Vending machine
The earliest known reference to a vending machine is in the work of Hero of Alexandria, an engineer and mathematician in first-century Roman Egypt.
The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counterweight snapped the lever up and turned off the valve.
[4] An English bookseller, Richard Carlile, devised a newspaper dispensing machine for the dissemination of banned works in 1822.
[5] The first modern coin-operated vending machines were introduced in London, England, in the early 1880s, dispensing postcards.
The machine was invented by Percival Everitt in 1883 and soon became a widespread feature at railway stations and post offices, dispensing envelopes, postcards, and notepaper.
Also at about that time in England, Dixon Henry Davies and inventor John Mensy Tourtel patented a coin-operated reading lamp for use on trains and founded the Railway Automatic Electric Light Syndicate, Ltd.
It set up separate companies in various territories to manufacture vending machines to sell not just chocolate, but cigarettes, matches, chewing gum, and soap products.
For instance, the hot food vending machine sector is valued at $4.8 billion and is seeing significant growth as robotics companies introduce automated solutions for dispensing pasta, burgers, and groceries.
The broader fresh food vending segment is projected to reach $8 billion by 2029, offering consumers more options for nutritious and convenient meals and snacks.
The success of such machines is predicated on the assumption that the customer will be honest (hence the nickname "honor box"), and need only one copy.
Typically these machines are used to provide coins in exchange for paper currency, in which case they are also often known as bill changers.
In the past, cigarettes were commonly sold in the United States through these machines, but this is increasingly rare due to concerns about underage buyers.
[citation needed] Sometimes a pass has to be inserted in the machine to prove one's age before a purchase can be made.
Larger corporations with cafeterias will often request full line vending to supplement their food service.
[17] A photo booth is a vending machine or modern kiosk that contains an automated, usually coin-operated, camera and film processor.
[20][21][22] The typical transaction consists of a user using the display interface to select the type and quantity of tickets and then choosing a payment method of either cash, credit/debit card or smartcard.
Vending extended increasingly into non-traditional areas like electronics, or even artwork[23] or short stories.
[32] The Biblio-Mat is a random antiquarian book vending machine located at The Monkey's Paw bookstore in Toronto, Canada.
[41][42] The machine combines water, flour, tomato sauce, and fresh ingredients to make a pizza in approximately three minutes.
[45] From the 1950s until the 1970s, vending machines were used at American airports to sell life insurance policies covering death, in case the buyer's flight crashed.
[46] However, this practice gradually disappeared due to the tendency of American courts to strictly construe such policies against their sellers, such as the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York (which later became part of CNA Financial).
[47] The marijuana vending machine originally found a niche market for selling or dispensing cannabis.
[48] The first experiments in distributing marijuana through vending machines started in the early 2010s, when they were already in use in the United States[49] and Canada.
[50][51] The primary challenge faced in selling restricted or controlled merchandise like cannabis[52] is to verify the identity of the buyer, which is overcome by the application of biometrics and smart vending software technology, the same technology used to verify the buyer's age in the automatic sales of tobacco.
They are placed in various public areas by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the Christmas and holiday season.
[60][61][62] Regarding the development of advanced technology, Japanese vending machines provide more services by selling different kinds of products.
[63][64] Convenience, low cost of running, security, and stability seem to be the main reasons for Japan to invest in vending machines.
[68] In 2024, it was reported that a sizeable portion of the vending machines in Japan would require updates to their acceptors in order to accept the new designs for the Japanese yen banknotes that were due to be released that year.
Newer technologies at a lower cost of adoption, such as the large digital touch display, internet connectivity, cameras and various types of sensors, more cost-effective embedded computing power, digital signage, various advanced payment systems, and a wide range of identification technology (NFC, RFID, etc.)
Integrated sensors and cameras also represent a source of such data as customer demographics, purchase trends, and other locality-specific information.
