FORUM

Two more vending machines added to my collection both working on the 1d.

The Beechnut Vendor is from around the 1950s, working on the old 1d. You receive a free gum packet on every 4th penny used (the gum packets are dummies).

The Red Wrigley Vendor is from around the 1940s, working on 2 x 1d pennies. Very few red Wrigley vendors remain (gum packets are dummies).

Very nice

If I remember correctly you could tell when the free chewy was available by the position of the handle.
I inherited a bubble gum vendor full of bubble gums and lucky charms from a dead uncle. Me and my friend spent the whole day eating them. I was sick all over his mum's new carpet, still got the charms! Happy days.

Yes, you're correct, there's an arrow on the handle. When the arrow points to you, an extra gum packet is vended.

Nice penny high top.

alan57 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:42 pm Yes, you're correct, there's an arrow on the handle. When the arrow points to you, an extra gum packet is vended.

This info would have been priceless 40 years ago when I was 12 years old!

radiochrissie wrote: ↑Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:34 pm Me and my friend spent the whole day eating them. I was sick all over his mum's new carpet,

This had me laughing out loud, you made my day, Thank you!

There was always an arrow on the handle, but I never saw a machine which described the 'free packet' position. They usually said 'free packet every fourth turn', and left the rest for us to work out.
It was to do with Retail Price Control, if I remember correctly.

Arrowmint gum

alan57 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:42 pm Yes, you're correct, there's an arrow on the handle. When the arrow points to you, an extra gum packet is vended.

I'm sure the position was different on individual machines. Aged 12 I paid a schoolmate 3d to learn the position was "away from you" for the machine at the bottom of my road. However not on the ones in town.
I recouped my outlay by investing a thru'penny every time I saw the arrow at 'up'. I soon had a pocket full of packets which I sold on for 2d.

I never entered an upper tax bracket, but the idea of getting something for nothing once I cleared my overheads was my motivation.

BP

Great piece of humorous nostalgia from radiochrissie that made me chuckle - hope the charms have since brought you luck.

Yes, they have served me well, just not on that day.

Presumably because you got your pocket money stopped to pay for carpet to be cleaned.

Alan - I've added your very smart Wrigleys and Beechnut vendors to the Vendors category of the Museum (under your username).

Couple of questions:
Does anyone know who made these?
Am I right that the Wrigley Company and The Imperial Packing Company (who made Beechnut gum from 1910) only loaned the vendors to shops? That might explain why some are quite rare.

Beechnut is an American owned company, they merged in the early 1950s with Roundtree in York.
The Beechnut vendors was the property of the Automatic Chewing Sweet Sales Ltd, (Roundtree),
the machines where made at their works in 61 Wigginton Road, York, they stopped production mid 1970s.

Wrigley Vendors was manufactured by NAM (National Automatic Machines Ltd), 99, Cobbled Rd, London NW10.
The very early Wrigley vendors were red in colour, but changed to white in the late 1950s.

I'm not sure if the machines where rented out or bought outright by the shop owners, as I guess it was the shop owners responsibility it re fill them with sweets.

Roundtree or Rowntree?

BP

oops Rowntree

Did you know Trebor is Robert backwards?

Thanks Alan - I've added the companies to the Museum database:
I was able to find more details on Automatic Chewing Sweet Sales Ltd but nothing much yet about NAM, which is odd because they were apparently a leading maker of small chewing gum, match, cigarette and chocolate, etc. vendors. Their address was 'Cobbold Road', not 'Cobbled Road' (see plate from Chocolate vendor below),


but they also seem to have had an address at Progress House, Kingston Road, London, SW20 (it appears on their Cig vendors). To confuse matters, there also seems to be an American company of the same name.

The beech nut gum vendor took me back! I remember there was a circular mark on the turning handle and when it was in a certain position it would give you two packets. We used to wait after school for it to be in the right place and share the two packs out so only costing us 1/2 a pence! I guess this was about 43 years ago, ouch, amazing how a picture can trigger a memory long lost in time 'cause half the time I can't remember what was said to me half an hour ago. Thanks for sharing.

Is this deja vu or the previous page?
BP