Vending Machines

The first American vending machine appeared in 1888, when the Thomas Adams Gum Company (American Chicle, Pfizer) placed a machine selling Tutti-Frutti chewing gum on a platform of the elevated train in New York City. The following year, a penny vending machine was developed that could dispense handfuls of candy and peanuts. Round, bubble-topped penny gumball machines were introduced in 1907. Because vending machines were still quite unreliable, most sold only penny items until the 1920s. One exception was the Horn and Hardart Baking Company, which opened the first coin-operated Automat restaurant in Philadelphia in 1902, where diners selected their menu choices for prepared food displayed behind a wall of small glass windows.