The Jamesburg record., 1897-02-20
MACHINE LUNCHES.
THE GERMAN AUTOMATIC DISPENSER
OF QUICK REPASTS

Good Lunch Basket Scheme Used on
German Railways.
Germany is showing the rest of the
world how "quick lunches" may be
served without employing walters and
how a hungry person may have just
what he wants to eat and drink at
fixed price without paying an extra tip
and without feeling himself called
upon, no matter how particular he may
be, to find fault with the service unless
he is satisfied to make his complaint to
a mechanical cOntrivance which differs
from some walters in so far that it
makes no pretense of caring rap or
the turn of a handle how uncomfortable
or how badly served the hungry one
may be. The cOntrivance, which has
been perfected by the Quisicana compa-
ny of Berlin is so perfectly arranged
that even those people who object to
the manner of washing the cups and
plates in the ordinary quick lunch
places are deprived of their cause for
complaint because every customer may
supervise the cleaning of the cup which
he will use, and if he is so inclined may
attend to the duty himself.
The quick lunch stands are provided
with automa ic spraying nozzles for
cleaning glass and china and insure per-
feet cleanliness. No rubber tubing is
used to conduct liquids, silver tubes be-
ing employed for the purpose. The serv-
ice is run by clockwork.
In place of the ordinary counter there
are sets of ornamental cabinets ranged
along one side of the room, which have
a shelf projecting at convenient
height, upon which glasses and cups are
placed Above these there are faucets
and a number of slots to receive the
coin. When the customer has decided
what sort of drink he wants-coffee,
tea, chocolate or beef tea-he drops the
coin in the slot and receives the regula-
ton quantity. The cold drinks-lemon-
ade, soda water and all sorts of soft
drinks s''-are kept in glass vessels and
the hot drinks in nickel tanks surround
ed by hot water bath, which is heated
by gas.
But the establishment is not limited
to drinks, and the hungry man may
also be served. Sandwiches and cakes
are kept in a glass stand, circular in
shape which is covered with a glass
bell. Each bell contains about dozen
sandwiches, and the purchaser indicates
his choice by dropping his coin into the
slot opposite the kind he wants, and the
stand revolves sufficiently to bring his
sandwich to an opening where he may
+a1-o ,1e, ,-t,,
provide hot beef, chicken and other
meats.
The quick lunch is nothing new in
Germany, though, as any person will
know who has made railroad trip be-
tween Berlin and Copenhagen by way
of Warnemunde. A man who made the
trip several years ago said:
I'VE were coming back from Den
mark and stopped at little place on
the German frontier at about noon.
Everybody was hungry, and the Ameri-
can contingent was disappointed when
the conductor shouted, 'Funf minuten
aufenthalt We knew that five minutes
would not give us time for meal, and
we lost no time in leaving the coach as
soon as it was unlocked Everybody
rushed pellmeu into the restaurant,
where lot of wire things that looked
like old fashioned rattraps were piled
up. Everybody grabbed a trap, paid
about 25 cents for it and rushed back to
the train
''What looked like trap was really
an ingeniously contrived lunch basket
having three compartments. In one was
an ample portion Of chicken; the next
contained sandwiches, and the third
dainty piece Of pastry and small bot
tie Of wine, over which a little drink
ing glass was fastened. Little salt and
pepper shakers and a knife and fork
were fastened to the sides, and the
whole was covered with a japanese pa
per napkin. The fact that we were all
hungry and that the whole arrangement
was unexpected may have had some
thing to do with our enjoyment of the
luncheon, but it was agreed that it was
the most perfect of the quick kind we
had ever seen. The bottom Of the wire
lunch basket was covered with a piece
of glass, and a paper beneath it bore the
request in German French and English
to leave the empty basket with the train
hand. "
Managers Of quick lunch places say
that the automatic restaurant would
not be patronized sufficiently to make it
pay in New York.
"The main object Of the automatic
arrangement, " said one, sis to do away
with walters and save the outlay on
that account. We have accomplished
that end by making every man his own
waiter, and L believe that breakage in
machines, falling off in trade and coun-
terfeit coins would make a change from
our present system to the automatic an
expensive experiment. AS to the quick
lunches for travellers On railway trains,
much can be done, and no one knows
!