Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Today, vending machines are an ordinary sight in offices, hospitals, subway stations, and other high-traffic locations, offering everything from snacks and drinks to fresh meals with the tap of a card. But the idea of purchasing a product without interacting with a seller is far from modern. The first known automated dispensing device was designed in Roman Egypt by a Greek engineer and mathematician named Hero of Alexandria.

The automated device served as a tool to ration goods and prevent theft without requiring regulation by a temple attendant. Heron’s coin-operated machine was intended to distribute holy water in Egyptian temples using a balance-and-lever mechanism. When someone dropped a coin into a slot at the top of the machine, it landed on a small metal plate attached to a lever.

The weight of the coin pulled the lever down, which in turn pulled open a valve connected to a sealed water container and allowed water to flow from the spout. As the plate tilted from the weight and the coin slid off into a collection box, a counterweight snapped the lever back into place, closing the valve and stopping the water flow until the next coin was inserted. Hero’s “Sacrificial Vessel which flows only when Money is introduced.” Vending machine technology did not advance until centuries after his invention.

Hero’s works, compiled in his book Pneumatica, were not widely reintroduced or translated in Europe until the Renaissance. Medieval Europe also relied heavily on barter, local markets, and feudal labor; therefore, there were not enough standard coins in circulation to make automated machines practical. It was not until 1615 England that vending machines began appearing in pubs and taverns to sell snuff and tobacco.

However, the design was less complex than Hero’s. By inserting a coin, the box fully opened and customers were able to take out as much tobacco as they wanted without regulation. Another small-scale use of automated machines was in 1822, when a publisher named Richard Carlile used a newspaper-dispensing machine to circulate banned political texts to avoid face-to-face sales.

In 1883, English inventor Percival Everitt patented a commercial vending machine for postcards, envelopes, and stationery, which appeared in locations such as railway stations and post offices. Sweetmeat Automatic Delivery Company, formed in 1887, became the first business dedicated to installing and operating vending machines. The invention came to the United States in 1886 when inventor Frederick C.

Lynde patented a vending machine used to sell postcards. However, the first successful vending operation in America was started in 1888 by Thomas Adams. Through the Adams Gum Company, the inventor installed gum vending machines on New York City railway platforms.

Lynde’s patent for his vending apparatus. Vending machines continued to grow more widespread through the 20th century. In 1926, the American inventor William Rowe invented the cigarette vending machine, which were popular until the 1980s, when health groups began pushing stricter laws regarding smoking restrictions for minors.

Candy became another common product sold through vending machines due to its long shelf life and high profit margins. In 1907, the first gumball machine was introduced by the Pulver Manufacturing Company, gaining immediate commercial success. This cigarette machine in England dispensed one lit cigarette for the equivalent of a penny, 1931.

Soda vending machines emerged as a new technology in the early 1900s, dispensing up to ten distinct flavors of the beverage. The drinks were poured into a glass or tin cup provided by the vendor. Due to health concerns, some ...