Harry Williams

Harry Williams, 19xx
Harry Williams
1906 - 1983
Games Worked On Over 150 Photo courtesy of Jim Schelberg, www.pingamejournal.com Used with permission of Roger Sharpe

Harry Williams is one of, if not the, most influential people in pinball. He was an entrepreneur, a designer, an inventor, a business owner, and an operator. He brought electricity to pinball, invented the tilt mechanism, and was the key enabler of the credit unit invented by Bill Belluh.

Mr. Williams started in the coin-op industry in 1932 as an operator of a game called "Jai Alai" on the promise of earning $2 per hour. After struggling to make money, he designed his own game, "Advance", in 1933. This was the start of the Automatic Amusements Co. in Los Angeles, California. Later that year he invented the "electronic action" device in the game "Contact."

To prevent cheating on his games, Mr. Williams created a mechanical mechanism he named "Stool Pigeon." He was looking for a better name, and renamed the mechanism "Tilt" after hearing a player use the term. Mr. Williams later refined the mechanical mechanism into the electrical pendulum tilt that was used on all later games.

Harry Williams designed games from the early 1930s through the 1950s, with the largest number of titles being in the 1950s for his own company, Williams Manufacturing. He was coaxed out of retirement in the 1970s to design games for Stern. The last game designed by Mr. Williams was CUE in 1982.

Mr. Williams worked for many pinball companies throughout his career, some of which he founded. The table below chronicles his career.

1933-1935	Williams founded Automatic Amusements in Los Angeles, California. The company was on Pico Street, which became known as “coin machine row.”
1935-1937	Williams worked for Dave Rockola, where he met Lyndon (Lyn) Durant
1937-1938	Williams and Durant leave Rockola to work for Bally.
1938-1941	Williams and Durant leave Bally to work for Exhibit Supply Co., where Williams took over the game division.
1941-1942	Williams and Durant leave Exhibit to found United Manufacturing
1942	Williams sold his stake in United to Durant
1944	Founded Williams Manufacturing Co.
1947	Sam Stern joins Williams as a partner.
1955	Ventured into non-pinball amusements. Peppy the Clown puppet theater and trains.
1959	Williams leaves Williams Manufacturing when it is bought out by Consolidated Drug Company.
1963	Williams Manufacturing is sold to Seeburg
late 1970s	Hired out of retirement by Stern to design games.

References

1. Cahn, J.P., "Ungunchable Harry, The King of the Pins", TRUE Magazine, August 1960. pp. 54-55, 71-75.
2. Jensen, Russ, "A Visit with Harry Williams", [1], accessed August 25, 2012.
3. Shalhoub, Michael, "The Pinball Compendium: 1982 to Present", 2nd edition, Shiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Penn., 2012, pp 26, 39.
4. Sharpe, Roger, "Pinball!", E.P. Dutton, New York, 1977. pp 24-45.
5. "WMS Industries", Wikipedia, [2], accessed August 25, 2012.
6. Belluh, Bill, GAME APPARATUS, US Patent 1,985,736, [3]
7. Harry Williams’ game list: [4]