Raymond T. Moloney (November 2, 1900 - February 26, 1958) was an American businessman, and the founder of

Bally Manufacturing Corporation Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotel ...

. He was instrumental in popularizing the

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

machine, and was regarded, at the time, as "Mr. Coin Machine Industry".

Biography

He was born on November 11th, 1900 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Daniel J. Moloney, a steelworker, and Gertrude Smith. He spent his early adult life in a variety of jobs, including in the oil fields of Texas, harvesting crops in California, and working in sugar refineries in the South. Ultimately, he returned to Cleveland to work with his father at the steel mill, as a foreman. In 1921 he relocated to Chicago, where he started working in a print shop, making punchboards. He was eventually put in charge of the punchboard operation, for which a subsidiary, Lion Manufacturing Company, was created. Later, Midwest Novelty Company was established as a subsidiary of Lion, to distribute coin-operated products such as

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as ...

and trade stimulators via mail order. Moloney served as president of Lion and Midwest Novelty. When

Gottlieb Gottlieb (formerly D. Gottlieb & Co.) was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. History The main office and plant was located at 1140-50 N. Kostner Avenue until the early 1970s when a new modern plant and office was lo ...

Baffle Ball ''Baffle Ball'' is a pinball machine created in November 19, 1931 by David Gottlieb, founder of the Gottlieb amusement company. Gameplay For one US cent players get ten balls. These balls are fired up onto the playfield and fall into pockets and ...

started to become popular, Moloney tried to secure a steady supply of Baffle Ball cabinets for Midwest Novelty. Frustrated with Gottlieb's inability to supply the machines fast enough, Moloney decided to start producing pin games himself. He acquired a pin game design from freelance designers Oliver Van Tyle and Oscar Bloom, and designed a colorful playfield based on the cover of the December 1931 edition of satirical magazine ''Ballyhoo''. To avoid risking the existing business, Moloney and his partners established a new company dedicated to the production of pinball machines. It was named Bally Manufacturing Company. Ballyhoo was released in January of 1932, with a price of $16.50 per machine, a relatively affordable price for operators at the time. The machine was a great success, selling 50,000 units in its first seven months. Before the end of the year, a second hit, Goofy, was released. A third game, Airways, was released the next year; it too proved highly successful, and helped expand the popularity of pinball in Europe.

References

External links

Bally Technologies
1900 births 1958 deaths {{US-engineer-stub