Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)
Issue: 1936 June - Page 13
Coin -Operated Merchandising Develops'
A New" 'Market For Ice
"
By
EL THOMAS
C
ONCEIVED in a moment of anguish
some six years ago, the idea of sell-
ing ice by means of a coin chute has
united two industries and has opened a new
market for each.
It was in January, 1931, in Los Angeles
that the world's largest vending machine
made its first appearance. January, of all
months, as a time for selling ice! And by
a method the public never before bad tried!
Who on earth would think of such a thing?
Fanciful as the idea may have sounded at
the time, it is just another indication of the
unlimited possibilities of automatic mer-
chandising. The man who foresaw one of
these possibilities and adapted it to his in-
dustry is Maxwell T . Zeigler, who then was
general manager of the Central Ice & Cold
Storage Co. in Los Angeles.
Resting one afternoon on the mahogany
deck of a power boat he is building at his
Huntington Park home in his spare time,
"Max" Zeigler quietly told THE REVIEW
the story of how and why he invented the
largest vending machine ever put into prac-
You see, in addition to having an effi-
cient and attractive storage depot that would
deliver a 25 -pound cake of ice for each 15-
seemed comparatively simple. Was it worth
that much? Let's examine the actual oper-
ation of ice vending stations and see for
WORLD'S LARGEST
tical operation.
"Doq House" Competition
"Well, I was mad," he explained. " I
saw what cash and carry stations - 'dog
houses' we called them-and price wars
were doing to the ice business. I decided I
was going to find some new way for Cen-
tral to merchandise ice and to do it up
right.
"The cash and carry stations were wet
and messy affairs and required attendants.
These depots were unsanitary and the mer-
chandise was inconvenient for the public to
carry-not to mention the loss by melting.
So in July, 1930, I started to figure out
plans for a refrigerated vending station op-
erated by coin chute mechanism. Six months
later we were all ready to go, and that's all
there was to it."
But that isn't all there was to it. Manu-
facturers and operators of all other types of
merchandising equipment now in such pop-
ular use know of the work and expense that
have gone into the perfection of each prod-
uct. So the magnitude of the job of devel-
oping a refrigerated ice vending unit 10
feet high and 8 feet square is readily appre-
ciated. And that's a small part of the whole
system!
JUNE.
1936
VENDOR - c:oin-c:ontrolled.
Yes. folks , here au~omatic
is one of i.ce-
90
vendlnq machines In operahon
in Pacific Coast cities. The coin chute increased the market for ice 65 per cent,
provinq the principle of automatic vendinq is practical even with a $3000 machine
like this one.
cent combination of coins inserted in the
control chute, there was the problem of
keeping the merchandise in condition dur-
ing transit to the home ice box.
Packaqinq the Product
. Packaging was the thing-but the cost of
cartons was prohibitive. So Zeigler went to
work on the paper problem and devised a
water-proof wax paper. Now how to wrap
the ice efficiently and economically? Manu-
facturers of packaging machines could not
fi ll the bill. One had a machine that might
be adapted, but it cost $17,000 and wasn't
guaranteed to do the work. More figuring
went on in the inventive Zeigler mind. The
result was a machine that saws up 300-
pound blocks of ice into 25-pound cubes
and shoots them along a portable conveyor
to a wrapping device that fits the paper
closely and glues it in a single operation.
And still another problem remained-
how to get the packaged ice to the vending
station without depreciAtion. This required
refrigerated trucks.
No wonder it took $100,000 to develop
to a practicable degree an idea that at first
ourselves.
Each neighborhood in Los Angeles has a
coin-operated ice depot conveniently located
for drive-in service. There are 57 of these
stations in metropolitan Los Angeles, 38 of
them owned by Central Ice & Cold Storage
Co., which was purchased a year and a half
ago from the Zeigler interests, and 19
owned by the Union Ice Co. Other Pacific
Coast cities in which they are being oper-
ated include San Diego, Phoenix, Portland
and many others.
Selectinq Locations
Selection of locations naturally is impor-
tant. They must be centrally situated and
accessible to a residential district. There
must be space for automobiles to be driven
up and parked, and for refrigerator trucks
to refill the units. Some of the best loca-
tions include drive-in markets, areas adjoin-
ing chain stores, parking lots and gasoline
stations. Locations are leased under vari-
ous arrangements, some on a flat rental
basis and others on commission. One loca-
tion owner who was paid 50 cents out of
each $12 retail ton of ice received $65 in
COIN MACHINE
REVIEW
•
IS
A New" 'Market For Ice
"
By
EL THOMAS
C
ONCEIVED in a moment of anguish
some six years ago, the idea of sell-
ing ice by means of a coin chute has
united two industries and has opened a new
market for each.
