WEBVTT - Invention Playlist 4: The Vending Machine 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:11.959 Hey, welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.520 I'm Joe McCormick, and you might know us from our 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.040 other podcast, Stuff to Blow your mind. But today you 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:23.279 have apparently wandered into our Hall of cursed inventions. Oh wait, 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.760 it's not all cursed inventions. Cursed, you know? I mean 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:28.840 is how some things are perfectly fine inventions. So some 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.360 of them make our lives better, but or they taunt 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.839 you with goods that you could almost reach. Robert, did 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.160 you when you were a kid, did you ever play 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.479 that game? I suppose it was a game, but I 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.040 took it very seriously where you really thought you could 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.879 reach up through the bottom of the vending machine and 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.000 get that food item from the bottom row. I do 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.800 not remember trying too hard at it, because it ultimately 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.480 seemed like there were there were too many risks, both 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.840 both physical and social, because either you are going to 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.280 get your arm caught in there or jammed or pinched. Uh, 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.839 There're just's gonna be some sort of trap or fail safe, 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.080 or you're just gonna be seen doing it and you're 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.760 gonna get in trouble for trying to steal from a 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.640 candy machine. It always seemed like a kind of humiliating. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.360 Homer simpson escalway to die would be you die accidentally 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.800 pulling the vending machine over on top of you while 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.520 you're trying to reach up and grab some andy cap 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.319 hot fries from the bottom row. Exactly. And you know, 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.479 these are two key points though, that we're gonna we're 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.360 gonna come back to again and again in this episode. 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.480 In this episode, we are talking about the vending machine 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:39.520 aka the robot cashier. That's right, So time was back 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.640 in the olden days when you had to either buy 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.120 goods directly from a human salesperson that sounds horrible, or 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.960 you simply had to leave payment after you took off 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.320 with it. And as as far as that payment goes 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.480 prior to the invention of money, which would be have 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.680 to be another episode for us. You'd have to leave 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.480 goods there, and you know, in exchange some sort of 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.240 a barter system. Well, that sounds difficult if you can't 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.760 work out what the exchange rate for what you're bringing is. 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.480 Sor right. In either case though there's a human interaction 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.519 or there's some there's some human judgment on what is fair, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.480 or there's just some sort of an honor system in place, 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.799 or or a human there just to prevent you from stealing. Right, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.120 But then what about a machine that sells goods for you, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.920 something that has become so ubiquitous Now it's fascinated to 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:30.520 think back on on where the shift occurs we get 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.960 into this vending machine territory. Just where does such a 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.799 machine come from? At what point do we cross over 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.720 from machines that are ultimately a little more than honor boxes, 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.400 you know, honor system situations where you're just trusted to 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.360 leave your money and take exactly what you paid for. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.960 And then where do we get into true mechanical sellers. Right. 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.600 The honor box system is what you would often find 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.679 in say a church where they'll be selling prayer candles 0:02:57.800 --> 0:02:59.800 or something like that, and there's a little offering box 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:01.600 and it's like, you know, please put a dollar in 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.840 and don't just take all the candles, and and and Yeah, 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.480 the honor system is enforced by the sacred nature of 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.800 the space and your obligations there. There's a supernatural security 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:14.760 guard in that case. Yeah, you don't have to worry 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.560 about you know, somebody trying to reach their hand in there. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.200 Just make off with all the candles for the most part. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.440 But you really do have to worry about that if 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:27.720 say you want to sell minor food items snack items, 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.040 and say you're running a concession stand at the pool 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.600 side or something like that, and you need to run 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.400 off to put some money in the parking meter. I 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.520 don't know whatever whatever the people maaming those concessions stands 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:40.880 had to do when they put up the sign that 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.040 said be right back. So, so kids are coming, they 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.960 want to buy an ice cream bar or a Snickers 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.440 or something like that, and the goods are just right there. 