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Unknown Story: Early Bowling Innovation Unveiled in Buffalo

In 1946, bowling history was made in a garage near the Connecticut Street Armory on Buffalo's West Side. Bowling company AMF put on public display for the very first time, the automatic pinspotter.

BUFFALO, NY - In 1946, bowling history was made in a garage near the Connecticut Street Armory on Buffalo's West Side. Bowling company AMF put on public display for the very first time, the automatic pinspotter.

American Machine & Foundry has been a leader in new ideas since its beginning. In 1900, they made tobacco manufacturing machinery; then bread wrapping machines; even machines that made neckties.

Ultimately, they bought the Bowling Patents Management Corporation, which got them into the bowling business and the patents for automatic pin spotters..

While a variety of companies had been experimenting with designs, it was AMF that first demonstrated the machines. As the American Bowling Congress was holding it's annual tournament at the Connecticut Street Armory, in a nearby garage, AMF was showing off their Automatic Pinspotter Model 82-30. It took a few years to catch on, but by 1958, AMF had leased 40,000 pinspotters. It truly mechanized bowling centers across the United States and set up the next frame in the Unknown Stories of WNY.

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