C.O.C.A. Times

Issue: 2011-July - Vol 16 Num 2

.0.€.A. GJ.IM t
3712 W. SCENIC AVE., MEQUON, WISCONSIN 53092
Phone: (262) 242-31 31 OR E-mail: Bedvibr8or@aol.com
In this Issue.·
It has been a busy spring season for your association. Our web site committee,
headed by Bi ll Petrochuk, is working full speed to create and insta ll a new site for
our use. Bill advises he and the committee hope to install many improvements to our
site, includ ing but not limited to a larger non-member area to attract new members,
an abi lity for new members to complete a form and pay their dues via Pay Pa l, a new
classified ad section that anyone can read or post an ad on (with on ly COCA mem-
bers being able to view the contact information) and a host of other betterments.
In addition, our Chicagoland show meeting in April was well attended and those who
came enjoyed some great food and a wonderful presentation on the history of ABT
Corporation by Roger Hilden.
Craig and Doreen Bierman are working hard to make the upcoming COCA 2011
Convention a memorable one. The convention will be held in Houston , Texas on
'September 16, 17 and 18, 2011. Details, including registration and hotel information
are available on the COCA web site.
The upcoming fall 2011 show meeting will include a trip to Jasper's the evening of
Friday, November 11th, so plan to attend if you can. If you are going to stay at the
St. Charles Hilton Garden Inn, please remember to make your room reservations with
the hotel itself (630-584-0700) if possible and tell them you are a COCA member
when making the reservation . It is also a good idea to remind them of your COCA
membership when checking in and out. The association will then get credit for your
room nights, which helps us negotiate better deals for COCA members .
In my Spring, 2011 President's letter, I reminded everyone that our association is
always looking for ways to grow. This growth brings new people into our hobby,
which benefits your association and benefits all of us as collectors and/or dealers. As
an example, David Cook and I were pleased to host the Antique Toy Collectors of
America (ATCA) convention in our homes earlier this spring. We each had two full
bus loads of ATCA members enjoy our collections and we hope to convert some of
their members to COCA members. They were in awe of the variety of coin operated
machines that are available to collect and really felt that our hobby is closely related
to theirs.
Last but not least, I want to remind everyone that our association is what we make
it. The benefits of COCA membership are provided to all members through the hard
work and dedication of the associations directors, officers, committees and a host of
volunteers. Our officer elections will be held at the November meeting and we are
currently without candidates for the positions of treasurer and recording secretary.
If you are interested in serving in one of those positions, please call or e·mail me at
your earliest opportunity. The individuals now occupying those positions are subject
to term limits and cannot run again. In addition, we are in need of cover and other
articles for the COCA Times Magazine. If you have any coin op stories, adventures,
research or other materials and pictures that we can use in the magazine, please con-
tact Randy Razzoog or me.
l hope to see you at the 2011 convention in Houston and at Jasper 's in November.
Erick Johnson
COCA President
602.370.6775
erickjohnson@cox.net
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• The Gravity Vendor
( cover story)
by Roger Smith ....................... 4
• Tales of the Hunt -Buckley Bones
by Jack Hamilton ................. 10
• O.D. Jennings Scale
by Jim & Meryln Collings .... 12
• Humpty Dumpty
by Bill Howard .................... 15
• Morphy' s Auction/Bob Levy
.................................... 16& 17
• The Odd Hod Clod
by John Peterson .................. 18
• Chicago land - Spring 2011
by Jack Kelly ..................... 22
• Another Lucky Ducky Find
by Johnny Duckworth .......... 26
• Fair Weigh Golf Scale
by Bill Howard ..................... 28
DEADLINE FOR
NEXT ISSUE:
August 12, 2011
The Nuts and Bolts of the
Simplest Vendor
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t-
a.a ···
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Roger Smith
The Story of the Gravity Vendor
All collectors have had a 'frozen' machine whose vending wheel has become rusted and inoperable or a
coin mechanism that refuses to recognize a coin and release the chain of events that leads to vending the
product. Over the many years that vendors have vied for the loose change of shoppers, a myriad of mecha-
nisms have been invented, patented, and produced to detect a coin and deliver a product. These have ranged
from simple mechanisms where the coin provides a missing link in the chain of forces or events to free the de-
vice, to those that use other elements to detect the presence of the required coin and unlock the prize. It
seems the more complex the mechanism, the more opportunities for problems. While many of these vendors
use the forces of gravity, no vendor has ever harnessed this force in the same or more elegantly simple way
than the vendor that has no moving parts; the Gravity Vendor.
The story of the Gravity Vendor and its inventor leads us to an inventing polymath from Chicago, Illinois, and
the turn of the last century when vending and chewing gum were undergoing dramatic changes in popularity
and form.
An Era for Invention
any level of com-
mercial adoption
The turn of the last century was a time of almost
was
the British
explosive innovation, invention and optimism. Chi-
Honor Box. This
cago's White City created for the 1893 World's Co-
early
vendor made
lumbian Exposition had demonstrated that America
its appearance in the
could compete with
pubs of England and was the first vendor to enjoy
Europe in industrial
both wide distribution and a degree of longevity.
strength, artistic
Designed
to dispense pipe tobacco, this brass ven-
expression and
dor relied on the "honor" of the patron to take only
originality. Opti-
the amount paid for, to re-close the access door un-
mism and a robust
locked by the coin and to pass it to the next patron.
economy had re-
In the United States, the early vending industry is
sulted in disposable
often
traced to the vendors introduced to the ele-
income, creating
vated railroads of New York City to sell Adams' new
the first real "con-
chicle-based chewing gum and to the grow-
sumers." Vending machines flt nicely
DON'T FAIL,
ing number of cigar vendors that made
into this era of optimism providing nov-
~
their
appearance in shops across the coun-
elty, convenience and commodities on
·"';
=
Am■anc
Cuwi,a-lu■
IICIII(,
try.
Novel,
always on duty, and guaranteed
demand, and were featured novelties at
mnl,rne C Orop • nk:kel In the Slot , pull dr• wer,
fairs and exhibitions around the country.
Arguably, the first vendor to achieve
::::.:~:;;::.:~~:::.~:~·:n:::~~-= not to steal the proceeds of a sale from
:.:.: ::~:::;; .. :°'.::.:::;:mKhl.... the store owner, vending machines caught
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