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.880 Do you trust the children to leave money on the 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.160 counter as they should and take things and take only 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.040 what they've actually paid for. Wouldn't it be better if 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.680 you had a machine that enforced the exchange of currency 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.200 for for payout of items and didn't allow kids to 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:11.000 sneak an extra hot fries here and there. Now, of course, 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.000 that as we're talking about on our boxes here, one 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.400 of the important things to note is that, uh, you 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.680 still find plenty of honor boxes out on the street 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.520 in the form of newspaper on our boxes, oh, the 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.440 newspaper vending machines you put your money in and if 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.560 you wanted yes, you could take all the newspapers. That 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:33.680 would be cumbersome. How often does somebody want more than 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.760 one newspaper though, unless they're like, there's an article about 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.039 them in it, right. But but obviously you could not 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.679 do the same with say a you know, a cola 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.159 machine or chocolate machine. Now, I wonder something that we 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.320 can maybe come back to in a bit, because I 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.960 wonder how the psychology of transaction and the psychology of 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.280 consumer behavior changes when you're dealing with a machine versus 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.200 with a person, Because I think back to my childhood self, 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.640 who you know, I would reach my arm up in 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.520 the machine and see if I could grab whatever, a 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.119 brisk tea out of the drink machine, or grab something 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.000 out of the snack machine. I don't think I was 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.320 ever able to do anything like that, but I would try, 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.719 and I would never do that at even even if 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:20.120 the concession stand attendant was away and I could have 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.440 just reached out and stolen whatever I wanted. I would 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.359 never have done that at a real concession stand that 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:30.119 was not controlled by machine operated mechanisms. It's a different 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.240 scenario entirely. And then at the same time, it's it's 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.520 ultimately not it's still somebody's property that is for sale. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.800 There's still individuals involved in this scenario, and you are 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.479 defrauding them. Well, it felt completely legitimate to try to 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.000 reach into the machine and steal from it in a 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:48.880 way that it wouldn't from a place that had a 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:50.960 human even if they weren't there right now, right, because 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.760 you would have been exploiting a design flaw. Right, Yeah, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.640 I guess so that maybe that makes it okay, it 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:00.320 doesn't to be clear. But but let's go back in 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.159 time a bit. Let's let's look for the roots of 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.880 the vending machine. So I was reading through an excellent 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.719 book on the social history the vending machine titled Vending 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:15.520 Machines on American Social History by Carrie C. Grave and 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.559 uh it points out that the you know, the first 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.599 American vending machines popped up in the eighteen eighties, but 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:25.080 the earliest mention of what we can reasonably describe as 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:29.440 a vending machine is attributed to the Greek inventor Hero 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:34.640 or Heron, the Alexandrian engineer of the first century. See Okay, now, 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:39.200 Hero has tons of inventions attributed to him, right, And 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.320 then the book that the stems from is loaded with 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.000 descriptions of strange devices. So, uh, this the sixty two 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:52.920 c E book Newmatica has descriptions and illustrations of various curios, fountains, 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:57.000 temple gadgets, you know, doors that open due to the 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:01.279 you know, some sort of movement of steam or fire water. Uh, 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.480 with entries like a drinking horn in which a peculiarly 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.159 formed siphon is fixed and uh, water driven from the 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.120 mouth of a wine skin in the hands of a 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.240 satyr by means of compressed air. So a lot of 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.720 curios and marvels toys essentially, So it sounds like he 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.200 designed one of those early on like peeing fountains right exactly, 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.680 you know, which would would would have been technological wonders 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.320 then and are still kind of technological wonders today. But 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.040 where does the vending machine come in. Well, he describes 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:35.320 and illustrates a coin operated device for for selling sacred 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:40.240 water in Egyptian temples. Okay, so the idea is it's 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.040 maybe you don't believe in the honor box system like 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.680 we discussed for buying candles in a church or something. 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:47.760 Maybe you think, well, people are just going to be 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.560 stealing sacred water if we don't make them pay for it, 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:54.920 so you need a machine to enforce that transaction. Well, 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.040 I don't know how much of it was because I 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:58.680 think there is still an honor so I mean, it's 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.080 a temple, right, but maybe there's a sense of let's 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.560 make it a little wondrous, you know, because the number 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:06.680 of these devices are kind of like that, like the 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.880 doors open, uh, you know, as if by sacred magic. 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.360 But of course it's supposedly caused by you know, some 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.119 sort of heat apparatus. But but here's how this device 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.320 would work. You'd insert a five DROPMA coin and the 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.120 coin would tip a balance inside which would lift a 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.640 plug and allow a small amount of water to escape 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.000 and then pour into your chalice or cup or what 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.960 have you. And then once the coin makes its way 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.000 into the collection chamber, the balancer turns and the plug 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.760 goes back into place. Okay, so it sounds like a 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.280 very simple design. You've got like a lever, and when 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.720 the weight of the coin hits one side of the 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.040 lever like a see saw, it lifts the plug up 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.920 and it's kind of like a toilet. Actually, it is 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:51.160 very much like a modern toilet, especially when you when 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.000 you see the illustration, it basically functions like a coin 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.000 operated flush. Uh. And I should also point out that 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.080 say Chakrain also discus us as this in his American 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.880 Scientist article water Fountains with Special Effects from two thousand five. