Brief History of Vending Machines
There are many different types of vending machines or automatic
retailing as it is also known as. There are snack, soda,
gumball, toys, coffee/tea, candy, and also hot soup vending
machines that are located just about every where we look.
Vending machines came about in 251BC when a Greek mathematician
invented a machine that could vend Holy water in the Egyptian
temples.
Many years following that the first coin-operated vending
machines were invented that dispensed post cards in the early
1880's in London, England. Years later, Richard Carlisle, an
English professor invented a vending machine that could dispense
books.
Vending machines have come a long way since then. In 1888,
Thomas Adams Gum Company introduced the vending machine to the
United States and it sold Tutti-Fruiti gum. Later on 1907, the
very first round candy coated gumball that all children love was
introduced.
As the years went on there was a vending machine for just about
everything; cigars, stamps, postcards, cigarettes, soda, even
snack foods. We still use some of these vending machines today.
In the early 1920's, the vending machines started to offer soda
in cups for the first time. That is where the hot
coffee/tea/cocoa vending machines originated as well. We still
use the soda vending machines that allow us to place our soda
into cups. You can find them in any self serve convenience store
or fast food restaurant.
Some famous vending machines are the Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola
machines. We still use them today, but not in cups, they come in
bottle or cans. Snack machines are very popular as well these
days especially in hospitals, colleges, bus stations and
airports. We like convenience, choices, and low prices. Vending
machines offer all of these and they have been offering it for
hundreds of years; meaning vending machines must be doing
something right.