Damon Atchison refers to some coin-slot machines in the San Francisco
Musee Mechanique.  The scenes with moving automaton figures are usually
called "Working Models."  They often have a macabre subject: ghosts,
skeletons and the like.

I think several in the San Francisco area (including a "Chinese Torture"
scene I saw some years ago at the "San Francisco Experience") were made
by John Dennison of Leeds, England.  He was a 19th century maker of such
models who also repaired music boxes - I have his repair label in one box
in my collection.  He died in 1924 and his daughters Alice and Evelyn
continued the business.  Sometimes the daughters would rework an older
model.

There is further information on the topic in "Automatic Pleasures"
by Nic Costa.

Michael Woolf
New Zealand