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.679 But it's still certainly benefited from an honor system of sorts. 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:10.800 So you know, the gods are watching, so you're not 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.120 going to try and cheat the machine with, you know, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.160 some sort of a coin on a string or some 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.680 some smooth stones that are just happened to be shaped 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.600 like a five drop mccoin, right, because this was not 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.360 a refined system of judging what had been put into 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.959 the slot. It was basically anything that could push the 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:32.680 lever down. Right. Now, in terms of like who actually 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.160 invented this and whether it was actually Bill, this is 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.040 a little more difficult to to really figure out. It's 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.120 certainly possible that Hero himself was indeed the inventor of 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.520 the device, but we don't know for sure. It might 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.120 have been to Cebious, a reputed inventor of water clocks 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.760 from to seventy b c. Who also would have resided 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.040 in Alexandria. To cbs is water clocks are worth looking 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.320 up by the way, I was looking at some videos 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.120 of how these things worked, and there was some ingenious 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:04.760 design because it's difficult to design a consistent water clock 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.520 that just keeps working the same over time because you 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.080 know your your reservoir tank strained down. So he created 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.640 that these really smart designs with like extra reservoir tanks 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.880 that would pour into your main reservoir tank and then 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:21.640 a siphon to manage how high the water level was 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.400 is really clever. Now, we also don't know if what 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.880 Hero describes here was ever actually built or if it's just, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.840 you know, a novel design. And this is the case 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.080 with a lot of old technological gadgets that you see 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.040 described in books. And then on top of this, some 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:39.840 mentions of this vending machine include embellishments that are difficult 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.760 to nail down or simply don't fit the timeline. But 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.760 it does give us an idea of of what some 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.760 of the earliest, if not the an actual vending machine 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.920 consisted of, then at least the earliest ideas of what 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.280 a vending machine could be. Right, the general principle of 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.960 automating a transaction without just relying on the honor system. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.400 Him on the buyer's part, right, and it's it's kind 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:06.000 of a gradual evolution to get to that point. Uh. However, 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:08.880 as a Seagraft points out, it's gonna be a long 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:13.520 time after after this, uh, this temple device describe a 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.679 hero before we actually get any real advancements in vending 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.680 machine technology. He does point out there there's some For instance, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.840 there's an uncredited nineteen sixty New York Times article that claims, 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.720 among other things, that there was a coin operated pencil 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.240 selling machine in ten seventies six China. You know, I 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.280 was really holding out for that medieval European vending machine 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.840 that you put in a coin and dispenses a piece 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.240 of the true cross. Well, I mean there were certainly 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.360 automatons throughout European history, I guess with the vending machine, 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.839 especially the early days of the vending machine, you're looking 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.800 very for a very particular type of automaton that does something, 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.640 or rather not just does something, uh you know, but 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.960 actually gives some sort of good in exchange, either you know, 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.880 leaks out some sort of valuable lique it or gives 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.400 you a candy bar in exchange for a coin. Because 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.320 we have all matter of amazing automatons of showing up 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:11.480 in European history and everything from pooping ducks to praying monks. 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.280 But to what extent you have things that are actually 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.679 facilitating an exchange of money for goods. All right, we'll 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.280 take a quick break and then when we come back 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:25.640 we will discuss more of the history of the vending machine. 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.720 All right, we're back. So according to Segrave quote, nothing 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:38.079 happened in the vending industry until the seventeenth century, UM, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.480 and that's when you had snuff and tobacco boxes pop 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.280 up in England around sixteen fifteen. And these were definitely 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:50.480 on our system devices, not unlike newspaper boxes and they've 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.040 been They were just filled with various tobacco products instead. 