What is a vending machine? The definition of sale quoted from Dictionary.com:
Selling through a vending machine.
While the definition of a vending machine quoted from Wikipedia is:
A vending machine is a machine that dispenses merchandise when a customer deposits enough money, validated by a coin detector, to purchase the desired item (unlike a store, where staff presence is required for each purchase).
Typically, the machine may consist of a large, free-standing, rectangular-shaped box that has a place to insert coins or bills into the machine. Merchandise to be vended is placed in the vending machine and when a customer enters the appropriate money and selects the item they want, the vending machine will automatically release the item through a special hole in the bottom of the machine.
Do you know the history of vending machines? The vending machine has a long history and let’s learn about it:
- 215 BC, the ancient Greeks invented an urn and placed it in an Egyptian temple, which dispensed a certain amount of holy water. It was considered as the first vending machine.
- In the early 1880s, the first coin-operated vending machines were invented in London. They were postcard vending machines.
- Richard Carlisle invented the book vending machine.
- Coin acceptance mechanisms that distinguish genuine from counterfeit coins have made vending machines more popular.
- The first vending machine in the United States was located on subway platforms in New York City. It was invented by The Thomas Adams Company, distributed Tutti Frutti chewing gum.
- Pulver Manufacturing Company introduced the first animated gumball machines in 1897.
- Gumball vending machines and round candy vending machines were first introduced in 1907.
- In the early 1900s, cooperative bars and cafes exploded like crazy in France and Germany.
- Horn & Hadart (1902 – 1962) was an entirely coin-operated restaurant in Philadelphia.
- Various products were offered from: cigarettes, stamps, postcards, sweets, chewing gum, etc.
- 1926, William Rowe of the United States invented a cigarette vending machine.
- 1965, canned soft drink vending machines were invented.
- 1981, “talking” vending machines were invented.
- To date, vending machines come in all different shapes and sizes, they dispense various products.
Read more: History of the vending machine