9 Vintage Vending Machines From a Time When They’d Sell Anything

pitch machines did n’t always just sling soda and smokes . Did you know the automated pedlar have been around for about two thousand eld ? In fact , thevery firstvending car was devise by first - century mathematician Hero of Alexandria to parcel out holy urine using a serial publication of valve , pulley-block , and weights . And they ’ve been stuffed with just about anything you could imagine since .

It was n’t until after the Industrial Revolution that huckster machines became a normal sight . The first ones , which sold postcards , appeared in London in the eighties . Then in 1888 , they traveled across the Atlantic to New York City , where machines work up by Thomas Adams Gum Company peddled chewing gum on metro platforms .

We ’ve been buying all kinds of thing from machines ever since , from whiskey to spicy meals to fruits , and all kinds of intellectual nourishment and oddities in between . Here are some of our favorites .

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In 1918, when vending machines were still a recent phenomenon, they dispensed pies. Today’s vending machines should take a hint.

In that same year, vending machines would give you a manicure.

This 1953 machine was ancestor to the modern Great Wall Super Buffet.

figure of speech mention : Life

In 2013, you can’t really imagine a hot meal from a vending machine tasting like anything but warm cardboard, but in 1953? Probably still cardboard, according to this hot meal patron’s expression.

It’s safe to assume that the reason we don’t see farm fresh eggs straight from the vending machine is that eggs crack.

icon course credit : Central Press

The Book-o-Matic is just as good an idea now as it was when it existed in 1949.

Vendo was the company that made all the vending machines, so naturally its lunchroom was stocked with vending machines that sold anything you could want to eat.

ikon credit : VintageVending

Some machines were healthier than others, like the 1950 apple shilling Fruit-o-Matic.

Flying in 1955 was much riskier and less commonplace. So vending machines for flight insurance were a fine way to capitalize on that.

range of a function credit : Getty / Carl Iwasaki

huckster machine

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In 1918, when vending machines were still a recent phenomenon, they dispensed pies. Today’s vending machines should take a hint.#

In that same year, vending machines would give you a manicure.#

This 1953 machine was ancestor to the modern Great Wall Super Buffet.#

In 2013, you can’t really imagine a hot meal from a vending machine tasting like anything but warm cardboard, but in 1953? Probably still cardboard, according to this hot meal patron’s expression.#

It’s safe to assume that the reason we don’t see farm fresh eggs straight from the vending machine is that eggs crack.#

The Book-o-Matic is just as good an idea now as it was when it existed in 1949.#

Vendo was the company that made all the vending machines, so naturally its lunchroom was stocked with vending machines that sold anything you could want to eat.#

Some machines were healthier than others, like the 1950 apple shilling Fruit-o-Matic.#

Flying in 1955 was much riskier and less commonplace. So vending machines for flight insurance were a fine way to capitalize on that.#

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