Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-07-26
NOVELTIES N sloT MACHINES.


iher~ Seems to BE M End 70 the Ines-
"nify Of Inventors In That Lins.
Fhe slot and nickel business IL vet
N Its infancy, remarked a Jerseyman
who IS engaged in manufacturing au-
tomatic machinery OF the most per-
s..s kiad to coax people to part
with their nicke]s. This county is
the greatest field in the world for this
branch OF industry for two reasons.
The main one is that Americans are
lmproyident and never stop to think
that twenty nickels make dollar. The
other one is that the nickel is the only
coin in this world which is built In
the right way to encourage genius in
this direction. No other country has
a standard coin adapted to the devices
and one which is so popular, SO uni
form, and so slightly valued. The
live cent piece of this country was
made for automatic machinery. and
not the machines to suit the money.
This may sound queer, but mean that
the changes in the size and weight of
the coin have been SO slight since it
was first pat in circulation THAT it en-
couraged inventors TO make slots and
other devices to put it in.
'.The first slot machine / remember
seeing was race course in southern
hotel. A nickel started the horses. l
think | first saw the machine in 1873.
and believe it to be one of the first
devices of the kind in this country, but
l have no doubt that historians can
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 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 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 am going to get out next, and
try to engage machines in advance
without knowing what they are going
to be.
Il recently had queer call from q
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 ]
thought l could. He wanted a ma.
chine actuated by nickels which would
deliver hot sausage incased in q
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 $50, 900 down to be put in
preliminaries and $4,000 to come
when the machine was success. He
couldn't figure enough out of it &C
talk business. | have an application
from man who wants a machine tc
deliver, consecutively, numbered and
dated cards, which, in addition, will
show the exact hour at which the care
is taken from the box. l am working
on model. think he wants to use
the machines for accident policy
tickets. | saw machine few week:
ago which for nickel sold a cheaI
edition of novels. Pens, lead pen
ellis, chewing gum, matches, electric
shocks, ETC., are so commonly dis
pensed by automatic machines tina
they cease to be remarked.
Now | am getting up a decided
novelty-an automatic doctor fillet
with pure drugs in capsules, which
will drop out as the pennies are drop
ped in. Each machine will have from
a dozen to twenty compartment
marked with the name OF the drug
the quantity to take for dose and tn
ills that the remedy is supposed to al
leviate. Of course poisonous drug
cannot go in it, but others can, and
, believe it will be success. Just thinl
what an accommodation it would b
to be able to go up to machine AM
get your dose of quinine, a headach
cure, remedy for the grippe or dos
of salts without having to disturb tn
repose of drug clerk Then l an
thinking over fountain which vii
deliver a good glass of lemonade, OF
in fact, soda water, with assorted sil
: ups. There is really no end to the az
plications that can be made of auto
matte machines and no limit to tn
| field of operation. They go every
where, from the church fair down, an
all sorts of people drop their pennie
r and nickels into them.
Il know of weighing machines whic
. take in from SIS to $50 week Now
there is an impression abroad that al
9 tomato machines are receptacles fo
! bad coins, brass checks and othe
q things which will operate the levers
4 In fact, the percentage of bad none
r is not one-tenth of l per cent. TIL
9 machines are not complicated, bu
!, safeguards lie inside of the slot to pre-
4 vent the introduction of wires. Small
r err coins than five cent pieces fall asid
after entering the slots and are caugf
in a separate receptacle. The goo
coin falls certain distance and strike
h a lever just hard enough TO release til
o machinery A lead nickel" will d
; this, but even SO the loss is nothing
: the majority of machines. None {
;, the machines are sold. They are usl
= ally put out on shares running froI
v 10 to 20 per cent, and this Statistic
i. those who have the machines
h charge. New York Sun.
Consumption Cured by Warm Milk.