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Title: Interview with Jim Zespy: Transcription
Creator: Barker, Thomas, Mei, Wei Shao, Elgin, Tobias, Mayorga, Ariana, Moy, Brian
Date: 2014-11-21, 2014-11-21
Description: Logan Arcade is a new arcade-bar that opened just February 2014. It features over twenty-five pinball machines and forty-five vintage arcade...
Show moreLogan Arcade is a new arcade-bar that opened just February 2014. It features over twenty-five pinball machines and forty-five vintage arcade-games. Owner Jim Zespy collects and restores arcade games, including those in the arcade. His collection started in 2009; he seeks out games from the mid-1970s through the present. He often buys broken arcade machines and fixes them. Any machine that couldn't be fixed is as spare parts to maintenance other arcade machines. Zespy chooses games to be placed in the arcade based on the games’ popularity with the general public. He first balanced all different eras, and placed different kinds of games to try to have a balance. Afterward he watched to see which games people gravitated to, then took out the games people didn't like and placed more popular games. Zespy’s daily concern is the maintenance of the arcade machines. Logan Arcade has its own Local Pinball League, for which the game changes every week. While the league has scoring, and there is some competition, it's meant to encourage participants to play different games, get to know them, and get to know other people. Some players have made major records in the Logan Arcade. These records are on games including Nibbler, Tron Ice Score, and Tetris.
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Title: Comprehending the Menger Sponge
Creator: Alcheikh, Bassil, Leslie, Barett A., Pichardo, Brian
Date: 2012-01-31, 2012-01-31
Description: This poster, created by undergraduate students at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), details Karl Menger's 1926-discovered fractal...
Show moreThis poster, created by undergraduate students at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), details Karl Menger's 1926-discovered fractal curve currently known as the Menger sponge. Menger is a former IIT faculty member.
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Title: Raman Spectroscopy as a Probe of Surface Defects in Nb for SRF Cavities
Creator: Hommerding, Emily, Ford, Denise, Cao, Chaoyue, Bishnoi, Sandra, Zasadzinski, John
Date: 2012, 2012
Description: Superconducting RF (SRF) cavities made of Nb are an enabling device for future linear accelerators. Recently it has been demonstrated that hot...
Show moreSuperconducting RF (SRF) cavities made of Nb are an enabling device for future linear accelerators. Recently it has been demonstrated that hot spots in SRF cavities, which diminish performance, are correlated with a high density of defects (etch pits) especially near grain boundaries. For a pit to cause local heating, it is likely that near-surface impurities, e.g. hydrides or oxides are leading to suppressed superconductivity. New probes are needed to measure such complexes. Here we present Raman spectroscopy. Raman is a fast, nonperturbative method that can measure the vibrational modes of Nb-O and Nb-H complexes by inelastic light scattering. These can then be compared to molecular dynamics simulations to identify oxide and hydride phases. The probing depth of Raman is estimated from the skin depth of the 785 nm laser in the bulk Nb ~ 10-20 nm. This is a reasonable fraction of the superconducting penetration depth ~ 45 nm. Simulating manufacturing processes of SRF cavities may shed light on the origins and composition of hot spots, and their relationship with defects in the material. Defects such as pits, whose origins are yet unknown, are found in the hot spots of completed cavities. Raman spectroscopy is used here to identify changes in the surface chemistry after manipulations such as creating artificial pits, exposing the material to chemical etching, or cold-working the material. BCP exposure and cold-working are common to the SRF manufacturing process.
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Title: Interview with Jim Zespy
Creator: Barker, Thomas, Mei, Wei Shao, Elgin, Tobias, Mayorga, Ariana, Moy, Brian
Date: 2014-11-21, 2014-11-21
Description: Logan Arcade is a new arcade-bar that opened just February 2014. It features over twenty-five pinball machines and forty-five vintage arcade...