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.480 So it would be kind of like you pay for 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.800 access to them, but you could take as much as 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.720 you wanted, right, Yeah, like you you you pay your money, 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.360 you fill your pipe and you move on. You don't 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.320 fill your pockets, you can just fill your pipe and 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:09.439 then you had you had other instances of early advancements 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:13.040 in the use of vending machine technology. A couple of 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:18.160 centuries later, eighty two, English bookseller Richard Carlisle tried a 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.680 vending machine for books in order to avoid arrest for 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:27.439 selling certain blasphemous publications. And uh wait a minute, Okay, 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:29.800 so he's saying like, I didn't sell it, Yeah, a 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:34.640 machine sold it. Nice. However, he was still held responsible 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.360 and one of his employees was convicted for selling blasphemous 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:41.320 literature via the machine. Uh. Now, it's unknown if the 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.720 thing was truly automatic or this was basically another honor 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.559 box system, but it is kind of one of these 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.800 early examples of who is to blame when a machine 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.120 sells something that is illicit. This is something that has 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.120 fascinated me for a while. I can think of examples, 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.640 not necessarily with selling, but uh, I think about the 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.880 Ariman from several years back, the random Darknet shopper, which 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.720 was this program that people came up with where you 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.720 could load it with some some budget, give it some money, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.600 and then say go a little thing, just go out 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.240 onto the dark web and buy randomly. So you know, 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.840 then they got in trouble because obviously it bought drugs, 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.160 bought whatever kinds of illicit materials. But then they could say, well, 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.000 we didn't tell it to buy drugs. We just gave 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.640 it money and released it into the wild, So how 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.080 can you say we did something illegal? Now, more strides 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.880 were made in the tobacco honor box arena. But the 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.760 next area of exploration and patent in England happened to 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.440 be stamps. Eighteen fifty seven, Simi and Denham applied for 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.440 a patent for a quote self acting machine for the 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.200 delivery of postage and receipt stamps. But it would be 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.880 another thirty years before any real headway was made in 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.520 this area. Now, the first U s patent for a 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.960 vending machine was a liquid distribution machine that actually sounds 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:03.360 a lot like like euros fabulous temple water distributor what 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.760 kind of liquid though? Um, Well, it's interesting when we 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.440 start looking at the like the early distribution of liquids 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.000 in these machines, Like they're essentially fountains that are going 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.080 to uh distribute drinking water such as cold drinking water, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.320 or later it's going to be things like beer. That 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:25.040 makes sense. Now, by the early twentieth century, gum and 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.800 candy machines began taking off. Now, one of the machines 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.560 featured in Sagret's book is an amazingly creepy clown head. 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:38.040 This thing is from hell, it is this very round 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.080 Oh my god, it's face. It looks kind of like 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:45.040 an on e the Japanese only that kind of demon, 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.240 but much worse, uh, much more kind of It's got 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:54.080 these creepy, sleepy eyes that are like, when I wake up, 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.280 I will come kill you. Well, it doesn't help that 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.440 the coin slot is kind of protruding from one side 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:01.680 of the four as if it's a devil with only 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:06.040 one horn, right, yes, yeah, and asymmetric devil. And it's 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.520 got this white ring around its mouth. Is just an 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.880 absolute terror. Yeah, and then you pull the gum from 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:19.080 its teeth of course, uh, like I was chewing that um. 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:23.160 Welcome to your house tonight now. Already at this point 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.600 there were designer concerns with the use of slugs and 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.440 hairpins to cheat the machines. So the idea of a 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.080 slug is what we mentioned earlier. It's like a weighted 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.960 device that you put on a string or something and 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.560 put it into the machine and activate the coin detection 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.240 without actually paying. Yeah, I mean you get into this 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.000 whole thing like it it's not like the machine is 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.720 reading the coin. It's reading a coin shaped piece of metal. 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:47.920 So if you have a coin shaped piece of metal 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.480 that has no intrinsic value, then whammo, you got yourself 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.040 a piece of gum, right right, you know, because it 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.880 comes down to be basically, whatever kind of honor system 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:02.000 works with a proper English pie, tobacco box or the whole, 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.719 you know, the holy water for sale in the temple. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.840 A clown head that spits gum at the local train 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.480 station is not going to benefit from the same holy reverence. 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:14.480 You know, though, I do wonder if they're onto something 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:19.120 here with the clown head, because this is personified, it's 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.359 looking right at you, it's anthropomorphic, and I think that 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:26.479 could play an important role in the relationship between the 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.240 buyer and the vendor. When the vendor is just like 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.720 a rectangular machine that you need to put a coin 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.640 in it, would you be more less likely to try 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:38.240 to defraud that machine then you would a machine that 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.640 looks like a creepy, demonic entity that could follow you home. