Sunday, November 17, 2002
A brief history of the vending machine:
1st century: Hero, the Alexandrian engineer, designs a machine that, when fed a drachma, dispenses holy water.
1076: The Chinese produce a coin-operated pencil vendor.
1870s: In Wyoming and the Dakotas, it's possible to purchase a vending-machine divorce for $2.
1886: The United States grants several patents for coin-operated dispensers.
1888: Inventor Thomas Adams installs Tutti-Frutti gum machines on a New York elevated train platform.
1902: The first Automat restaurant, a waiterless eatery where customers choose their meals from vending machines, opens in Philadelphia.
1920s: The first commercial cigarette vending machine appears on the market.
1930s: Bottled-soft-drink machines cooled with ice debut.
1946: Invention of first coffee vendors.
1961: Machines offer canned soft drinks.
1983: The first french fry machine is introduced.
1991: Now available: cappuccino and espresso.
1993: The digital dawn: First remote wireless transmission of data from vending machines to warehouses.
2002: Winter Olympics patrons buy Kodak cameras out of vending machines via cell phones.
Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers