#0937 Site of the Invention of the Three-Reel Bell Slot Machine

Title

#0937 Site of the Invention of the Three-Reel Bell Slot Machine

Site information:

Traffic island on N side of Market St between Bush and Battery Sts, San Francisco

Nothing remains of this site, as far as I know.

37.791037,-122.399399

Plaque information:

State plaque

Plaque text:

Liberty Bell Slot Machine

Charles August Fey began inventing and manufacturing slot machines in 1894. Fey pioneered many innovations of coin operated gaming devices in his San Francisco workshop at 406 Market Street, including the original three reel bell slot machine in 1898. The international popularity of the bell slot machine attests to Fey's ingenuity as an enterprising inventor whose basic design of the three reel slot machine continues to be used in mechanical gaming devices today.

Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with E Clampus Vitus. October 21, 1984.

OHP description:

Charles August Fey invented the first coin-operated, three-reel slot machine in San Francisco in 1895. Fey continued to manufacture the popular 'Liberty Bell' gaming devices in a workshop located at 406 Market Street from 1897 to 1906, until the workshop was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire. The international popularity of the bell slot machines attested to Fey's ingenuity as an enterprising inventor whose basic design continues to be used in mechanical gaming devices today.

Registered 1/15/1981

Geolocation