The issue was serious – preachers took more water than they said, making the overall process of producing the specific amount less profitable for the temple. On the other hand, controlling every preacher would take time and waste even more resources. But that was not a challenge for one of the brightest minds of his era.
The inventor came up with a machine that poured the exact amount of holy water into a cup. The device was fully automated, and after the coin was inserted, the systems inside poured the exact amount of holy water into the container – no more, no less than the preacher paid for. The device required no supervision from clerics – the system of weights and plugs was enough to ensure there were no frauds with holy water anymore.
It was the first century of the common era, and the bright mind behind the first vending machine in history was Hero of Alexandria.
According to the Yahoo Finance report, the self-service market sector is expected to reach $63 billion worth by the end of 2027. The growth is fueled by multiple devices that enable individuals to perform business tasks using only machines, without the need for support from staff. This includes ATMs, self-checkout, digital ordering kiosks, and vending machines, among others.
With the invention of Hero of Alexandria, the history of self-checkout and vending machines started, albeit the device sold not food, but holy water. On the other hand, the system could be used with wine. Historical sources show that Hero of Alexandria constructed a self-filling bowl of wine based on a float valve.
Unfortunately, Hero’s vending machine followed the fate of many other sophisticated tech inventions of that time, including the Antikythera mechanism, Roman Concrete, and Greek fire, and was shrouded in time for hundreds of years. Probably, countless inventions and ideas remain forgotten due to the lack of archaeological and historical evidence.
Unsurprisingly, there are no accounts of vending machines during medieval times, even though the market for holy water selling was strong back then. The jousting grounds and fortified castles had to wait for the next generation of vending machines to appear and rely on human merchants to operate.
The only reminder of the days of past glory of vending machines was seen in Great Britain’s taverns in 1615 and later, where the customer inserted a coin and could take a portion of tobacco. The drawback of this technology was, in fact, that the coin was just opening the box, and the innkeeper had to see the customer to ensure there was no abuse.
As with concrete, which was invented in antiquity only to be rediscovered in the XIX century, the same goes for vending machines. The first modern and fully automated vending machine was introduced in the late XIX century. The device was invented (or rather re-invented) by Percival Everitt, who designed it to sell postcards, envelopes, and stamps.
The design was strikingly similar to that invented by Hero of Alexandria—the weight system controlled the machine, using the coin and the counterweight.
This time, the innovative idea had spread beyond the temple selling holy water. By 1893, there were multiple vending machines across the world. For example, Stollwerck was running a network of over 15 thousand vending machines selling chocolate. Additionally, the company, primarily involved in the production of chocolate, had separate companies to sell vending machines with products other than its own, such as cigarettes, chewing gum, matches, or soap.
Another interesting innovation in the vending machine area was adding games to the relatively simple concept. In 1897, new entertainment functions were added to the system, with figurines moving around during the purchasing process.
Electricity and electronics have brought new life into the world of vending machines—finally changing the design and general principles since the times of Hero of Alexandria. The weight-based systems leveraging mechanics and gears have finally found rest, with sensors and motors in place.
This has also brought new possibilities to vending machines. Now the machine could be connected with new systems—starting from the refrigerator to keep the food products fresh and intact, to new payment methods to use. The vending machines themselves have also evolved and reached new markets—selling tickets, gold, gambling games, and fresh, hot pizza, among others.
Vending machines proved to be one of the most convenient inventions for shop owners—ever-vigilant and never-complaining, always ready to serve clients—as long as there is access to electricity.
Currently, vending machines sell multiple types of goods—from cold drinks and snacks to cigarettes, hygienic products, or even gold bars. There are also vending machines that prepare fresh and ready-to-eat pizzas.
Yet vending machines, despite all advantages and being the first self-ordering and self-service machines, suffered from some limitations.
Sharing the realms of vending machines, fast food, and business, the tale about an odd 7.5-cent coin resides. A bottle of coke has cost a nickel (5 cents) for about 70 years, starting from 1886. The reason was surprising – after the company decided to sell the drink in bottles instead of manually pouring it into a glass, there was a boom for vending machines to buy and sell bottles of Coca-Cola.
The challenge was, in fact, that the sturdy and unsophisticated vending machines of the era were unfitted for accepting coins other than a nickel. Nor was it possible to reconfigure them to accept other types of coins—it was not about typing some commands in a cloud environment but about going to every separate machine and reconstructing it.
Modern tech tackles all the challenges mentioned above in a new type of machine – a digital ordering kiosk.
What kiosks and vending machines have in common is the fact that they require no human to operate. In the age of workforce shortages, the possibility to handle the dull and repetitive tasks goes to machines.
The history of automatic kiosks started in 1977 at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The device was used there to display information that the user may find helpful – the plan of the surroundings and information about visitors and activities. Kiosks found their usage in commerce.
The first successful application was seen at Florsheim Shoe Co. in 1995. The customers could browse through items unavailable in-store and order them. The order was sent to the company’s computer system to be delivered the next day with Federal Express.
Today, interactive kiosks are widely used and seen in Quick Service Restaurants, where users can order a meal and pay for it. With the device’s popularity, the market for digital ordering kiosks is expected to reach $30.8 billion by the end of 2023. Also, according to Tillster, self-service kiosks increase fast-food restaurant check sizes by 20-30% on average.
Digital ordering kiosks don’t share some drawbacks of vending machines – they are sleek, modern, and well-designed. Yet, people still need to prepare food – but not always.
The startup scene around robotic restaurants is thriving – multiple startups are tinkering with the concept of fully automated food preparation. Examples include Botrista, where the fully automated system prepares a beverage – including these more sophisticated ones, not only tea or coffee. RoboBurger is following its name – it is a vending machine with a giant touchscreen serving as an ordering kiosk, that enables one to order, pay for, and get the ready-to-eat burger.
Starting from antiquity to protect the temple from frauds on holy water, self-ordering and self-service have come a long way to being what they are today – tools to boost business and improve order value.
Yet the future can be even more surprising – Hero would never expect to see the distant descendant of his machine sell hot burgers.