Show moreLogan Arcade is a new arcade-bar that opened just February 2014. It features over twenty-five pinball machines and forty-five vintage arcade-games. Owner Jim Zespy collects and restores arcade games, including those in the arcade. His collection started in 2009; he seeks out games from the mid-1970s through the present. He often buys broken arcade machines and fixes them. Any machine that couldn't be fixed is as spare parts to maintenance other arcade machines. Zespy chooses games to be placed in the arcade based on the games’ popularity with the general public. He first balanced all different eras, and placed different kinds of games to try to have a balance. Afterward he watched to see which games people gravitated to, then took out the games people didn't like and placed more popular games. Zespy’s daily concern is the maintenance of the arcade machines. Logan Arcade has its own Local Pinball League, for which the game changes every week. While the league has scoring, and there is some competition, it's meant to encourage participants to play different games, get to know them, and get to know other people. Some players have made major records in the Logan Arcade. These records are on games including Nibbler, Tron Ice Score, and Tetris.
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Title: Interview with Terry Minnich and Jeff Lee: Transcription
Creator: Mynes, Jordan, Torres, Fulgencio, Nunez, Sylvia, Badasyan, Zhanna, Wohn, Jared
Date: 2015-10-13, 2015-10-13
Description: For our oral history project, we interviewed Jeff Lee, and Terry Minnich who is also known as Trickman Terry. Jeff Lee was an artist that...
Show moreFor our oral history project, we interviewed Jeff Lee, and Terry Minnich who is also known as Trickman Terry. Jeff Lee was an artist that made artwork for QBert, Exterminator, and as well as other freelancing work. Terry Minnich was an editor for a magazine called Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine where he was an editor for the Tips and Tricks section where he would review tricks submitted from fans and publish them in EGM. Terry had a fairly large collection of arcade games in his basement which is where the interview took place. Both of these men were passionate about their job and were very knowledgeable in the video game industry. Terry Minnich worked many years as an editor for EGM, specifically the Tricks and Tips section. He would receive letters from fans, receive information overseas from Japan, or play the games himself with his team to try to obtain tricks, cheats, glitches or bugs, and other information needed to make the games more enjoyable. Terry was also an avid collector who obtained and maintained a collection of arcade machines in his basement and was well informed in the hardware aspect of the history. Jeff Lee, the second person interviewed, was an artist who was a fan of video games, specifically at the bar scene where he would enjoy a few drinks along with playing Pinball or Armour Attack before he got into the game industry in a more serious manner. He coincidently began working at Gottlieb and Co.as an artist where he made the artwork for Qbert1, 2, and 3. Then him and a fellow partner from Qbertwere contracted to do some artistry work on a few games like Exterminator. After he finished his artwork for QBert, he did some freelancing, and did some art and design work for the games Double GsandLotto Fun as well as another piece for the companyCredible Technologies. Terry Minnich, as part of his job as an editor, knew a lot about the Konami Code, which is a special combination of buttons the player can hit which will enable special abilities or extra lives. He mentioned the Konami Code as one of the first major cheat codes as it was used in many games such as Gradius, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution,and other games. The Konami code was interesting to look at because it is something about the history that you can not find by looking at the game itself; you have to talk to the players and fans of the games to learn about. Jeff Lee was a major designer of Q*bert,a puzzle game where players had to make each color of a block on a pyramid the same color. This game was hugely popular and is considered to be a classic from its time period. Lee had significant contributions on the project including character design, using the pyramid shape as a game, and the “@!#?@!” that the playable character would say in speech bubble. Minnich and Lee both had major impacts in the first generation of video games however from different positions. Lee was a creator and was part of the first hand industry while Minnich was part of the second hand industry that helped publicize the games and create the community of gamers that is around today. It is interesting to look at the multiple levels of the video game industry as there are many aspects to it like designing, manufacturing, retailing, the media scene, and the competition aspect.
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Title: Interview with Terry Minnich and Jeff Lee: Photos
Creator: Mynes, Jordan, Torres, Fulgencio, Nunez, Sylvia, Badasyan, Zhanna, Wohn, Jared
Date: 2015-10-13, 2015-10-13
Description: For our oral history project, we interviewed Jeff Lee, and Terry Minnich who is also known as Trickman Terry. Jeff Lee was an artist that...
