History of Vending Machines
Vending machines or automatic retailing as it is known increasingly goes way back to the first century. The first recorded vending machine dates back to the first century when the Greek mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria invented a type of machine that dispensed holy water in early Egyptian temples. It was set up to dispense water in exchange for coins and to prevent theft of holy water. This was done in 215 BC, the first vending machine to take over the commercial world was introduced in the 18th century.
The earliest account of this modern vending machines was debuted in London. The machines were used to dispense postcards. In 1822, Richard Carlile, an English publisher built a newspaper vending machine that allowed his patrons to buy banned works. The first fully automatic vending machine which dispensed stamps appeared in 1867. However, vending machines only became popular in the 1880s because of the rash of patents for coin acceptor mechanisms that can distinguish the fake from the real coins. In 1883, Percival Everitt invented machines that made buying envelopes, notepaper, and postcards more convenient. These machines can be found in post offices and railway stations.
In the year 1888, the United States first experienced the convenience brought by vending machines. The Thomas Adams Gum Company debuted the first vending machines in the US. They sold Tutti-Fruiti gums on the elevated subway platforms of the City of New York. This started the popularity of vending machines in the US. In 1897, as an added attraction to its gum machines, Pulver Manufacturing Company added animated figures to their vending machines. After that, men didn’t just stop in selling stationery, gums, or candies. In 1902, a major shift in the concept brought the first coin-operated restaurant call the Horn and Hardart situated in Philadelphia. Though it can be argued that it was originally conceptualised in Germany, it was in Horn and Hardart where the concept was accepted and widely used by people.
From holy water, vending machines have evolved so much. Today, vending machines do not just dispense stationery items or candies. We now have vending machines for beverages, snacks, train tickets, and even life insurance.