Coils vs solenoids

[OldReno]

Coils vs solenoids
It's always helpful to use the right terminology for parts.
Here is my layman's definition of coils and solenoids.

A coil is a winding of wire generally around a plastic mounting, and usually has a center permanent core of metal.  The coil's function is to become a magnet when current passes through it, and that allows it to attract a piece of metal, which is usually called an armature.  This armature generally pulls down a set of switches to either momentarily open and/or close them.  This whole assembly is called a relay, and most relays on the Bally are momentary.
There are (at least) 2 other types of relays on the Bally, and they are called latching relays.  These are the coin relay, and the handle release assembly. After they momentarily energise, they release a mechanism which closes switches.  However, these switches remain in their new position until they are mechanically reset (this happens on handle pull). If the handle is not pulled, they will remain in their 'other' state indefinitely.  You can reset these latches by physically pushing thier operating mechanism (lever) manually back in place.
All the above are momentary coils, that is they just need one shot to work, and then generally there is a normally closed switch in that circuit, that automatically turns them off when the coil pulses.  This is to keep them from burning up.  You should be able to find the one on your coin relay that goes from the coil to a switch on its switch stack. They turn themselves off after they trip.
The only coil that should be on all the time is your coin lockout coil which is just behind your coin acceptor. It was designed to be on all the time without burning up.

A solenoid is a coil with a hole and plunger in it.  The coil physically pulls in the plunger to perform some physical action.  Solenoids of note are your hopper step up coil, and your hopper reset coil.
(We use to make mini-rail guns out of these, and shoot plungers across the shop for kicks.) Other solenoids are your odds step up solenoid, and odds reset solenoids, as well as the solenoids on your X-units, or multiplier units.

Most of you certainly know this, but this post is for those who don't, and hopefully this will help when someone is trying to describe a problem to the rest of us, so that we may better help them through it.
Of course, I'm generally more guilty than most at mis-describing a part, but if you all would point that out to me, I will try to name things correctly.  Rather than saying 'that little pointy guy next to the round thingy...., I will call it by the correct name if you catch me doing that.  Thanks.
OldReno