Show moreFor our oral history project, we interviewed Jeff Lee, and Terry Minnich who is also known as Trickman Terry. Jeff Lee was an artist that made artwork for QBert, Exterminator, and as well as other freelancing work. Terry Minnich was an editor for a magazine called Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine where he was an editor for the Tips and Tricks section where he would review tricks submitted from fans and publish them in EGM. Terry had a fairly large collection of arcade games in his basement which is where the interview took place. Both of these men were passionate about their job and were very knowledgeable in the video game industry. Terry Minnich worked many years as an editor for EGM, specifically the Tricks and Tips section. He would receive letters from fans, receive information overseas from Japan, or play the games himself with his team to try to obtain tricks, cheats, glitches or bugs, and other information needed to make the games more enjoyable. Terry was also an avid collector who obtained and maintained a collection of arcade machines in his basement and was well informed in the hardware aspect of the history. Jeff Lee, the second person interviewed, was an artist who was a fan of video games, specifically at the bar scene where he would enjoy a few drinks along with playing Pinball or Armour Attack before he got into the game industry in a more serious manner. He coincidently began working at Gottlieb and Co.as an artist where he made the artwork for Qbert1, 2, and 3. Then him and a fellow partner from Qbertwere contracted to do some artistry work on a few games like Exterminator. After he finished his artwork for QBert, he did some freelancing, and did some art and design work for the games Double GsandLotto Fun as well as another piece for the companyCredible Technologies. Terry Minnich, as part of his job as an editor, knew a lot about the Konami Code, which is a special combination of buttons the player can hit which will enable special abilities or extra lives. He mentioned the Konami Code as one of the first major cheat codes as it was used in many games such as Gradius, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution,and other games. The Konami code was interesting to look at because it is something about the history that you can not find by looking at the game itself; you have to talk to the players and fans of the games to learn about. Jeff Lee was a major designer of Q*bert,a puzzle game where players had to make each color of a block on a pyramid the same color. This game was hugely popular and is considered to be a classic from its time period. Lee had significant contributions on the project including character design, using the pyramid shape as a game, and the “@!#?@!” that the playable character would say in speech bubble. Minnich and Lee both had major impacts in the first generation of video games however from different positions. Lee was a creator and was part of the first hand industry while Minnich was part of the second hand industry that helped publicize the games and create the community of gamers that is around today. It is interesting to look at the multiple levels of the video game industry as there are many aspects to it like designing, manufacturing, retailing, the media scene, and the competition aspect.
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Title: Rob Lach - Oral History: Transcribed Interview
Creator: Sansone, Brandon, Sobel, David, Bochnak, Julianna, Kaegebein, Jon, Williams, Evan
Date: 2015-12-10, 2015-10-20
Description: Interview with Rob Lach

Title: Rob Lach - Oral History: recorder audio
Creator: Sansone, Brandon, Sobel, David, Bochnak, Julianna, Kaegebein, Jon, Williams, Evan
Date: 2015-12-10, 2015-10-20
Description: Interview with Rob Lach

Creator: Sansone, Brandon, Sobel, David, Bochnak, Julianna, Kaegebein, Jon, Williams, Evan

Title: Interview with Terry Minnich and Jeff Lee
Creator: Mynes, Jordan, Torres, Fulgencio, Nunez, Sylvia, Badasyan, Zhanna, Wohn, Jared
Date: 2015-10-13, 2015-10-13
Description: For our oral history project, we interviewed Jeff Lee, and Terry Minnich who is also known as Trickman Terry. Jeff Lee was an artist that...
