Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-03-26
pENNY-IN-TRc-SLoT PROFITS.
The Machines Earn for Engiishmen
$B65,O and 21 Per Cent. Div
Ldends in One Year.

The extraordinary popularity to
which the automatic delivery machine
has attained in England during the
comparatively few years since it was
invented is shown by the fact that a
single company has just made an an
hual net profit of over G73,OOO.
About ten years ago the automatic
sweet machine was regarded as fan
tastic American invention which
would soon drop out of existence. To-
day there are thousands Of automatic
machines all over the country, and the
automatic trade becomes more wide
spread and more profitable every year
Here are a few Of the public wants"
which the automatic machines supply:
Sweetmeats, cigars, cigarettes, match
es, scents, drinks (hot and cold, sand
wiches, fruit tablets, biscuits, name
plates (stamped while you watt.
In America and on the continent the
automatic trade has an even greater
popularity than it has in England.
There the automatic buffet-an exam
pie of which was an attraction of
Earl's court the last year-has become
quite a popular institution, and one
may see people taking a meal of four
or five courses at a buffet beginning
at one end with caviare and moving
along the row of handles to a cigarette
and black coffee.
The latest success which the Sweet
meat Automatic company has intro
duced is the name plate machine, now
to be seen in many railway stations.
To outward appearance the machine
consists of box on the top of which
are circular disk with the letters of
the alphabet upon it and a handle
to be lifted up and pushed down. You
turn the disk round until the first let
ter you require is opposite a given
point and then press the handle, re-
peating the process until you have
spelled any word you desire. Then
you give another pull and your name
or word stamped on slip of metal
is elected.
Mr.. Edward Hare, the chairman of
the company, told the stakeholder
the other day that another 1000 of
these machines are on order, some be-
ing specially designed for outdoor
use.
The shareholders approved a divi-
dend amounting to 21H per cent. for
the year.
IL the domestic econoazT of the
workingman's tenement orcottage the
"penny-in-the-slot" method of supply
of gas has borne an almost revolution
airy part. Small stoves of capacity
quite sufficient for the simple require
ments of humble households can be
heated and regulated from these
meters and are employed to an extent
that is astonishing when one hears ii
expressed in figures. The South Met
ropolitan company alone at the pres
ent time is removing nearly 20 tons
weight of pennies every week from
the slot machines, placed there as pay
ment for the gas to be consumed, and
for the last year or two during the
winter months this astonishing total
has varied but little. Now, a ton OF
pennies represents value in gold OF
bank notes of about e447, and little
calculation shows that the slot has
been in working no fewer than 106,2Ss
times ere it is earned. In round fig.
/ 4ho4 Tho
full coin has brought light or warmth
| 1,125,600 times in the course of seven
days. So vast is this aggregate OF
bronze money that special arrange
ments have been made by the com
pany for its acceptance and CONVEX
sion into more portable tender at all
the various banks in the district, as nc
single one could conveniently handle
it.
The quantity of gas now supplied
for penny is rs cubic feet, and no di.
rect charge is made for the meter OF
fittings. With small, close rooms in
the summer time the boon is greatly
appreciated, as tea can be made and
supper or breakfast cooked without
the inconvenience of a fire. In the
practical teaching that is given in some
of the housewifery centers Of the
school board, says the London Tele-
graph, the methods of using small gas
stoves to the best advantage are now
shown and the rising generation is be
ginning to regard them as a necessity
in the domestic fixtures. Lastly, there
is one great benefit in the extending
use of gas that is sometimes forgot
ten, which is toward the diminutior
of the black and choking constituents
of true London fog. Every chimney
that is in employ adds its quota to thu
atmospheric pail and the substitution
of smokeless gas for these is a steI
toward lessening the mass of SCOT,
particles lowering above us.