Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1890-07-05
NOVELTIES IN SLOT MACHINES.
There Seems to BE No End to the Yngs
nuity of Inventors In THAI Line.

fhere Seems to BE No End to the lingo
nuity of Inventors In That Line.
'SThe slot and nickel business is yet
in its infancy" remarked ~Jerseyman
who is engaged in manufacturing au-
tomato machinery of the most per-
~suasive kind to coax people to part
with their nickels. This country is
the greatest fieldin the world for this
branch Of industry for two easons.
improvident and never stop to think
that twenty nickels make adollar. The
other one is that the nickel is the only
coin i'll this world which is built in
the right way to encourage genius In
this direction. No other country haa
q standard coin adapted to the devices,
and one which is so popular, 80 uni
form, and so slightly valued. The
five cent piece of this country was
made for automatic machinery, and
not the machines to suit the money.
This may sound queer, but mean thai
the changes in the size and weight OF
the coin have been so slight since it
was first put in circulation that it en-
Outraged inventors to make slots and
other devices to put it in.
The first slot machine l remember
seeing was a race course in a southern
hotel. A nickel started the horses. ]
think | first saw the machine in 1873,
and | believe it to be one of the first
devices of the kind in this country, but
| have no doubt that historians a
rake up testimony to show that Attic
drachmas were dropped into slots by
ancient Greeks, who sought to learn
their weight or test their grip, and
that in Caesars time the Romans drop
ped small coins into slots and thus pro-
cured their confectionery.
1T is only within a few years that
the slot machines have assumed any
prominence. People are beginning to
think now that the field of ingenuity
is about exhausted, but they are mis-
taken. 1t has really just begun to
open. There will be something new
every few months, for l know half a
dozen like myself who are puzzling
their brains over new devices. ! am
SO thoroughly identified with the bust
ness now that people stop me and ask
what l am going to get out next, and
try to engage machines IN advance
without knowing what they are going
to be.
II recently had a queer call from a
man who wants to be a monopolist.
He asked me if l could devise an au-
tomato machine to sell hot Frank
furter sausages, and l told him that l
thought | could. He wanted a ma
chine actuated by nickels which would
deliver a hot sausage incased in a
split roll, just as the peddlers do it on
the streets. | said that it could be
done, and when he wanted to talk
terms | said $40, 900 down to be put in
preliminaries and $30, 900 to come
when the machine was a success. He
couldn't figure enough out of it to
talk business. | have an application
from a man who wants a machine to
deliver, consccutively, numbered and
dated cards, which, in addition, will
show the exact hour at which the card
is taken from the box. | am working
on a model. | think he wants to use
the machines for accident policy
tickets. / saw q machine a few weeks
ago which for q nickel sold a cheap
edition of novels. Pens, lead pen
ellis, chewing gum, matches, electric
shocks, ETC., are so commonly dis
pensed by automatic machines that
they cease to be remarked.
Now l am getting up a decided
novelty-an automatic doctor filled
with pure drugs i'll capsules, which
will drop out as the pennies are drop
ped in. Each machine will have FROM
a dozen to twenty compartments
marked with the name of the drug,
the quantity to take for a dose and the
ills that the remedy is supposed to al
leviate. Of course poisonous drugs
cannot go in it, but others can, and |
believe it will be a success. Just think
what an accommodation it would be
to be able to go up to a machUe and
get your dose of quinine, a headache
cure, a remedy for the grippe or a dose
of salts without having 70 disturb the
repose of a drug clerk. Then / am
thinking over a fountain which will
deliver a good glass of lemonade, or
i'll fact, soda water, with assorted sir
ups. There is really no end to the ap
plications that a be made of auto
matte machines and no limit to the
field Of operation. They go every
where, from the church fair down, and
all sorts of people drop their pennies
and nickels into them.
'Iknow of weighing machines which
take i'll from $1S to $40 a week. Now.
there is an impression abroad that au
tomato machines are receptacles TO-
bad coins, brass checks and Other
things which will operate the levers.
In fact, the percentage of bad money
is not one-tcnth of | per cent. The
machines arc not complicated, but
safeguards lie inside of the slot to pre-
vent the introduction of wires. Small.
err coins than five cent pieces fall aside
after entering the slots and are caught
in a separate receptacle. The good
coin falls a certain distance and strikes
a lever just hard enough to release the
machinery. A lead nickel" will do
this, but even SO the loss is nothing in
the majority of machines. None of
the machines are sold. They are usu-
ally put out on shares running from
10 to 20 per cent, and this satisfies
those who have the machines in
charge. New York Sun.
"