Show moreFor our oral history project, we interviewed Jeff Lee, and Terry Minnich who is also known as Trickman Terry. Jeff Lee was an artist that made artwork for QBert, Exterminator, and as well as other freelancing work. Terry Minnich was an editor for a magazine called Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine where he was an editor for the Tips and Tricks section where he would review tricks submitted from fans and publish them in EGM. Terry had a fairly large collection of arcade games in his basement which is where the interview took place. Both of these men were passionate about their job and were very knowledgeable in the video game industry. Terry Minnich worked many years as an editor for EGM, specifically the Tricks and Tips section. He would receive letters from fans, receive information overseas from Japan, or play the games himself with his team to try to obtain tricks, cheats, glitches or bugs, and other information needed to make the games more enjoyable. Terry was also an avid collector who obtained and maintained a collection of arcade machines in his basement and was well informed in the hardware aspect of the history. Jeff Lee, the second person interviewed, was an artist who was a fan of video games, specifically at the bar scene where he would enjoy a few drinks along with playing Pinball or Armour Attack before he got into the game industry in a more serious manner. He coincidently began working at Gottlieb and Co.as an artist where he made the artwork for Qbert1, 2, and 3. Then him and a fellow partner from Qbertwere contracted to do some artistry work on a few games like Exterminator. After he finished his artwork for QBert, he did some freelancing, and did some art and design work for the games Double GsandLotto Fun as well as another piece for the companyCredible Technologies. Terry Minnich, as part of his job as an editor, knew a lot about the Konami Code, which is a special combination of buttons the player can hit which will enable special abilities or extra lives. He mentioned the Konami Code as one of the first major cheat codes as it was used in many games such as Gradius, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution,and other games. The Konami code was interesting to look at because it is something about the history that you can not find by looking at the game itself; you have to talk to the players and fans of the games to learn about. Jeff Lee was a major designer of Q*bert,a puzzle game where players had to make each color of a block on a pyramid the same color. This game was hugely popular and is considered to be a classic from its time period. Lee had significant contributions on the project including character design, using the pyramid shape as a game, and the “@!#?@!” that the playable character would say in speech bubble. Minnich and Lee both had major impacts in the first generation of video games however from different positions. Lee was a creator and was part of the first hand industry while Minnich was part of the second hand industry that helped publicize the games and create the community of gamers that is around today. It is interesting to look at the multiple levels of the video game industry as there are many aspects to it like designing, manufacturing, retailing, the media scene, and the competition aspect.
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Title: Rob Lach - Oral History
Creator: Sansone, Brandon, Sobel, David, Bochnak, Julianna, Kaegebein, Jon, Williams, Evan
Date: 2015-12-10, 2015-10-20
Description: Interview with Rob Lach

Title: Survey Instruments for Flexible Decision-making in Response to Disruptions on Construction Sites
Creator: Menches, Cindy
Date: 2012, 2012
Description: The document is a compilation of the Baseline Assessment, Foreman Survey, and Exit Interview documents for National Science Foundation...
Show moreThe document is a compilation of the Baseline Assessment, Foreman Survey, and Exit Interview documents for National Science Foundation research project, CMMI-1100514, Flexible Decision-making in Response to Disruptive Events on Construction Sites.
Sponsorship: National Science Foundation, CMMI-1100514, Flexible Decision-making in Response to Disruptive Events on Construction Sites.
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Title: Hashtag data from "Agenda Building & Indexing: Does the U.S. Congress Direct New York Times Content through Twitter?"
Creator: Hemphill, Libby
Date: 2016, 2014
Description: From the paper: The conventional understanding of how elected officials affect the policy agenda is based in arguments that they use symbols...
Show moreFrom the paper: The conventional understanding of how elected officials affect the policy agenda is based in arguments that they use symbols and rhetoric to propagate the problem, and that this happens primarily through the traditional media. The arguments presented in this article are largely consistent with this but account for the function of social media. More specifically, and framed by indexing theory, we argue that social media enhances opportunities for policy agenda builders in the U.S. Congress to share information with journalists. Across the key policy issues of 2013, tests for congruence between politicians’ Twitter posts and New York Times articles confirm a connection, particularly for the policy issue areas of the economy, immigration, health care, and marginalized groups. Simultaneous discussion and debate between Democrats and Republicans about a particular policy issue area, however, negatively impacts how the New York Times indexes a particular issue.
