On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:41:55 -0500, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
Frnak McKenney fired this volley
in :

Someone mentioned "drum-fed". Is this the same as the "big rotating
honeycomb" I recall seeing at one time?

Yes. It had a drum that would hold about 50 (51 or 54, IIRC) bottles in
a staggered pattern three bottles high. The drum was rotated by a
ratcheting handle on the front of the machine that was only mechanically
attached to the drive after coins were inserted -- otherwise it just
moved freely.

Each bottle came around behind an aperture plate with its holes arranged
so that the bottles were presented 1-2-3 bottom to top as the drum was
indexed through three delivery positions. A bottle could not be
extracted through a hole unless it was perfectly aligned, so even though
you could see (and even grasp) the other two bottles on (say) the
'bottom' delivery, you couldn't pull out any but the one.

It was simple, almost foolproof, and rugged, but it lacked "loading
density". The same sized stack-fed machine of later years could hold 2-3
times as many drinks in the same footprint.

Coke also realized fairly soon after this machine was made that putting a
cold water fountain on the side of a cold drink machine was a dumb sales
tactic. G

LLoyd,

Thanks for the memories... especially since yours are clearer than
mine. I had even forgotten about the bottle/hole "partial match",
which is surprising since I spent a bit of time as a pre-teen trying
to figure out how to wiggle a bottle _just_ right... grin!

Haven't seen any of the horizontal-loaders recently either -- the
long-slotted drop-a-dime-and-lift-out-one-drink coolers with an
inch or two of cold water in the bottom.

Ah, nostalgia. grin


Frank McKenney
--
There are many definitions of what art is, but what I am convinced
art is not is self-expression. If I have an experience, it is not
important because it is mine. It is important because it's worth
writing about for other people, worth sharing with other people.
That is what gives it validity. -- W.H. Auden
--
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney ayut mined spring dawt cahm (y'all)