The Definition of a Vending Machine
A vending machine is commonly known as automatic retailing. It is a machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, toiletries, cigarettes, tickets, and other consumer products to customers automatically, in exchange for a payment in form of a coin, bill, or card inserted into the machine.
The Inventor of the Vending Machine
The inventor of the first vending machine has been traced back to Hero of Alexandria in the period between 10–70 AD. Hero was a Greek mathematician and engineer from the city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. Hero, or also known as Heron, is considered to be the greatest experimenter of antiquity. His works are great representations of the Hellenistic scientific tradition.
The First Vending Machine
The first vending machine or automatic retailer was a machine that accepted a coin and then dispensed holy water, documented in Hero’s book entitled “Mechanics and Optics”. A coin was inserted via a slot on the top of the machine. The coin falls to a pan attached to a lever, which will, then, open up a valve which let the holy water flow out. The pan will continue to tilt with the weight of the coin until it will fell off. The pan will then snap the lever back up, turning off the valve.
The History of Vending Machines
After the invention of the vending machine by Hero, it waited a long time before it got prominent.
- It was only in the early 1880s that the first modern coin-operated vending machines were introduced to dispense post cards in London, England.
- In 1888, the Thomas Adams Gum Company introduced the first vending machine in the U.S. that dispensed gums.
- In 1897, the Pulver Manufacturing Company added small figures along with the gum being dispensed in, giving way to the discovery of trade simulators, a mechanical technology being used in slot machines and pinballs.
- In 1902, a coin-operated restaurant was invented by Horn and Hardart Baking Company in Philadelphia.
- In 1905, the United States Post Office introduced the first automated stamp vending machines.
- In the early 1920′s, the vending machines started to dispense sodas into cups.
- In 1926, William Rowe invented the first cigarette vending machine.
- In 1937, The Vendolator Co in Fresno, CA introduced the first Coca-Cola bottle vending machines.
- In 1946, the first coffee vending machines was introduced and became popular for their use for coffee breaks.
- In 1950, the first vending machines to dispense refrigerated sandwich was introduced.
- In December 1970, Ussery Industries of Dallas in Texas introduced an improvement to the current machinery. They have added a mechanism of a one-liner voice by comic Henny Youngman that would say “Thank You” after a coin is being inserted into the slot.
- In 1978, the first water vending machines were introduced.
- In 1983, the first automated French fry vending machines were introduced.
- In 1991, coffee vending machines that offered flavored coffees, espresso and cappuccino were introduced to the market.
Since 2000 the innovation in the vending industry has really taken off – contactless payment systems, intelligent vending machines with stock self-ordering features and touchscreen interfaces starting showing up, bringing this respectable trade in sync with mobile phones, mobile banking and modern input interfaces.