T h e A u t o m a t ic
A ge
13
TR EASU R E T R O V E
W ritten for the Automatic Age
By W IL S O N H. P IL E
Is there adventure in the vending
business? I ’ll say there is. Never a
machine do I unlock without the
chance o f a pleasant surprise. My
machines are the penny ball gum ma
chines, and in them I find many a
Tare treasure. Ten cent pieces! How
nice. Trolley tokens— Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Wilmington, Washington.
I don’t mean handfuls o f them, but
occasional ones just dropped in to
surprise me. I feel sure that some
day I -win find a $2.50 gold piece.
Alas, a nickel or a five dollar gold
piece will not go through my ma
chines. But these are not my real
treasures.
sales, and to make them the subject
o f your interests and amusement does
not bring in any more than if you
iave at each old substitute fo r real
money.
Mint Machines Illegal
in New York
The appellate division o f the su
preme court a t Rochester, N. Y., has
unanimously held that the operation
o f five-cent mint slot machines is
illegal.
In holding the machines illegal, the
appellate division confirmed the con
viction o f Edward Decker o f Syra
I
have a box in which I put a sam cuse fo r illegal operation o f one o f
the machines. It, was a test case.
ple o f every kind o f slug, tin tag, or
Decker was convicted in October,
what not that comes my way. Some
day I ’m going to mount them on a
1923, and fined $250.
card.
Perhaps the “ A U T O M A T IC
A G E ” might pi’int a picture o f the
collection, but now I must content
myself with describing just a few of
these choice treasures. W ell, there
From C. C. Hawes, 1137 Vine
are iron and brass washers— no ro
street, Philadelphia, Pa., we received
mance about them, so we will pass
an illustrated article clipped from a
them b y; Canadian pennies that I
newspaper showing the large money
Send to my little nephew in Buffalo;
used in the Isle o f Yap. Their ten
foreign coppers o f all countries (even
cent pieces is a large round stone, 20
Chinese and Turkish ones) that go
inches in diameter with a hole chipped
t° a certain boy’s coin collection. But
through it. Apparently one does not
the choice pieces, the real surprises
have to carry much money however,
that please me and that I like to show
as a ten cent piece will buy a chicken.
to my friends are watch wheels, pearl
The Isle o f Y ap would not be a very
buttons, the Lord’s prayer on a tiny
profitable place to operate vending
hronze coin only to be read with a
machines.
magnifying glass, church medals,
Sunday school pins, confirmation
medals, top o f a Yale key, tiddle-de-
'vinks, a little tin spoon from a penny
The Madison Tool & Stamping
hokey pokey candy, a nicely rounded
Company, Madison, Wis., is putting
Piece o f macaroni, movie admissions,
out a new series o f match, gum and
high school lunch checks, “ good fo r
mint vendors, umler the trade name
?c in trade” etc., and so on. In clos-
o f “ Rushour” venders.
These ma
lng let me advise others never to fret
chines ai’e light weight, but well con
about these mementos. They form a
structed and made fo r busy routes,
trifling fraction o f the usual run of
both indoor and outside locations.
No Place for
Vending Machines
A New Machine
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