Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-02
CURIOUS SLOT MACHINES.
Some Wonderful Thing. Done by Inr~uso.
Automatic Contrfxap,c.

some wonderful Things Done by Ingenious
Automatic Contrtvsncc..
VHE USES TO WHICH SLOT MACHINES
u are put nowadays may well excite astonish-
ment In Paris they are scattered ali through
the poorer quarters Of the city 20 supply the
people with hot water. Fuel is very dear there
and II Is . great saving 10 be able to get q
bucket OF really boiling water BY going 20 the
next corner and dropping one sou. The same
method Is employed for providing the poor of
birmingham. England. with gas. A penny
dropped into the meter turns on the lluminat-
ing mud for half an hour and when that time
n~s ehplreu me consumer can drop in another
penny IN case he wants 70 use the heht Longer.
and so on. The plan has two ndyantaces FOR
the company-it makes the PAYMENT for gas
sure and the rate is little higher by this re-
tsl method As 10 the case with everything.
the poor mnst pay the biggest price. There y
nothing 90 expensive poverty
IT rEILs roUR wEIoHr.
new slot machine in London has phono-
graph attachment and tells your weight lyon
weigh 200 pounds" Il will shout, in case you
TAP the scales at that h1ure. Another English
eontrivancs is small shop in itself and sells
you automatically sixteen different articles in
Guiding hot drinks, cold drinks, biscuits lead
pencils and postage stamps An interesting de-
vice OF the sort gives you = cup OF coffee in re-
- ~.
drop another nickel into separate slot. where
upon the receptacle becomes available. Having
drunk your coffee. you put the mug back In ITS
place and the money You have deposited for is
use 10 given back TO you without the interven-
ton Of hands Still other machines cell YOU
newspapers. books and cologne, afford the
spectacle of.an imitation cock fight. on which
YOU can gamble by betting on one bird OF the
other. and sharpen your knife n il ~ dull. This
Mst works . little whetstons back and forth
while You hold the blade. For five cents in
IKE manner you can procure n cigar. with .
match TO lightit The Union line Of street cars
IN baltimore has recently employed Kind of
siot device very proftably. Ii sells instead Of
uckets, six tokens somewhat resembling Eve
cent pieces, at six for quarter. The passengers
drop these into slos provided for the purpose
all along the inside of the cars. which are bob
tail and they roll along 20 the drivers box
Since adopting this plan the company has
found Its profits much greater.
A WONDERFUL ooSTRrvAxcR-
There ia hardly anything that you cannot d
nowadays by dropping . nickel in the slot Yoa
can try your weight or your grip. start the
horses racing. have the dice thrown learn your
fortune, play game Of freeze out, bet on ths
spinning roulette wheel, peep through . kalcs-
doscope, purchase cigarettes or chewing to-
bacco. buy needles and thread, collar buttons,
shoe laces or what you will. The patent Office
has already granted s22 patents for dot ma
chimes and more than thousand additional
ones have been taken out in Europe and else
where abroad. firm has recently been estab-
hshed IN Washington, under the name OF the
Automatic Machine Company" to be incor-
porated with acapital Of 81 900 900, which 10 10
manufacture such apparatus on an enormous
scale with branches all over the United States.
The device in which il is most interested sells
most agreeable drink Of royal rock and rye
TO any one who drops two nickels in. This two
nickel business is new idsa, and il is adopted
because so small q coin a dime requires
much more delicate machinery, and, further
more, machine that can be worked by dime
VIII respond equally well 10 . Scent piece.
When the two nickels have been dropped in
you pull out a handle and the liquid potation
appears IN a small glass cylinder with nickel
plated screw top. You unscrew il, imbibe and
so away refreshed. Much emphasis il laid
upon the fact that the stun is strictly medici
nal, and sufficient confidence 10 had in the con-
sumers honor TO take il for granted that he
will not partake Of the inequalities Of the ma
chime unless he has either . bed cold or
stomach ache.
HOT SAUSAGE
An equally ingenious slot machine supplies
the customer with hot sausage, fresh cooked
When nickel is dropped in out pops q fat
frankfurter froma box and drops into boiling
water. At the same moment a sign apposrs,
which SAYS: when the sausage IL done IL will
be given to you. Take il with fork and put
IL iu the not roll. which YOU Will ma now IN
the little compartment TO the left" At the end
OF three minutes precisely the sausage makes
ITS appearance on a piece Of perforated tin,
for draining off the water. aud you eat il with
the roll, the fork. as well NJ mustard. salt and
pepper, being obtainable from a small cup
board. A similar contriyance that supplies
beer and sandwiches is popular at railway sta
tions in England. For i've cents also you caa
have your photograph taken. You sit on Q
chair In front OF the apparatus and gaze 81 Q
point in the glass front Presently there 10 .
brilliant flash and Q moment later Q tin type
drops out
THOUSANDS or YEkRs OLD.
The slot machine is no new invention. Such
contrivances were known Thousands of wears
ago. The first one of the sort that there is
record of was worked IN Greece four centuries
before Christ Ii was employed for selling sacred
water in the temples. Any who wished to
get small supply of the precious fuid dropped
silver coins through a slot into the receptacle,
which contained q small jar filled with the
water. The coins fell upon one end Of q sort
OF balance, and il required about rs cent?
worth of silver to tip it. This weight, how
ever, would cause one extremity of the bal
ance to be lowered, the other extremity rislag
and opening valve at the bottom Of the jsr.
] nus a small amount Of the water was per
mi;ted to escape. but only . little. because the
coins at once fell OF the end Of the balance,
and, equilibrium being restored, the valve
clOseu aSalh II Woulu ap pear tnat q machine
like this must have been very easy to beat"
by putting in other things than money: but il
is to be presumed that the ancient Egyptian
small boy had no use for holy water, and pious
persons would hardly be likely 10 cheat ths
apparatus.
From the time Of this ancient slot machine
up to comparatively recent times history makes
no record of any continuance Of the sort
About seventy years ago a philantbropist in
England bad constructed on his premises .
device with q crank attachment and hole at
the top big enough to drop . copper penny
into. Whenever q beggar came along and
asked for something to eat the good man put .
penny into the affair, upon which, If the tramp
turned the crank for twenty minutes, a loaf q
bread was thrust out This was an ingenious
scheme for making the applicant for aims work
for his dinner, but probably il was no more
popular with mendicants then than il would be
today. About twenty years ago the first mod
ern slot machines made their appearance in
Germany, where they are very widely used at
present. the French next took them up, and
since then they have spread al over the world