Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-26
THE AUTOMATIC RESTAURANT.
Drop a Coin in the Slot and Get
Lunch.

| From the Scientific American.
| Now we have the automatic restaurant.
| a gigantic slot machine or combination of
| slot machines. from which we can purchase
food and drink. The wonder is that this
| idea is not of American, but of German. Or
| igin. Automatic restaurants have been =
| familiar sight in many of the more promi-
| nent European cities for the last nine
| years.
| New York's restaurant. in principle. is
| very much the same as those of the Ger
man towns. 1t is fitted up much more elab-
orately. however There are no walters in the
usually accepted sense of that term. The
| two or three white-aproned men who non
chalantly roam arounl without apparent
| ly much to do are there not to serve meals,
but to remove the empty dishes. You must
serve yourself. You buy your portion Of
meat or soup. your glass of beer or wine.
or your cup Of coffee, and you carry what
you have bought to your table. If you are
in hurry you may stand and eat and en-
JOY what is popularity known as a per
pendicular meal.
In describing the automatic restaurant
| it may be well to divide its various appli-
anceS into three classes. The first class of
machines sell hot food by means of coins
| and checks; the second dispenses cold food
Salads, desserts) by the use of coins alone,
and the third sells liquids (beer. wine. cof-
fee. whisky. liquors, etc. by the use of
coins alone.
The bill of fare is printed upon a board in
which the slots are located. Each slot bears
reference letter. Opposite slot a small
placard is pasted which gives the name
Of the particular dish to be purchased by
dropping a coin in the slot. Similar legends
are printed upon the placards pasted oppo-
site slots B, c, d, etc.
After the desired dish has been selected.
a coin of the proper denomination is
dropped into the corresponding slot. A
handle Is pulled, which rings a bell in the
basement, and signals the attendants. 81
simultaneously a brass check is delivered.
The coin has dropped down a chute, which
lies adjacent to an elevator and is held in
place at the bottom by a retaining device.
By counting the number of coins as they
lie side by side above the retaining device,
the attendants know exactly how many
dishes of that particular food are wanted
AS each dish is served the retaining device
is released, that a coin drops into a re-
ceptacle, leaving behind a number of
coins corresponding to the number of dishes
still to be served The food, attractively
served in neat chinaware, is placed on a sill
vered metal tray in one of the compart-
mentS Of the elevator, and a crank is
turned in order to raise the elevator to the
floor above. The purchaser his dish as
it lies in the elevator behind a glass parti-
ton; he cannot reach 1t, however because it
has been lifted somewhat above the dis
charge opening. Not until he has dropped
his brass check into second slot. bearing
a reference letter corresponding to that of
the coin slot, and pulled another handle
will the elevator descend sufficiently to en-
able him to obtain his purchase.
Here one popularity in the slot mechan-
ism Of the automatic restaurant should be
mentioned. Spurious coins. well as coins
Of improper value, fail to operate the mech
anism. An honest slot machine is pobably
as rare as an honest man. The automatic
restaurant machines, however. are far more
trustworthy than many human beings
Coins of improper value which have been
enormously inserted are returned. The pur-
chaser Is not cheated.
Cold foods. such as salads and desserts
are placed upon the elevator of another
section and raised to the purchasing floor
in full view. protected, Of course. by glass
partitions. In order to purchase what one
desires, 1t is necessary simply to drop coin
in the slot and to pull handle. The ele-
vator then descends one step so that the
particular salad or dessert can be with
drawn from the discharge opening just as
in the previous case. No checks are here
used. since the dishes are cold and the at
tendants below need not be informed OF the
particular kind Of food desired.
The liquor dispensing machines have for
their most Interesting feature a self-meas-