11-22-2024, 11:34 PM
Am I helpful - or what?!
From The Internet Pinball Machine Glossary:
"Bumpers are round, mushroom-shaped targets set into the playfield of most pinball machines. They fall into two categories: active and passive. Both types register a hit when the ball collides with them.
Active bumpers, the most common, forcefully kick the ball away when struck.
Passive bumpers look similar to active bumpers, but do not kick the ball when hit. See also the passive Tower Bumper.
Mushroom bumpers are passive bumpers, each is a post having a disk on top. When the ball approaches the bumper and strikes the post, it lifts the disk. The disk is attached to a shaft down the middle of the post, and this shaft rises when the disk is lifted, activating a leaf switch which registers the hit. Bally popularized this bumper in the 1960s and 1970s starting with Bally's 1963 'Hootenanny', and European games followed in its use. While Bally is popularly credited with the first use of mushroom bumpers, Stoner used them during 1939-40 on Stoner's 1939 'Ali-Baba' and Stoner's 1940 'Fantasy'.
Active bumpers have been given various names. According to the book All About Pinball, Williams called them thumper bumpers on their 1948 game Saratoga but eventually decided to use the shorter term jet bumpers. Gottlieb first used the term percussion bumpers on their 1949 "Bowling Champ" game but eventually changed to the term pop bumpers. Genco called them power bumpers. Bally called them thumper bumpers.
From The Internet Pinball Machine Glossary:
"Bumpers are round, mushroom-shaped targets set into the playfield of most pinball machines. They fall into two categories: active and passive. Both types register a hit when the ball collides with them.
Active bumpers, the most common, forcefully kick the ball away when struck.
Passive bumpers look similar to active bumpers, but do not kick the ball when hit. See also the passive Tower Bumper.
Mushroom bumpers are passive bumpers, each is a post having a disk on top. When the ball approaches the bumper and strikes the post, it lifts the disk. The disk is attached to a shaft down the middle of the post, and this shaft rises when the disk is lifted, activating a leaf switch which registers the hit. Bally popularized this bumper in the 1960s and 1970s starting with Bally's 1963 'Hootenanny', and European games followed in its use. While Bally is popularly credited with the first use of mushroom bumpers, Stoner used them during 1939-40 on Stoner's 1939 'Ali-Baba' and Stoner's 1940 'Fantasy'.
Active bumpers have been given various names. According to the book All About Pinball, Williams called them thumper bumpers on their 1948 game Saratoga but eventually decided to use the shorter term jet bumpers. Gottlieb first used the term percussion bumpers on their 1949 "Bowling Champ" game but eventually changed to the term pop bumpers. Genco called them power bumpers. Bally called them thumper bumpers.