Who is Charles Fey?

He was the man, who invented the very first slot machine. Fey was born on February 2, 1862, in a small village called Vohringen, Bavaria in Germany. Charles or August (his birth name) was the youngest child in a poor but rather large family: except Charles there were 15 children. Charles had his first experience working with tools and mechanical devices at the age of 14, while helping his older brother Edmund at the Farm Tool Factory in Munich. It was no chance for young Charles to stay at home in Germany because of his strict father and a possibility to serve in the German army.

Career

The first plaque to Charles Fey and the first ever slot machine ’Liberty Bell’ was placed in San Francisco during 1980 by E Campus Vitus at the Fey factory site. Three years later, California Historical Landmark 937 replaced the clamper plaque. In October of 1997 the city fathers of Vohringen, Bavaria placed a plaque on the town's old school house (his birthplace) in recognition of Charles Fey and his great invention.

At the age of 15 he left home for France, where he worked as an intercom equipment manufacturer, shortly after that he moved to London, where he worked as a nautical instrument maker. He lived in London for five years. At 23 Charles Fey decided to follow his uncle’s footsteps, who had had successfully immigrated to the state of New Jersey in the United States.

After earning enough money, he had immigrated to the United States. He traveled across the United States and finally reached San Francisco, California. He started a whole new life: got married to Marie Volkmar, a native Californian, officially changed his name from August to Charles and got a job at the California Electric Works company. Soon after Fey and his co-worker Theodore Holtz quit their jobs to start their own company that dealt with manufacturing telephone, telegraph, and electrical equipment. What is more, it was a perfect time for the first Slot Machine to be invented, so in 1895 Charles presented a ‘Liberty Bell’ or 4-11-44 (a top paying combination that paid $5.00.) The machine was based on the popular lottery game ‘Policy’. The big success of this machine allowed Charles Fey in 1896 to open his own Slot Machine Factory.

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