More About Vending Machine innovation

VENDING MACHINE


A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine.

History of Vending Machine

The first reference to a vending machine is in the work of Hero of Alexandria, a first-century engineer and mathematician. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened a valve which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counterweight snapped the lever up and turned off the valve.


Vending machines waited for the Industrial Age before coming to prominence. The first modern coin-operated vending machines were introduced in London, England in the early 1880s, dispensing post cards. The first vending machine in the U.S. was built in 1888 by the Thomas Adams Gum Company, selling gum on New York City train platforms. The idea of adding games to these machines as a further incentive to buy came in 1897 when the Pulver Manufacturing Company added small figures, which would move around whenever somebody bought some gum from their machines. This idea spawned a whole new type of mechanical device known as the "trade stimulators". The birth of slot machines and pinball is ultimately rooted in these early devices.
In December 1970, Ussery Industries of Dallas, Texas at its Dallas convention displayed its "talking" vending machine, the Venda Talker. With insertion of a coin, the machine said "thank you" and added a one-liner voiced by comic Henny Youngman.


Vending Machine Mechanism       

A vending machine is commonly known as automatic retailing. Vending machine mechanism dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, toiletries, cigarettes, tickets, and other consumer products to customers automatically, in exchange for a payment in form of a coin, bill, or card inserted into the machine.


The first vending machine or automatic retailer was a machine that accepted a coin and then dispensed holy water, documented in Hero’s book entitled “Mechanics and Optics”. A coin was inserted via a slot on the top of the machine. The coin falls to a pan attached to a lever, which will, then, open up a valve which let the holy water flow out. The pan will continue to tilt with the weight of the coin until it will fell off. The pan will then snap the lever back up, turning off the valve.

The basics of vending machine mechanism

A person inserts a coin, bill and or credit card – this is placed into a slot or automatic card reader. When the money is successfully imputed then machine dispenses a product – these products come in a variety of forms and types. The purchase comes available through a drawer, door or by turning a handle. Sometimes the machine releases it so it falls out the bottom or into an appropriate distribution container.




From the simple candy vending machine industry, sophisticated and high tech vending machines have now been innovated. The vending machine world has gone through significant changes from Hero’s manual holy water dispenser to the cashless, touchless vending machine mechanism. Vending machine innovations may enhance your vending machine business space-wise. There are now available new innovations of a vandal proof construction of vending machines. Innovations for automatic inventory save time and effort and automatic inventory feature simplify and make goods accounting easier. Depending on your projected needs, there are now machines that incorporate digital telemetry communication for stocking and Credit Card style payment systems. Your options now range from the simple “Put-In-Exact-Amount” slots to Cashless payments lots for credit cards and debit cards. The ability to dispense successfully has to be considered. An efficient machine not only gives convenience to the users, but it also earns your machine reputation. Technology has now come up with improved coin and bill validation and the rapid adoption of sense-and-feedback systems to verify that the vend was made. There are now improved coin vending machine mechanism, bill acceptance programs, and Multi-Drop Bus for coin and currency validation. To the extent, “touchless” vending machine mechanism have been created.


These technological advancements in vending machine mechanism would enable vending machine operators to accommodate the need of premium vending products at a higher price level and have made the operation of vending machines more reliable and profitable. May it be a simple vending machine mechanism or the sophisticated high tech designs, it will all be effective as long as they were determined cost-effective, space-wise, automatic inventory, and dispensing efficiency, prior to the acquisition. The key to a successful business is always the informative and reasonable decision-making in all aspects including the consideration of vending machine mechanism.

 Innovations

   

Pushbutton and touch screen ticket machines in Germany

A DVD vending machine.



 A reverse vending machine for recycling purpose

 

Stamp vending machine in the London Heathrow Airport

 

A Vendtxt Vending Inc. Machine



Vending has gone through significant changes. Many machines are evolving to accept credit cards and companies are now able to monitor a machine's state from afar.

John Greenwick of the Greenway company is a former Mars Electronics employee and former product manager of the first ever bill acceptor. According to him, the industry saw a need for the ability to standardize the acceptance of coins and currency on a global basis. As such, a standard known as MDB (Multi-Drop Bus) was invented. This allows for machines around the world to utilize the same bill acceptor and coin changer devices with an international specification.


