History
A Short History of Mill Wax
Prior to 1976 and the advent of Mill Wax Pinball Playfield Wax and Cleaner, cleaning and waxing a pinball machine was something of an uncertain task. In the words of one of Mill Wax’s founders, Herbert Petersen, a “Turkish towel and a little soap and water, or for a hard one—a little lighter fluid” may have been your only option. Each operator used whatever he could lay his hands on around the shop, usually with poor results Thanks to two Midwestern pioneering gentlemen, we now have a wonderful product, Mill Wax, that when regularly used, will help keep any pinball shiny and clean.
Duane Richard Reiners was born June 28th, 1933 in rural Minnehaha County in southeastern South Dakota. Duane’s father moved the family north to Twin Brooks, a small town a few miles west of Milbank, when Duane was in the third grade. Herbert Frederick Petersen was born March 26th, 1931 in Milbank, SD.
After high school and serving in the Army during the time of the Korean War, both men returned to Milbank and worked several unrewarding jobs. Introduced by a mutual friend and fueled by their mutual loving of stock car racing, Herb and Duane quickly became friends and eventually partners in a small beer bar called The Cozy Lane on the main street of Milbank. It was there that they first purchased a juke box and other amusement games for their bar. Soon after, other bar owners were asking them to provide them with juke boxes and pinballs, and that small start eventually lead them to operating three routes in Milbank and Watertown in South Dakota, and in Benson, Minnesota.
Faced with the task of maintaining their amusement games, and with no product for that specific purpose on the market, Herb Petersen undertook the task of developing a formula to clean and wax a pinball’s playfield. Much experimentation and testing lead to the product we now know as Mill Wax. If you’ve ever wondered how the name came about (there is no man named Mill, by the way), the name came from a town landmark, the famous English-style mill from which the town of Milbank took its name. Herb wanted to honor his hometown by naming his product after this landmark, from which their business also took it’s name—Mill Amusement Co.
| Duane Reiners (L) and Herbert Petersen (R) hold the very first original 16 ounce can of Mill Wax used for testing purposes. The colorful MILL on the otherwise unmarked can was cut out off a sticker from MILL Amusement Co. This picture was taken in the Petersen’s kitchen in Milbank, SD on 27 February, 2007. |
Well, Mill Wax was a success right from the start, creating quite a sensation amongst the Operators attending the MOA (Music Operators Association, now AMOA—Amusement & Music Operators Association) convention in Chicago in 1976. Finally, a great product designed specifically for pinball playfield maintenance was available, to the delight of many operators, and the product started selling liking the proverbial hotcake.
| Historical Mill Wax packaging from the earliest, metal can on the left, to the newest and most current packaging, the heavy-duty black plastic bottle on the right. |
Since 1976 Herb and Duane have sold untold thousands of bottles of Mill Wax which have made their way into virtually every operator’s shop, pinball collector’s basement, and indeed, all around the world. Mill Wax continues to be a favorite amongst collectors and operators due to the simple fact that it does a great job; a small investment in the care and maintenance of a pinball machine, with big results, a clean playfield and a layer of protective wax to protect that pin.
In their mid-70’s, Herb and Duane, having long ago sold off their 3 routes, decided to fully retire in the spring of 2008, selling the assets of Mill Amusement, Inc. to John and Arlette Buegel of Fargo, ND. John and Arlette have undertaken to expand the product line and promote Mill Wax through the development of a web page and print advertising.
| Left to Right. Herbert Petersen, John F. Buegel, Duane Reiners. |
| Left to Right. Arla Mae Petersen, Arlette Buegel, John F. Buegel & Herbert Petersen on June 9th, 2008 with the Bill of Sale finalizing the transfer of Mill Amusement, Inc. |
This history is a short synopsis of an extensive history of the founders and how they came to develop Mill Wax, authored by John F. Buegel. The article was published in the October, 2008 issue of GameRoom Magazine. Not a subscriber?—you should be if you love pinballs! Visit their web page at www.gameroommagazine.com and tell Kevin that John from Mill Wax sent you.
© 2008 Mill Amusement, LLC