It was in January, 1931, in Los Angeles
that the world's largest vending machine
made its first appearance. January, of all
months, as a time for selling ice! And by
a method the public never before bad tried!
Who on earth would think of such a thing?
Fanciful as the idea may have sounded at
the time, it is just another indication of the
unlimited possibilities of automatic mer-
chandising. The man who foresaw one of
these possibilities and adapted it to his in-
dustry is Maxwell T . Zeigler, who then was
general manager of the Central Ice & Cold
Storage Co. in Los Angeles.
Resting one afternoon on the mahogany
deck of a power boat he is building at his
Huntington Park home in his spare time,
"Max" Zeigler quietly told THE REVIEW
the story of how and why he invented the
largest vending machine ever put into prac-
You see, in addition to having an effi-
cient and attractive storage depot that would
deliver a 25 -pound cake of ice for each 15-
seemed comparatively simple. Was it worth
that much? Let's examine the actual oper-
ation of ice vending stations and see for
WORLD'S LARGEST
tical operation.
"Doq House" Competition
"Well, I was mad," he explained. " I
saw what cash and carry stations - 'dog
houses' we called them-and price wars
were doing to the ice business. I decided I
was going to find some new way for Cen-
tral to merchandise ice and to do it up
right.
"The cash and carry stations were wet
and messy affairs and required attendants.
These depots were unsanitary and the mer-
chandise was inconvenient for the public to
carry-not to mention the loss by melting.
So in July, 1930, I started to figure out
plans for a refrigerated vending station op-
erated by coin chute mechanism. Six months
later we were all ready to go, and that's all
there was to it."
But that isn't all there was to it. Manu-
facturers and operators of all other types of
merchandising equipment now in such pop-
ular use know of the work and expense that
have gone into the perfection of each prod-
uct. So the magnitude of the job of devel-
oping a refrigerated ice vending unit 10
feet high and 8 feet square is readily appre-
ciated. And that's a small part of the whole
system!
JUNE.
1936
VENDOR - c:oin-c:ontrolled.
Yes. folks , here au~omatic
is one of i.ce-
90
vendlnq machines In operahon
in Pacific Coast cities. The coin chute increased the market for ice 65 per cent,
provinq the principle of automatic vendinq is practical even with a $3000 machine
like this one.
cent combination of coins inserted in the
control chute, there was the problem of
keeping the merchandise in condition dur-
ing transit to the home ice box.
Packaqinq the Product
. Packaging was the thing-but the cost of
cartons was prohibitive. So Zeigler went to
work on the paper problem and devised a
water-proof wax paper. Now how to wrap
the ice efficiently and economically? Manu-
facturers of packaging machines could not
fi ll the bill. One had a machine that might
be adapted, but it cost $17,000 and wasn't
guaranteed to do the work. More figuring
went on in the inventive Zeigler mind. The
result was a machine that saws up 300-
pound blocks of ice into 25-pound cubes
and shoots them along a portable conveyor
to a wrapping device that fits the paper
closely and glues it in a single operation.
And still another problem remained-
how to get the packaged ice to the vending
station without depreciAtion. This required
refrigerated trucks.
No wonder it took $100,000 to develop
to a practicable degree an idea that at first
ourselves.
Each neighborhood in Los Angeles has a
coin-operated ice depot conveniently located
for drive-in service. There are 57 of these
stations in metropolitan Los Angeles, 38 of
them owned by Central Ice & Cold Storage
Co., which was purchased a year and a half
ago from the Zeigler interests, and 19
owned by the Union Ice Co. Other Pacific
Coast cities in which they are being oper-
ated include San Diego, Phoenix, Portland
and many others.
Selectinq Locations
Selection of locations naturally is impor-
tant. They must be centrally situated and
accessible to a residential district. There
must be space for automobiles to be driven
up and parked, and for refrigerator trucks
to refill the units. Some of the best loca-
tions include drive-in markets, areas adjoin-
ing chain stores, parking lots and gasoline
stations. Locations are leased under vari-
ous arrangements, some on a flat rental
basis and others on commission. One loca-
tion owner who was paid 50 cents out of
each $12 retail ton of ice received $65 in
COIN MACHINE
REVIEW
•
IS
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