Stoner Manufacturing Company

Stoner Manufacturing Company was an Aurora, Illinois-based producer of pinball machines and coin-operated amusements during the 1930s and early 1940s. Founded by Harry Stoner, the company was one of the few significant pinball manufacturers to operate outside of Chicago proper, though Aurora — barely thirty miles west — was well within the orbit of the city’s amusement industry supply chain.

Stoner entered the pin game market in 1933 and quickly built a reputation for well-constructed machines with an emphasis on elegance. The company’s early Pure Mechanical games gave way to Electromechanical designs as the industry adopted electric scoring and solenoid-powered features through the mid-1930s. Designers Wendell Bartelt and Karl Knickerbocker contributed to a catalog that included games like Blackstone (1933) and later titles such as Ump and Armada (1941). Stoner’s machines were known for quality cabinet work and attractive playfield layouts, reflecting a manufacturer that competed on craftsmanship rather than sheer volume.

Stoner ceased pinball production around 1941, likely a casualty of wartime material restrictions that forced many smaller manufacturers out of the amusement business. The company’s seventy-five titles, compressed into fewer than nine years of production, represent one of the more concentrated and distinctive catalogs among the pre-war Chicago-area manufacturers.