Here we provide single Excel file of all the hashtags posted by members of Congress to Twitter during 2013. The file contains three columns: datetime, hashtag, and twitter_username. The datetime indicates when a tweet was posted. The hashtag indicates what hashtag a user posted at that time (tweets may contain multiple tags). Twitter_username is the Twitter handle of the account that posted a tweet with that hashtag at that time. We created a list of member of Congress Twitter accounts by looking up each member and checking with Govtrack.us and congress.gov information. Please cite our paper: Shapiro, M. A. and Hemphill, L. (in press) Agenda Building & Indexing: Does the U.S. Congress Direct New York Times Content through Twitter? Policy & Internet.
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Title: Data used to develop #Polar scores
Creator: Culotta, Aron, Hemphill, Libby, Heston, Matthew
Date: 2013, 2016
Description: We present a new approach to measuring political polarization, including a novel algorithm and open source Python code, which leverages...
Show moreWe present a new approach to measuring political polarization, including a novel algorithm and open source Python code, which leverages Twitter content to produce measures of polarization for both users and hashtags. #Polar scores provide advantages over existing measures because they (1) can be calculated throughout the legislative cycle, (2) allow for easy differentiation between users with similar scores, (3) are chamber-agnostic, and (4) are a generic approach that can be applied beyond the U.S. Congress. #Polar scores leverage available information such as party labels, word frequency, and hashtags to create an accessible, straightforward algorithm for estimating polarity using text. (from the paper: Hemphill, L., Culotta, A., and Heston, M. (forthcoming) #Polar Scores: Measuring partisanship using social media content. Journal of Information Technology & Politics.)
The dataset contains one plain text TSV file with the following information for each of the 55,244 tweets used to develop #Polar scores : tweet_id, created_at, user_id, screen_name, tag, shortid, sex, party, state, chamber, name. The file contains one row per hashtag, and therefore tweets may appear more than once. The Python code for calculating #Polar scores is available here: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.53888
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Title: Data from Tweet Acts: How Constituents Lobby Congress via Twitter
Creator: Hemphill, Libby, Roback, Andrew
Date: 2013-09-19, 2012
Description: Sponsorship: Amazon Web Services Education Grants Program
Data presented in a CSCW 2014 paper titled Tweet Acts: How Constituents Lobby...
Show moreSponsorship: Amazon Web Services Education Grants Program
Data presented in a CSCW 2014 paper titled Tweet Acts: How Constituents Lobby Congress via Twitter. Libby Hemphill and Andrew J. Roback. 2014. Tweet acts: how constituents lobby congress via Twitter. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing (CSCW '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1200-1210. DOI=10.1145/2531602.2531735http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2531602.2531735
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Title: Building science measurements in the Hospital Microbiome Project
Creator: Stephens, Brent
Date: 2014, 2014
Description: Sponsorship: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s program on the Microbiology of the Built Environment (Grant No. 2012-10-04)

Title: Interview with Chaz Evans: R05_0004
Creator: Deanda, Michael
Date: 2014-11-14, 2014-11-14
Description: Chaz Evans is the curator of the Video Game Art Gallery (VGA Gallery), a traveling exhibit established in 2013 that displays pieces of art...
Show moreChaz Evans is the curator of the Video Game Art Gallery (VGA Gallery), a traveling exhibit established in 2013 that displays pieces of art from video games. VGA Gallery’s co-directors, Jonathan Kinkley and Chaz Evans, have a deep passion for sharing these artifacts that provide audiences an invitation to enter into discourse surrounding video games through the presentation of art from or inspired by the game. Evans works closely with the designers of the video games featured in the exhibit to ensure that the art pieces they include reflect the designers’ vision of the game. In the time that they have been displaying their exhibit at different events in Chicago, such as Bit Bash, ACTIVATE, Multiples Art Fair, and INTERPLAY Chicago, Evans says that their gallery has been met with much admiration and curiosity from both gamers and non-gamers. Through the process of curating games, he argues that archives and exhibits not only tell a history of video games, but also contribute to the current and ongoing story of video games and provide instances for further discourse and analysis in understanding the video games media. He describes his future aspiration for VGA Gallery to include installations in interactive spaces that contain playable demos of the games alongside the artwork that together provide a threshold for people to experience and appreciate the game.
