The first vending machine was actually on the drawing board of the mathematician Hero, who featured among other inventions, what is believed to be the first vending machine! It was a coin-actuated mechanism that dispensed holy water. In 50 BC in ancient Rome, the operator of a health club (public bath) placed a basket at the entrance of the establishment and the customers inserted coins at the top of the basket through a coin opening. What would prevent anyone from stealing the coins? The clever operator placed snakes at the bottom of the basket! However it was in 1076 AD that the first coin operated pencil machine was invented in China. By the 1700�s coin operated tobacco boxes were popping up all over England in the taverns.

So when did vending make its debut in the USA? Most of us would not remember.
It was in the 1880�s when Tutti-Frutti gum vending machines (created by The Thomas
Adams Company) could be seen in New York train stations. However, in 1902, the first completely coin operated restaurant, Horn & Hardart, was opened and operated in Philadelphia. In fact, that vending operation remained functional till the 1960�s.

The first coffee vending machine was introduced during this time to keep the workers in
the big manufacturing plants awake, which gave a whole new meaning to the term, �coffee break�. The 1950�s resulted in a population explosion (Baby Boomers) and the increased use of vending which had flourished and diversified extensively. If only I had bought stock in the companies that were pioneering new works of wonder in vending at that time�but alas, I was only a little boy then! However, I was old enough to see the introduction of the cup and canned beverage vending machines creeping into our schools, hospitals, work places and recreation centers by the 1960�s.