Marty Davis, age 14, of Watertown, N.Y., for his question:
WHEN WAS THE FIRST VENDING MACHINE MADE?
A vending machine today is a device that dispenses a product or service when money is put into it. But the world's first vending machine was probably one in a Greek temple in Alexandria, Egypt. It was built in the 200s B.C. and was used for dispensing holy water.
The first vending machines used in the United States were chewing gum dispensers and they appeared on New York City train platforms in the late 1880s. Cigarette vending machines first appeared in the 1920s.
Since the 1930s, vending machines have developed into a major industry in the United States and Canada. By the 1960s, it had become an industry bringing in more than $3 billion a year.
Vending machines now dispense many types of merchandise. Perhaps the most popular are the candy and soft drink machines.
Many schools, hospitals and businesses use special types of vending machines in their lunchrooms. These machines dispense hot and cold drinks, soup, sandwiches, complete hot meals and ail types of desserts, including ice cream.
Vending machines in airports sell air travel insurance.
Coin operated washing machines, clothes dryers and dry cleaning machines are popular service vending machines.
With some types of vending machines, the user must insert the exact change before the machine will operate. With others, the user can insert a coin larger than the purchase price. The machine will then refund the proper amount of change along with the item.
Some vending machines, known as currency changers, will even accept paper money and make proper change. Some machines can distinguish between bills of different denominations. They return the proper amount of change for each denomination that they can accept.
The vending machine industry is made up of three different groups: the manufacturing companies, the operating companies and the companies that supply the products that are sold in the vending machines.
The manufacturers produce the machines. They also have research departments that are constantly looking for ways to produce machines that might be used for hard to vend items of merchandise.
The operating companies place the vending machines in suitable locations and keep them stocked and in proper working order. Operating companies usually pay a fee to the owner of the location where a machine is placed for the use of his space. The fee paid to the owner of the location is based usually on the sales that the vending machine makes.
There are many types of coin machines in addition to vending machines. Included are juke boxes that play music on phonograph records.
A penny arcade includes many coin machines, such as pinball machines, that are gathered in one place and used for amusement.