16
T he A
u t o m a t ic
A ge
is the absence of data as to the av
erage life of such machines. The fac
tor of amortization is still uncertain
in the case of many of those, such as
the New York subway turnstiles,
which have been introduced directly
as a means of reducing the number
o f human aids that are required.
The machines themselves range
from very simple arrangements, with
few moving parts that are not likely
to get out of order easily, to very
complicated affairs that require the
services of a skilled mechanic when
they get out of order. In the case of
the automatic photographer previous
ly referred to, the device even in
cludes an ingenious arrangement of
heating and cooling equipment which
keeps the films automatically within
a very narrow range of temperature.
Servicing of these slot machines must
be provided for,' although the ingenu
ity of the inventors is steadily re
ducing the amount of attention which
they require.
Estimating the importance of the
automatic vending machine in the
commercial world requires a large
amount of guess work, on the basis
of a little tangible information. A c
cording to the AUTOMATIC AGE,
there are 130 manufacturers of coin
operated machines in the United
States, including both vending and
amusement devices. Their production
has been estimated as upwards of
$30,000,000 a year in value.
Allowing an average of 50 cents
a day as the average taking per ma
chine, the half million machines now
believed to be in operation will ac
count for a turnover of better than
$91,000,000 a year, which is a tidy
sum for such a little considered sales
man as the coin machine. Of course,
if one were to include telephone tolls
and carfares collected through the
© International Arcade Museum
Spelling discouragem ent for the hat and °
h»t
th ief is the new device shewn at the
is rlascd over the raised disk m irror in tn®
|jcc
and the hinged ring is allow rd to drop ,n £ajn '*
around the brim .
For an overcoat, the
j,y >
slipped through the right sleeve, and fasteneohat in
Plug at its end, to the coin box (just bolovV4(u, to3;
above p h oto).
This locks the ring over _• ^glit
brim and secures the coat.
The key a t trie t|,e
o f the coin b -x is then rem oved.
To •T _Vted
apparrl, the key is reinserted and a coin ins j
the slot, perm itting the key to be turnc0.
media of coin-operated mechanis111®’
the total would be very much g?e& ^
It is also estimated that some
000 persons obtain their livelih0^
through operating and servicing
machines. A common practice Is
place a number of machines, rang1*1
from 50 to as many as a thousand
under an operator who makes his
^
ular rounds to collect the takings* &
plenish supplies, and keep the m®c
anism in order. In some cases rou
of as many as 10,000 machines &
T
known, but these require somethin
more than a one-man organization’
Significant of the trend toWaI^
greater use o f the automatic sale&
man was the recent announce^6
that the Remington Arms Company
had bought out the Universal Sa
Company, of Boston, one of the lar#®
makers of automatic selling devic®5
At that time President Smiley
Remington Company stated that *
surface has not been scratched in *
automatic field.”
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