Lone Eagle

The Lone Eagle, manufactured by C. & D. Manufacturing Company in June 1933, is an early example of a pure mechanical pinball machine, designed by Lyn Durant and George Campbell, the two partners whose surnames gave the company its name. Durant introduced the game in Chicago that May, hoping to sell the concept to a larger manufacturer, but when that fell through, he and Campbell produced it themselves in Agawam, Massachusetts.

One of the machine's most notable features is its coin-slide mechanism: pushing a coin into the slide lifts all the balls to the playfield, visible in a lane that feeds the ball shooter, eliminating the need for a separate ball lift. The game also featured an early automated scoring system, using a revolving drum to tally player points — an invention by Durant, for which he applied for a patent in May 1933.

Just months later, in October 1933, the partners released an improved version with a second totalizer under a renamed company, Lone Eagle Mfg. Co. Durant's totalizer invention would go on to see wider use three years later in an electrified form on Shyvers (Chicago)'s 1936 'Round 'n' Round.' As an early and inventive design from a short-lived manufacturer, Lone Eagle offers a window into the rapid experimentation of pinball's formative years.