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.440 It's true, you know. You had another twist on this, though, 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.760 is that you also saw charitable vending machines pop up 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:52.280 in late nineteenth century France, which, when this seems like 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.080 a decent way to invoke the honor system for machines 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.920 that can't really defend themselves. You know, it's like, yes, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.920 you're buying gum or what have you from a crappy 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.240 machine that you could probably defraud, but the money is 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.320 going to charity. So how much of a monster are 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:12.399 you really? You might be surprised. Now, speaking of defrauding machines, 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:16.199 the earliest record of a vandalized machine, according to Segrave, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:20.840 comes from seven in England, three young men were convicted 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.240 for using brass discs to buy cigarettes. And then there's 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.480 also a St. Louis account where a man had a 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.159 coin on a string and he was using it to 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:31.879 score cigars out of a machine and it was creating 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:33.920 quite a stir. People were coming around to watch him 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.080 do it, like he was performing some sort of magic trick. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.120 And the judge in this case he wasn't even sure 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.240 if this was larceny and ended up just finding the 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.560 man for disorderly conduct instead. Again coming back to that 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.760 same conundrum, how do I How do I punish a 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:53.440 man for stealing from an inhuman entity? Yeah, stealing from 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.639 a machine? Really stealing? Now, another concern, of course with 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.400 all this is that today we have problems with vending 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.560 machines not working properly. You know, you go to you 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:04.960 put in your money, you expect to get a candy bar, 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.080 and it like sticks to the side. Right. So obviously 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.440 you had similar issues back in the day with these 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.840 clumsier machines. I'd imagine even more often, right, Like you 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:15.840 try to get the gum out of the clown's mouth, 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.600 but instead it just kind of makes a grinding noise. Yes, 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.400 and uh, I think one of the more I mean 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.200 when when you look at the history of vending machines, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.720 on one hand, you see like the definite areas where 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.080 people realize, yes, we're gonna use these to sell candy, 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:36.000 we're gonna sell cigarettes. These are the obvious uses. But 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.159 what I really loved about researching this was seeing the 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.840 various areas where they were just throwing it ato everything 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.600 to see what would stick. There was a real flash 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.119 in the pan since too many of these applications stuff, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.040 some of the stuff generated attention but then didn't find 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:55.719 a place in society. And yet you still see early 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:59.560 versions of vending devices that we now take for granted 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:04.560 gasoline pumps, water pumps, well maybe not beer spigots, but 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.080 you also had these beer spigot feed put money into 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.679 and then you fill up your your glass. I don't know, 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.360 there's some pretty strange vending machines out there today, and 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:16.880 it's it's still a developing field. Yeah, Like I'm sure 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:19.800 you've read about like live animal vending machines, like they're 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.639 live lobster vending machines and live crab vending machines. I 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.320 did enjoy when I was in China several years back. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.480 I got to see a wine vending machine when you 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:31.760 put your money, and it was very high tech too, 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.200 you know, I had the computer interface, but ultimately you 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.239 would get an entire bottle of wine out of it. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:38.920 Oh bottle. It wasn't like a spigot of no, not 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.120 a bigot like. It was just it was distributing full 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.560 bottles of wine. U Now. The eighteen nineties also saw 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.440 the birth of the slot machine. Now not the gambling 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.760 engine that would evolve from it and keep its name, 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.840 but basic coin operated machines that sold various odds and 0:20:56.000 --> 0:21:01.320 end so cigarettes, stationary, et cetera. So early on there 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.600 was a link between vending machines and gambling machines, and 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.560 sometimes the blurring of that line would help you get 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.280 around gambling restrictions. Yeah, I mean it reminds me of 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.080 a whole episode. Maybe it was more than one episode 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:15.560 that we did for stuff to able in your mind 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:20.359 about the slot machine, about gambling and gambling psychology and 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:24.640 gambling devices and an automated gambling. Yeah. And if there's 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:26.520 a I mean, there's a clear history here. That's that's 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.880 part of the legacy of vending machines, is the gambling machine. 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:32.680 You would not have the gambling machine without these early 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:37.880 vending machines. You know, we often see new technologies take 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:41.800 on a kind of chic appeal, and I do wonder 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:46.360 sometimes if you would have seen that in early vending machines, 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.639 like when a vending machine became the new way you 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.080 could buy an item in a place, Like what it 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:54.680 would people come to think that an item bought from 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.120 a vending machine as opposed to bought from a human. Uh, 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.320 selling point would be cooler, would be better? Yeah, I mean, 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.600 it's the basic novelty attraction, right, Like, here's this new technology, 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.399