When was the first vending machine invented?

Chocolate, stamps, and cigarettes were all common in 19th century vending machines. But the first vending machine was centuries older.

Slide a penny into a vending machine in the early 20th century and you could buy stamps, gum, cigarettes, or candy. But history’s first vending machine was centuries older. Nationaal Archief

If you had to guess, you might wager that history’s first vending machine debuted in the 19th century. You might also guess that the earliest vending machines sold gum or candy. But you’d lose that bet.

When was the first vending machine invented? And what did the first vending machine dispense?

The first vending machine was centuries older than electricity, dating all the way back to the 1st century CE.

When was the first vending machine invented?

Ancient inventors changed history when they came up with innovations like paper, concrete, and the water wheel. These inventions allowed the Egyptians to write some of the oldest historical records, helped the Romans build the aqueducts, and powered machines in ancient China.

And the first vending machine also dates back to the ancient period.

Hero of Alexandria was a Greek inventor who lived in Roman Egypt. And Hero invented dozens of automated devices that were centuries ahead of their time. Hero’s aeolipile, which used steam power to turn a sphere, ranks as history’s first recorded steam engine.

Hero of Alexandria designed dozens of automated devices, including this automaton, which featured a miniature Bacchus dispensing wine and milk. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana

In fact, Hero wrote an entire book called Pneumatica that described 80 mechanical devices powered by air, steam, and hydraulic forces. One of those devices used hidden tubes to dispense wine and milk.

The same mechanics powered the first vending machine.

What did the first vending machine dispense?

Hero of Alexandria crafted a vending machine that used simple mechanics. Customers would insert a coin in a box. The coin would hit a metal lever, depressing it. A string tied to the lever would lift up a plug and dispense the customer’s item.

Hero of Alexandria designed an automated dispenser for liquids — and it’s the oldest vending machine in history.

But what was in the first vending machine? Not chips or candy bars. Instead, Hero created a vending machine to dispense holy water.

At Greek temples, worshippers had been taking more holy water than their coins bought. So Hero came up with a unique system to give a precise amount of liquid.

Hero’s vending machine could also dispense other liquids, like wine.

What did the first modern vending machines dispense?

Vending machines didn’t change much from the 1st century until the 19th century. But in the 1800s, vending machines started popping up everywhere.

Before the 19th century, only a small handful of machines dispensed goods. In Tudor-era English taverns, you could drop a coin into a machine to buy tobacco. Booksellers used a vending machine to sell banned books.

In the 1880s, a German company began selling chocolate from ornate vending machines, eventually rolling out 15,000 machines. Wikimedia Commons

By the second half of the 19th century, fully automatic vending machines hit the scene. These commercial vending machines dispensed postcards, gum, and chocolate using a similar mechanism to Hero’s ancient design.

Some machines operated on the honor system, with a coin allowing buyers to open a drawer and take a single item. These newspaper-style vending machines only worked if no one took more than their share.

Wooden vending machines appeared in New York in the 1880s, when a chewing gum company started selling tutti-frutti from vending machines installed at elevated subway platforms.

Vending machines first came to the U.S. in 1888, when the Thomas Adams Gum Company installed gum-selling machines at New York City subway stations. Soon, vending machines dispensed tickets, cigarettes, and other small goods.

In the early 20th century, the automat took vending machines to a new level. These restaurants dispensed food through vending machines. Diners would slide coins into the machine and open a window to receive their food.

At automats, diners could buy pie, meatloaf, and other dishes from windows. Behind the scenes, a kitchen full of staff prepared the food and filled empty slots in the machine. New York Public Library

Today, you can buy almost anything from a vending machine. In Europe, vending machines dispense hot pizza, while a vending machine in China sells live crabs. Australia’s beaches have flip flop vending machines, while machines in Los Angeles sell caviar. In the 2010s, car dealers even tried out a car vending machine.

From its humble beginnings as a holy water dispensing tool, the vending machine has come a long way.

For more strange and fascinating stories from history, check out Bruce Wilson’s book Strange but True Stories: Fascinating Facts, Astonishing Trivia, and Conversation Starters from History, available in ebook, paperback, or audiobook.

Bruce Wilson Jr. is the author of nine books on history. Visit Bruce Wilson’s website to learn more.