Mills Novelty Company
 |
|
| Industry | slot machines, vending machines and juke boxes |
|---|---|
| Fate | Divestment (jukeboxes); divestment and merger (slot machines); and acquisition (vending machines) |
| Successor | Mills Novelty Co. Restores & sells violanos and other Mills products |
| Founded | 1891 (as M.B.M. Cigar Vending Company) |
| Defunct | 1948 (jukeboxes); 1954 (vending machines); and 1980s (slot machines) |
| Headquarters | Chicago |
|
Key people
|
Herbert Stephen Mills (deceased); Robert W. Brown CEO |
| Website | millsnovelty |
The Mills Novelty Company, Incorporated of Chicago, Illinois was once a leading manufacturer of coin-operated machines, including slot machines, vending machines, and jukeboxes, in the United States. Between about 1905 and 1930, the company's products included the Mills Violano-Virtuoso and its predecessors, celebrated machines that automatically played a violin and, after about 1909, a piano. By 1944 the name of the company had changed to Mills Industries, Incorporated. The slot machine division was then owned by Bell-O-Matic Corporation. By the late 1930s, vending machines were being installed by Mills Automatic Merchandising Corporation of New York.
The origins of the business lie with Mortimer Birdsul Mills, who was born in 1845 in Ontario, Canada but who later became a citizen of the United States, resident in Chicago, Illinois. Mortimer Mills would have 13 children. One son, Herbert Stephen Mills, was born in 1872 when his father was about 27. In 1892, Bert E. Mills, the youngest of Mortimer Mill's children was born. In about 1895, Fred L. Mills, the first of Herbert Mills' sons, was born. Ralph J. Mills, Herbert's second son, was born in July 1898. In about 1900, Herbert Mills, the third son of Herbert Stephen Mills was born. His younger brother, Hayden ("Bill") Mills, was born two years later in about 1902. The Mills brothers were raised in Oak Park, Illinois, and continued to live in that area until at least the mid-1930s. In 1929, Herbert Mills had died aged 57, leaving a fortune to his wife and eight children. The business was continued with Fred L. Mills, Herbert's first son, taking over as president while his three brothers, Ralph, Herbert, and Hayden held other top management positions.
Mortimer Mills was granted United States patent 450,336 on 14 April 1891 for an improvement in "coin-actuated vending apparatus". The improvement allowed the purchaser to select the product being sold and manipulate it so that it was carried to the point of delivery. Focusing on the devices covered by the patent, Mortimer Mills founded the M.B.M. Cigar Vending Company sometime between 1891, and 1895. Over half a century later, the company would promote itself as having been founded in 1889, two years before the date of the patent, and by H.S. Mills rather than his father.
...
Wikipedia