the roll frame.
    
    On the left side of the photo are seven pouches activated by plungers. These pouches are exposed to the air and were originally made of medium grade two ply pneumatic cloth. Here you see my replacement pouches restored using wine colored rubberized cloth. Pouches restored using leather are easier to install but will quickly deteriorate. 
    A winning horse hits a plungers and lifts the pouch off a brass tube. This sends a signal to the valve box to tell which horse has won.

    The horses are made of composition of roughly speaking, sawdust and glue. This photo shows the front legs have broken off. When the legs or tail falls off I insert a fine wire into the body for strength, then the body is placed in a mold where the missing part is recast from epoxy and painted.
    This is a late horse with a special feature. Notice the rivet two thirds of the way up on the post. This extra assembly gives the horse an ability to rock as it moves. This action adds more fun to the look of the race.

  
    The plywood bottom board has been refinished and these castings and assemblies have been dismantled, sandblasted under low pressure and repainted.
    On the left, rear of the photo is the payout mechanism. The payout tube is sticking straight up on the very top left. Just underneath this tube are the payout slides, just the same as in a slot machine. The "S" shaped lever to the right of the payout tube resets the slides at the beginning of the race.

  
  Payout tube and slides in the near left hand side of the photo.

    
    These aluminum castings have plenty of strength under normal conditions but... they are fastened to the cabinet with large wood screws. As you will see in the next three photos, the glue holding the cabinet joints together fails over time. When the glue joints fail, the entire weight of the mechanism is transferred to the old castings and causes them to break. The casting in this photo has broken into three pieces. I have seen many so called "restored" machines with cabinets that are falling apart. Aluminum is easy to weld these days but thirty years ago it was a challenge to find a craftsman for this job. The castings are fastened to jigs to hold them in position while being welded.

    The base is lying in the floor just to the right of the main cabinet. These old joints were not forced apart, they fell apart after removing the mechanism. 
    It is difficult to glue the cabinet up properly. All four posts must be in perfect alignment if you expect the end and side panels to fit again. The cabinet has to be glued together with the top in place or the posts will not be in the proper position.
    The cut out on this side is for the payout panel. These machines sometimes have cards stating they were for amusement purposes only when in fact they are a full payout slot machine. The panels for the payout were hidden panels that were not visible at first glance just in case the law walked in.

    Every woodworker knows, you can never have too many clamps. You can just make out the outline of one of the posts through this forest of clamps. Old glue from a poor repair had to be removed to glue this up correctly. After being repaired the split was undetectable.

    In the left front of the photo is the long payout pneumatic covered in wine colored rubberized cloth. This pneumatic has seven fingers that check for the presence of a coin in the coin head. If a coin is present it indicates that a certain number horse has been bet on. A pouch attached to the finger sends a signal along a tube as part of the pneumatic logic circuit.
    The copper plated ladder chain moves the carriage to the front of the machine to start the race. The metal bar in the front of the photo pulls the horses back to the start line at the end of the race.
    The center of the photo shows the valve box. These vacuum operated valves control all the pneumatic bellows throughout the machine. Seven valves control the horses, six control the payout pneumatics. There are twenty valves in all. 
    

    The six payout pneumatics are located in the center of the photo on the floor of the interior. Each pneumatic connects to a different payout slide to determine the number of winning coins.
    If you look carefully on the left side of the photo you will be able to make out the crankshaft that operates the main pump. The pump has not been installed at this point but will be located just to the left of the payout pneumatics. The main pump has four bellows which produce the vacuum to power the pneumatic system.

    This view clearly shows the payout pneumatics. The rods from each pneumatic pull on a trip lever for each of the payout slides. A payout wheel indicated the number of coins awarded for each horse. The wheel was activated during the race so you would not know the odds of payout until after the bet was placed.
     Most machines payout a jackpot of twenty coins. Some Bakers machines are equipped with a gold award feature for a bonus jackpot. 
    

    The horses have been installed but the machine is without the play field at this point. Below each horse is a wooden ratchet bar. The notches in the bar are coated with graphite to cut down on friction. The advance mechanism for each horse is a clever combination of parts. 
    Take a close look inside the cabinet to see the electric drive motor.

    The first style cabinet produced in 1934 by Pace was black with gold stripes. Later Pace cabinets were walnut with gold trim. At first glance the Pace machines all look the same but some early machines are compact and only have two gold stripes for trim instead of three. More deluxe cabinets had castings on the feet and ashtrays and signs on the top. I restored a Bakers machine that had many castings on the cabinet and a gold award. It was the most elaborate one I've seen. I also restored a Pace machine with a different cabinet called the "red arrow" model. 
    This Bakers cabinet is walnut but the removable side panel is birch veneer.