patent drawings (leading to the left side of the ma-
chine). Also of interest is the fact that all three
known versions have very different coin entries,
varying from a simple raised slit, to a decorative es-
cutcheon, and finally to a warded open slot.
shirt waists (blouses), patents for
parts of mail marking machines (that
were eventually acquired by and im-
proved upon by Arthur Pitney of
Pitney-Bowes postage meter fame),
differential gears and mechanical
clutches. The only vending patents
issued to Woodward came in 1903 and 1907.
The 1907 vendor patent (patent No. 867,545)
dealt with a fairly traditional column vendor for tab
gum or chocolates. The intent of the patent, as
stated by Woodward, was to improve the reliability
of the coin-mechanism, and to do so in a device that
could be made inexpensively from sheet metal.
Many aspects of this patent are very similar to the
1 904 patents issued for the Combination Vendor
made by the Combination Vending Company of Penn
Yan, New York. There was nothing in
Woodward's patent that reflected even a
fraction of the inventive insight that was
,.,, evident in the 1903 Gravity Vendor pat-
ent. This 1 907 patent was assigned to
the Merchant's Vending Machine Company
of Chicago, Illinois.
The Gravity Vendor, patented in 1903,
was truly unique. Nothing before or since
seems to have used the idea of the ki-
netic energy of the coin to do all of the work of
vending. There were "automatic" vending machines
that required nothing more from the user than the
insertion of the correct coin. These machines all
re lied on stored energy in the form of a spring that
drove a clockwork mechanism
freed by the insertion of the coin.
As we have seen above, in the
gravity vendor the top of the
moving coin does all the work.
Nothing before or since has been
as simple or as foolproof. It was,
in short, an invention for which
A 191 I patent for an "automatic
there appears to have been
vending machine"
no precedence. Why, then,
did this idea not catch on and why are so few of
these machines found today?
There are a number of plausible reasons why these
vendors may have been commercial failures. First,
despite the simplicity of the machine, the gravity
vendor is a finicky machine. Depending on the size
versions, shown here from oldest to newest.
The Inventor
The story of Irving C. Woodward is one of mystery
and invention, dogged focus
nL.~.T~~ j j ~
\./~ •
.,
::.'!!111 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,
and free-ranging ideas. Irving
Woodward was granted pat-
ents for more than 30 inven-
tions spanning almost as many years. The first ref-
erence to Woodward in the United States Patent
Office archives is for a patent covering roller skate
axels issued in 1 885 to W.H. Peterson and M.C. Hen-
ley and witnessed by one Irving Woodward. (It will
probably never be known if this was the young in-
ventor getting his first exposure to the patent proc-
ess or just someone with the same name.) The first
patent issued to Irving C. Woodward
(the Woodward who is the focus of
"' ,:'.:\- '
our interest) was in 1899, when
Woodward lived in Iron Mountain,
Michigan. This first patent was for a
"Nut and Bolt Lock" to prevent nuts
from loosening on their bolts. It fore-
shadowed a lifelong interest that
Woodward seemed to have had with
locking bolts and nuts, going on to obtain nine dif-
ferent patents for similar devices over the years.
Sometime between May 1 898, and November
1900, Woodward moved to Chicago, where he would
remain until about 1922 (when he moved to Syra-
cuse, New York). These early years (to 1907) were
filled with a wide range of ideas and patents that
cover a myriad of seemingly unrelated items. There
were patents for storage bags, a combined inkwell
and pen wiper, toy guns and ways to keep track of
Whist cards. Later patents included a belt for lady's
6