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Title: Interview with Larry Wilson: Transcription
Creator: Gonzalez, David, Curtis, Brian, Molitsky, Michael, Thai, Christopher
Date: 2015-10-08, 2015-10-08
Description: Larry Wilson is an electromechanical repair hobbyist, and has been one for most of his life. As a seventeen-year-old, Larry came across his...
Show moreLarry Wilson is an electromechanical repair hobbyist, and has been one for most of his life. As a seventeen-year-old, Larry came across his hobby when he discovered a Coke machine at a party. Larry was captured by the sleek look of the 1950’s themed machine and, with an initial investment of $75, launched his lifelong fascination. Although his parents disproved of him smuggling and concealing the Coke machine in his room for months, Larry’s intrigue never left him. He would later enroll at Triton College in Illinois to major in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in order to learn how to fix the Coke machine that he had bought. After realizing the simplicity of repairing the Coke machine, Larry realized that he especially enjoyed working on machines and fixing them. As a result, he decided to return to college to study electrical engineering. From there, his electromechanical collection grew with the addition of a jukebox and another Coke machine. Today, Larry owns an impressive electromechanical machine collection that ranges widely from pinball cabinets to shooting galleries to vending machines that are reminiscent of the 1960s era and his childhood. The machines have a high attraction value for visitors and mainly see action when special events and holidays are hosted in Larry’s home. Many of the machines in Larry’s collection are repaired and restored by Larry himself and are also maintained by his son, Kyle. Larry often figures out how to repair his electromechanical machines by studying schematics closely. While repair times for the machines vary widely depending on the accessibility of specific parts and the complexity of the machine, Larry estimates that 100 man-hours are needed to return a broken machine to working order. Because electromechanical repair is a niche area and quite labor intensive, Larry maintains that repairing machines will remain as a hobby for him. In order to obtain machines or parts to repair his machines, Larry consults with other members of a large and supportive network that specializes in electromechanical machines. As a result, Larry regularly enjoys contact with other hobbyists and specialists from all over the United States at large conferences – some that are hosted in Chicago. While at these conferences, Larry oftentimes finds machines that are worth repairing or scrapping for parts, as well as meeting other like-minded peers who help with his electromechanical repairs. Larry will continue to repair electromechanical machines as long as it is physically possible for him to do so. He describes his hobby as almost “addictive… but I guess it’s better than heroin”. For Larry, repairing a machine that has not worked in 60 years is incredibly rewarding for him – a “natural high” as he describes it. In addition, the amount of time and work put into each machine is very personal, and as a result, Larry does not foresee an end to his work with electromechanical machines.
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Title: Interview with Larry Wilson: R05_0006
Creator: Gonzalez, David, Curtis, Brian, Molitsky, Michael, Thai, Christopher
Date: 2015-10-08, 2015-10-08
Description: Larry Wilson is an electromechanical repair hobbyist, and has been one for most of his life. As a seventeen-year-old, Larry came across his...
