The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1903-03-27
PENNY-1N-THE-sLoT PROFITS.
The Machines Earn for Englfshmen
$685. and Fl Per Cent. Div
idends In One Year.

The extraordinary popularity 20
which the automatic delivery machine
has attained in England during the
comparatively few years since 1t was
invented is shown by the fact that a
single company has just made an an
Dual net profit of over t13,0OO.
About ten years ago the automatic
sweet machine was regarded as ran
1astic 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
witches, fruit tablets, biscuits, name
plates (sramped while you waltz.
In America and on the continent the
automatic trade has an even greater
popularity than il has in England.
There the aut omauic buffet-an exam
pie of which was an attraction OF
Earl's court the last ar-has become
quite a popular institution, and one
may see people taking a meal of four
or five courses at buffet, beginning
at one end with ca are 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
20 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 S 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 a 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 21A per cent. for
the year.
In the domestic economy of the
workingman's tenement or cottage the
"penny-in-the-slot" method of supply
of gas has borne an almost revolution
airy part. Small stoves of a 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 it
expressed in figures. The South Net
ropolitan company alone at the pres
emf time is removing nearly 90 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 or
bank notes of about AT, and little
been in working no fewer than LOG, 2ss
times ere it is earned. In round fig
ures the 90 tons means that the USE
full coin has brought light or warmth
1.125,6OO 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 it's acceptance and CONVEX
sion into more portable tender at all
the various banks in the district, as no
single one could conveniently handle
it.
The quantity of gas now supplied
for penny is % cubic feet, and no di-
rect charge is made for the meter or
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 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 diminution
of the black and choking constituents
of true London fog. Every chimney |
that is in employ adds it's quota to the |
atmospheric pail and the substitution
OF smokeless gas for these is a step
toward lessening the mass of sooty |
particles lowering above us.
Theory of the Auror.