Doug M. Sanford of Vending Times notes that "many vendors today do not remember the urgency with which industry leaders called on their peers to install coin mechanisms that held the patron's money in escrow until the vend was made; to post a telephone number that a customer could call to report a failure and request a refund; to make sure their drivers were cleaning the machines adequately and replacing burnt-out lamps; and so on and on". More recent innovations include improved coin and bill validation and the rapid adoption of sense-and-feedback systems to verify that the vend was made.


According to Michael Kasavana, National Automatic Merchandising Association at Michigan State University, the advent of reliable, affordable wireless technology has made telemetry practical and provided the medium through which cashless payments can be authenticated.Research shows that 50% of consumers will not purchase from a vending machine if its "Use exact change only" light is on. Machines with telemetry can transmit sales and inventory data to a route truck in the parking lot so that the driver knows what products to bring in for restocking. Or the data can be transmitted to a remote headquarters for use in scheduling a route stop, detecting component failure or verifying collection information.


Many telemetry technology providers are competing for the standard as the market tests different vending machine setups. Based on early documentation, digital telemetry communication for stocking and Credit Card style payment systems saves up to 40% of the carbon emissions over standard human monitored, and mechanical change systems.


IntuiSense Technologies, a French based technology firm has developed the first ever "touchless" vending machine using Gesture Recognition (Computer Vision). IntuiSense's patented technology includes a high definition monitor (55"-32"), a custom built CPU, MDB monitor, and the IS Gesture Recognition system all in a vandal proof construction. They have utilized the same technology as the Microsoft Kinect and other Computer Vision companies.


Vendtxt Vending Inc. developed and deployed vending machines allowing customers to purchase products through an SMS (text) message. The user sends a text to a short code and receives a text message back with a four digit numeric code. The user then enters their code into the vending machine and make a selection. If their product is delivered the mobile phone account is charged.
Another innovation is self-service, standalone Automated Retail stores, for example with a touchscreen. Once a product is purchased the robotic arm delivers it into the pickup box and charges the consumer's credit card.


In the area of service vending machines other innovations include internet kiosks and DVD vending. Cashless vending now allows consumers to use debit cards or precharged "keys" such as the U-Key for added convenience. Vending is a multi-billion dollar industry.


To prevent injuries or death from tipping or striking the machine, most modern snack vending machines equipped with spirals to hold products contain lasers near the access door at the bottom. If a purchased item does not break the laser beam when falling, the spirals will automatically turn, usually three times to ensure that a product will fall. If this still does not occur, the customer will be asked to make another selection or will be refunded their money.


Off-grid fuel cell based vending machines with swappable hydrogen storage tanks are entering the market.


Cashless payments will soon be on many vending machines in the near future. The majority of vending machine operators plan to add credit card swipers to their machines in 2011, according to a study by Apriva, wireless transaction services company. About 57 percent of companies surveyed by Apriva said they planned to expand the number of their machines outfitted with card swipers.


Smart Vendor car vending machine in Shibuya

We’ve seen plenty of interesting vending machines all over Japan, even for outright marketing, 
though the recent Smart Vendor in Shibuya Station might just take the creativity award home.

Holding a full-size Smart Car, the faux vending machine has two choices (coupe and cabrio), and a convenient slot to insert the amount you need (about $20k). Of course, this is a concept only, but is a nice extension of their already creative vending machine idea that fits right into the Japanese love for instant gratification on-the-go. Besides, could you do this with any other car without it seeming like a big joke?

 Pushing the button on the vendor won’t exactly pop out a car, but it does dispense a branded tube containing pamphlets on the new models, dealer information, and a sheet of Smart Car stickers featuring the available colors.
Now the big question: Will the Smart Car become a hit in Japan? One would think “yes” because of limited space, but cutting the car in half still won’t give us anywhere else to park unless the parking spaces are cut in half as well. However, with rising gas prices and a burgeoning Eco movement in Japan, it just might make the dent it wants to.