Posted 10 years ago
Ginseng108
(46 items)
This is one of two variants I own. The fact that this is not the design on the transitional chimera Brunswick Max - Vultex II pin suggests that it is an earlier design. Very clean asymmetric inverted triangle medallion. The neck bands look roller printed and there are a few shallow gouges/scratches on the lower band. Also ABC/WIBC sanctioned as with variant B. Permit number is 328, same as the B variant. The record suggests that this is perhaps the last major pin line made by the Vulcan Corporation, a venerable bowling products company with a history that stretches back into the first half of the 20th century.
Your right the vultex 2 was the last line that vulcan made. This is actually the newer design and the other vultex 2 you have is the older one. The older vultex 2 has varieties with the older abc approved logo on the back, while this newer design has usbc varieties albeit fairly hard to find though. Brunswick began partnering with Vulcan in the 1990's and then took over their division in the early 2000's.
This is the newer design and it has the unequal weight "V." The left side of the letter logo is wider than the right. But the other one, the one I'm calling Variant B is actually older? The one with both sides of the "V" equal thickness. I had guessed that as Brunswick absorbed Vulcan, the "V" logo would be from the latest or last variant but you are suggesting I have it backwards. Fascinating. They are both Permit 328 so it appears that whatever change was made, it was not significant enough to spin out a new permit number. My question then, is, what does it take to get a new permit number?
Im not a hundred percent sure on what changes are necessary, but I think any new make and or a change of manufacturer. For example the original Brunswick Max had a 3 someting permit number, but when it became manufactured by AMF it changed to I think 428 or something like that.
Than you for that. I took a look into the USBC documents to see if there is any indication of what it takes to trigger a new number and it doesn't give a clue. There are 12 pages on pin specifications and testing but nothing that says what spawns a number. I think that from what is NOT said, that it must have something to do with whether the manufacturer submits it as a completely new item.
I say this because according to the Equipment and Specifications Manual (2012), it costs, per permit number, $400 basic fee ($1,000 for expedited testing), Bowl Score testing at $1,000, COR at $45/pin, RG at $45/pin. And I'm thinking a minimum between half a dozen to a dozen pins for each testing. Field testing is the $5,000 and full payment for all control and test pins.
That's a lot of scratch. So I can see why these manufacturers might want to hold onto numbers for as long as they can. That brings us no closer to understanding what conditions demand a new number.