Years back there were two machines I saw for cleaning balls, I don't remember just who made them etc. and I was just trying to figure out what they were.

So I thought I'd see if any one remembers them.

One was in this old 8 lane house, it was square and maybe 12"-15" tall. there was a hole in the top and you could see 3-4 round black bristle brushes, you dropped the ball in and it came on. the brushes spun around on the ball. It must have been from way back in the rubber ball days.

The other was a machine like a modern ball polisher, but was 2-3 times as wide. One end of it was just for cleaning a ball, the other end would polish it. This was back around the urethane days before resin balls

anyone remember something like this, the names etc.

still around

http://www.governmentauctions.org/uploaded_images/bbcleaner-771592.JPG

The first one I remember seeing was about 24-30 inches high and kind of square.  It had a clear plastic top cover on it that you opened and placed the ball into and took a dime (?) to operate.  It just cleaned the old rubber balls with some wire brushes - no polish.  As a youth, we learned how to reach in and toggle a spring near the coin mech to get a free session.

The next one was about the same height but much wider.  You placed the ball on the left side and it would clean the ball then it pushed the ball over to the right side where some kind of polish was applied. 

Don't remember the names of those machines but these were in the '60's and still around in some older centers in the '70's.  The first Lustre King that I remember came out about 1969-70.