These various devices, and many others which we might mention, are regarded as very clever inventions, and have certainly proved successful in many cases in a pecuniary sense.
The last automatic vending machine alluded to is shown in our second [engraving]. The perfume reservoir is located in the upper portion of the vase; the tube communicating with the lower part of the reservoir extends through the side of the vase, and is closed at its upper end by a valve attached to one end of the lever, O. The other end of the lever, O, is connected by a rod with the lever, E, the longer arm of this lever being provided with a pan, R, for receiving coin, while the shorter arm of the lever is furnished with a weight for counterbalancing the pan and closing the valve. A curved piece of metal is arranged concentric with the path of the pan, R, and serves to retain the coin dropped into it through the slot in the top of the vase until the pan, R, is carried down beyond the end of the curved plate, when the coin is discharged into the lower part of the vase; the counterweight on the short arm of the lever then returns the lever to the point of starting and closes the valve, thus stopping the flow of the perfume.
LUSTRAL WATER VESSEL DESCRIBED BY HERON ABOUT 100 B.C.
NOBLE’S AUTOMATIC PERFUME DISTRIBUTOR. PATENTED IN 1889.
This very clever device was patented by Mr. Lewis C. Noble, of Boston, Mass., on November 19, 1889. Our [illustration] is prepared directly from the patent drawings. This and other machines for analogous purposes are regarded as the peculiar product of our inventive age, but in turning back the pages of history, we find that in Egypt, something more than two thousand years ago, when a worshiper was about to enter the temple, he sprinkled himself with lustral water, taken from a vase near the entrance. The priests made the distribution of holy water a source of revenue by the employment of the automatic vending machine which is shown in our first [engraving]. This apparatus would not release a single drop of the purifying liquid until coin to the amount required had been deposited in the vase.
A comparison of the ancient lustral water vase and the modern perfumery vending machine will show that they are substantially alike. The ancient machine has a lever, O, fulcrumed in the standard, N, and connected with the valve in the reservoir, H. The lever is furnished with the pan, R, for receiving the coins dropped through the slot, A, at the top of the vase. An enlarged view of the valve belonging to the vase is shown at the left of the [engraving].