Show moreLarry Wilson is an electromechanical repair hobbyist, and has been one for most of his life. As a seventeen-year-old, Larry came across his hobby when he discovered a Coke machine at a party. Larry was captured by the sleek look of the 1950’s themed machine and, with an initial investment of $75, launched his lifelong fascination. Although his parents disproved of him smuggling and concealing the Coke machine in his room for months, Larry’s intrigue never left him. He would later enroll at Triton College in Illinois to major in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in order to learn how to fix the Coke machine that he had bought. After realizing the simplicity of repairing the Coke machine, Larry realized that he especially enjoyed working on machines and fixing them. As a result, he decided to return to college to study electrical engineering. From there, his electromechanical collection grew with the addition of a jukebox and another Coke machine. Today, Larry owns an impressive electromechanical machine collection that ranges widely from pinball cabinets to shooting galleries to vending machines that are reminiscent of the 1960s era and his childhood. The machines have a high attraction value for visitors and mainly see action when special events and holidays are hosted in Larry’s home. Many of the machines in Larry’s collection are repaired and restored by Larry himself and are also maintained by his son, Kyle. Larry often figures out how to repair his electromechanical machines by studying schematics closely. While repair times for the machines vary widely depending on the accessibility of specific parts and the complexity of the machine, Larry estimates that 100 man-hours are needed to return a broken machine to working order. Because electromechanical repair is a niche area and quite labor intensive, Larry maintains that repairing machines will remain as a hobby for him. In order to obtain machines or parts to repair his machines, Larry consults with other members of a large and supportive network that specializes in electromechanical machines. As a result, Larry regularly enjoys contact with other hobbyists and specialists from all over the United States at large conferences – some that are hosted in Chicago. While at these conferences, Larry oftentimes finds machines that are worth repairing or scrapping for parts, as well as meeting other like-minded peers who help with his electromechanical repairs. Larry will continue to repair electromechanical machines as long as it is physically possible for him to do so. He describes his hobby as almost “addictive… but I guess it’s better than heroin”. For Larry, repairing a machine that has not worked in 60 years is incredibly rewarding for him – a “natural high” as he describes it. In addition, the amount of time and work put into each machine is very personal, and as a result, Larry does not foresee an end to his work with electromechanical machines.
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Title: Interview with Larry Wilson: R05_0006
Creator: Gonzalez, David, Curtis, Brian, Molitsky, Michael, Thai, Christopher
Date: 2015-10-08, 2015-10-08
Description: Larry Wilson is an electromechanical repair hobbyist, and has been one for most of his life. As a seventeen-year-old, Larry came across his...
Show moreLarry Wilson is an electromechanical repair hobbyist, and has been one for most of his life. As a seventeen-year-old, Larry came across his hobby when he discovered a Coke machine at a party. Larry was captured by the sleek look of the 1950’s themed machine and, with an initial investment of $75, launched his lifelong fascination. Although his parents disproved of him smuggling and concealing the Coke machine in his room for months, Larry’s intrigue never left him. He would later enroll at Triton College in Illinois to major in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in order to learn how to fix the Coke machine that he had bought. After realizing the simplicity of repairing the Coke machine, Larry realized that he especially enjoyed working on machines and fixing them. As a result, he decided to return to college to study electrical engineering. From there, his electromechanical collection grew with the addition of a jukebox and another Coke machine. Today, Larry owns an impressive electromechanical machine collection that ranges widely from pinball cabinets to shooting galleries to vending machines that are reminiscent of the 1960s era and his childhood. The machines have a high attraction value for visitors and mainly see action when special events and holidays are hosted in Larry’s home. Many of the machines in Larry’s collection are repaired and restored by Larry himself and are also maintained by his son, Kyle. Larry often figures out how to repair his electromechanical machines by studying schematics closely. While repair times for the machines vary widely depending on the accessibility of specific parts and the complexity of the machine, Larry estimates that 100 man-hours are needed to return a broken machine to working order. Because electromechanical repair is a niche area and quite labor intensive, Larry maintains that repairing machines will remain as a hobby for him. In order to obtain machines or parts to repair his machines, Larry consults with other members of a large and supportive network that specializes in electromechanical machines. As a result, Larry regularly enjoys contact with other hobbyists and specialists from all over the United States at large conferences – some that are hosted in Chicago. While at these conferences, Larry oftentimes finds machines that are worth repairing or scrapping for parts, as well as meeting other like-minded peers who help with his electromechanical repairs. Larry will continue to repair electromechanical machines as long as it is physically possible for him to do so. He describes his hobby as almost “addictive… but I guess it’s better than heroin”. For Larry, repairing a machine that has not worked in 60 years is incredibly rewarding for him – a “natural high” as he describes it. In addition, the amount of time and work put into each machine is very personal, and as a result, Larry does not foresee an end to his work with electromechanical machines.
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