Automatic Age

T he A
u t o m a t ic
77
A ge
LORE OF AN CIENT A N D MODERN
V EN D IN G M ACHINES
The Kalyptol Products Company,
of Newark, N. J., issue a house organ
called the Vendor which is used to
promote the sale of their toilet article
venders seen in hotel bath rooms.
They published the following in their
last issue:
In trying to garner information
relative to the early use of vend­
ing machines we are in receipt of
a very interesting letter from The
Automatic Age under date of May
10th a portion of which we quote
below.
“ Youi’s of the seventh received
and you are handing us a man­
sized job. To tell the story of the
first Vending Machine in the his­
tory of the world would probably
be beyond us.
“ In all likelihood there were
some coin-controlled machines in
the centuries of the Roman civil­
ization, as coins were extensively
used in those times.
“ The Library of Alexandria,
which was destroyed by Omar the
Caliph during the Mohammaden
ascendency in the fifth century A.
D., was more of a mechanical mu­
seum and patent office than a li­
brary. We have fairly authentic
information that the so-called li­
brary contained models of a steam­
boat very similar to those used by
Robert Fulton. They also had
models of engineering appartus of
various kinds, such as were used
in the erection of the pyramids,
three to five thousand years ago.
“ The destruction of the library
of Alexandria, despite the ad­
mitted greatness of Omar the
Conquerer, was one of the great­
est crimes perpetrated against
mankind. It destroyed and oblit­
erated an untold amount of the
world's knowledge gained up to
that time.
“ In modem times there was a
vending machine made to vena
plug tobacco 100 years ago. We
have before us now a clipping
that tells of the first scale machine
© International Arcade Museum
in America, which was a nickle
machine used at St, Johnsbuiy,
Vt., brought to this country by an
Englishman named Percival Eber-
itt, in 1885. Scales, however, had
been used in England before that.
“ An old timer recently told us
that the first slot machine in
America was invented by Charles
Fey, 585 Mission St., San Francis­
co, California. That was 35 years
ago.”
We certainly thank Mr. Light­
ner for this very edifying letter.
Inventor Holds Slot
Machines are Honest
Kenton, Ohio.— Judge Hamilton E.
Hoge, of. the Hardin County Court of
Common Pleas, has taken under con­
sideration the suit filed by Joseph
Carpenter, inventor, in which he asks
that the court enjoin city officials
from seizing certain slot machines
which he has placed in numerous
Kenton pool rooms.
The injunction suit was heard Sat­
urday. Officials in seizing the ma­
chines have declared them a gamb­
ling devise. Police Chief O. D. Shel­
don and Safety Director B. D. James
are named defendants.
Carpenter, who says he is the in­
ventor, declared in his petition that
merchandise is returned for every
coin deposited and that the player
never stands to lose. Therefore, he
holds, his machine is not a gambling
device.
Ice skates
bones of cattle
century B. C.,
tened on one
and perforated
thongs.
fashioned from the
were used in the fifth
each bone being flat­
side along its length
to admit leather ankle
http://www.arcade-museum.com/