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From The Pages of History – Vending Machines in 1947

A popular astronomer made an interesting remark about history, which is true:

"You have to know the past to understand the present." - Carl Sagan

June 1947: Popular Science, "This Is Where Your Money Goes" - by Herbert Johansen, (photos by W. W. Morris).

But how did the vending machine look in the past, and what did it do for people then? When we think about the vending machine today, we think of machines with robotic arms, credit card acceptors, and LCD screens; a distant cousin to the vending machine of the 1940s. One such article on a vending machine (the craze then was automatic vending) was detailed in the June 1947 edition of Popular Science, written by Herbert Johansen.

The automatic vending machine detailed in the article was advertised as machines that popped corn, mixed drinks (a common precursor to our soft drinks), and provided hot coffee. As well, they were known for providing insurance policies. It notes that the coin operated vending machine took in almost half a billion dollars last year (1946, for reference), and by converting that into our current currency it would be equal to $7 billion dollars today. In addition to this, what about the long list of trendy machines back then? Well they had machines for pinball games, juke boxes, gambling, cigarette, candy and gum to name a few.

Since the coin operated vending machine was paramount, so was the attention surrounding how they accepted money. The news article goes into detail about how vending machines implemented the slug-type coin acceptor, which promised to crack down on lost change, among other things. That slug would accept the coin, if it was verifiable. Otherwise, it would reject it. Thus saving the vending machine operator money.

This is a picture of the popcorn machine in action, and showing the basket filled with freshly popped corn; being lifted and delivered to the bag.

As well, the article talks about how the refrigeration in the vending machine came about in 1927, and since then, there had been some innovations. Particularly,  from an automatic vending machine that was a soda fountain. That machine had all the necessary components to mix soda, and dispense it. Championing the advent of the refrigeration unit, this machine was the first drink vending machine for traditional applications. The machine was known as a soda-dispensing vending machine. In addition, the article shows that with the advent of refrigeration, a new paper-cup type of vending machine application was being introduced. Promising the dynamic delivery of an amazing three-flavor types, the paper cup method was maybe the first of its kind.

This image details an automatic cold drink vending machine (a soda fountain). The various elements of the machine are shown, including the syrup container, and the refrigeration unit. The carbonating unit provided a fresh supply of soda water.

Of course now we use plastic bottles, and aluminum cans. As we see, these innovations in 1947, highlight the industry as one of immense technology adaptation, and profit growth. Even then, the industry was making a large chunk of money, and one could even say that these vending machines were some of the most interesting catalyst's for innovation. We see common things now like the drink vending machines and coffee ones; a comfortable convenience to us. How we got to that point was technology innovation over the years.

Over the course of many decades we have condensed our technology into small devices, and electronics. They dispense our virtual convenience now in large quantities across the globe. Our drink vending machines now are being fitted with more advanced technology such as LCD screens, and touchscreen interfaces, which provide a virtual convenience store of options to the consumer. As well, we are equipping the vending machine with data interfaces, that report all sales and other statistics across the Internet, and back to headquarters. What we can say is that the vending machine is certainly an icon for change, and innovator. After all, they are machines we build based on our technological innovations.

That is just a small piece of the automatic vending industry. We continue to innovate and adapt technology into the vending machine. Now we have machines that can make food, from scratch. We have vending machines that have robotic arms, which are operated by electronics. Even more so, we have changed to environmentally friendly machines; ones that have very small carbon footprints, and ones that operate with zero hydrocarbon emissions. And for the future? Well that is up to our innovators.

Citation: Johansen, Herbert (photos by W. W. Morris). "This Is Where Your Money Goes". Popular Science. Vol. 150: No. 6. Page: 146. June, 1947. - Google Books Link