Gumball machine

A gumball machine is a vending machine with the original purpose of selling chewing-gum. The gums are usually hard spheres of approximately one centimeter in diameter, are only with the saliva in the mouth to the chewable mass.

Later, small items such as plastic earrings, key chains or tiny pocket knives were filled as additional gimmicks in the machines, so that they can be seen also as a precursor of the toy machine. In libraries, such machines are now used also for sale earplugs.

The gumball machine came in the postwar period with the chewing gum to Germany. The typical gumball machine is a purely mechanical design. It is thrown a coin, which triggers a mechanism in the operation of the rotary handle, which drops the coin into the collection container and the goods that is usually located in a large glass sphere on the machine, releases and drops into the output tray.

Therefore, gumball machines were to be found in its heyday, not only on wet bar and in cinemas, etc., but were hanged in modified form throughout West Germany in the outdoor area to house walls ( like at school routes ) and influenced so many cities and towns, the local image. It is mostly automatic batteries which unite in principle two to four machines in a Metallhubus with about meter long sides, which is painted in bright colors.

Every single machine has it normally instead of the glass sphere of counter automata over a small small window that allows the customer to take a look at its contents, the known Münzeinwurf-/Drehmechanismus with handle and each have their own goods output tray.

Meanwhile, the gum wall machines are again on the decline. Your content can now buy just as good in most supermarkets. In addition, these machines are perceived by many to be unhygienic. Many wall machines were and are victims of vandalism, are partly in pitiful conditions and for their operators are now no longer lucrative.

On one wall mounted gumball machine with two dispensers

Gumball Machine in Dußlingen, where you can pay with 50 -pfennig pieces today

Chewing gum and PEZ dispenser in Wiernsheim - Iptingen