Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

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roger
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Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by roger »

Just Curious...........What's you bid ?? Great moneymaker. @&@

Holy Water Dispensing Machine 10 AD...... Hero of Alexandria, Inventor.

For details and picture GOOGLE.... Smith College drop a drachma and be saved or "The world's first vending machine dispensed holy water"

Let's hear your offer **xXx**
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coppinpr
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Re: Sorry - Not For Sale

Post by coppinpr »

This is not the first vendor! but it is the first example of a slot machine trait that continued into modern times...ripping off an earlier design. Halfway down this page on my web site https://www.penny-arcade.info/strange2 you will find another water dispenser that predates the above by 220 years!! :lol:
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arrgee
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale

Post by arrgee »

Such a lot of work gone into the website Paul, well done to you and Jeremy (I assume he is still involved)
For those who have not seen it, well worth a visit.
!!THUMBSX2!!
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale

Post by pennymachines »

coppinpr wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 12:14 pm This is not the first vendor!
That's interesting. I wasn't aware of it. I've been trying to find out more, but have found nothing definitive on the internet. Generally, Hero is cited as the inventor of the first vending machine (e.g. Wikipedia) but several sources which mention the 215 BC date seem to assume that's when Hero invented it.

Because this is ancient history there's much doubt about dates and timelines. For example, the century in which Hero lived:
Hero of Alexandria was a Greek writer on mathematics, mechanics, and optics who poses some serious challenges for historians. At least twenty-one works have been attributed to him, but many have been roughly handled by history. While some, such as the Pneumatica and Automata, are preserved in the Greek, in numerous manuscripts, others exist in rather mutilated form; some are preserved only in Arabic or Latin translation; and still others are lost and their titles known only from ancient or medieval citations. And it is obvious that some of the works attributed to Hero are spurious. Even the century in which Hero lived is uncertain. Dates between the second century B.C.E. and the third century C.E. have been proposed. An influential proposal by Otto Neugebauer places Hero in the first century C.E., based on the circumstances of a lunar eclipse mentioned in the Dioptra. But it is far from clear that Hero observed this eclipse himself—or even that it corresponds to a real eclipse.
Héron d’Alexandrie. Metrica: Introduction, texte critique, traduction française et notes de commentaire.

I believe his holy water vendor appears in 'Mechanics and Optics', but I don't know in what form that document exists. Perhaps it's lost and only referenced in later works? I imagine it was the original source of the famous engraving below.


Hero's Holy Water Dispenser
Hero's Holy Water Dispenser


Egyptian Holy Water Dispenser
Egyptian Holy Water Dispenser


But where did the image of the supposedly earlier device (above) come from? According to the National Automatic Merchandising Association, Hero, "described one of the first reports of a water vending machine in 215 BC. That machine was used to dispense holy water used in the temples of Egypt."

So perhaps reports of the 215 BC machine are thanks to reports of Hero's report of a report of the machine... :o
I've updated the Museum Vending Machine header text to reflect this.

It would be helpful to know the original source of that image. I wonder if it was derived from an historical document or whether it's a recent artist's interpretation of how the device might have looked.
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moonriver
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by moonriver »


IMG_1926.PNG

A good friend of mine has this interesting Holy Water Vendor, originally from a travelling US State Fair.
The punter chooses which side to deposit coin. 'Catholics' to the right , 'All Others' to the left!
When the coin slide is pushed in on the left side nothing happens, when the coin slide is pushed in on the right side the statue squirts holy water over you. It's definitely old, probably some overpainting and the figure may be a replacement but the glass water reservoir and complex siphon arrangement and rubber pipes at the back are old. Never seen another.
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coppinpr
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by coppinpr »

On the subject of religious vending machines, this communion wafer vendor has to be my favourite. If it is indeed a wafer vendor - I've always suspected it's a condom vendor pretending to be something else. :lol: You have to love the slogan though.
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by pennymachines »

By introducing coin-operated vending, automatic fortune telling and tableau automata, perhaps Heron was attempting to subvert Greek temples and theatre into amusement arcades.













Religion + Covid + entrepreneur:

roger
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by roger »

!THANKS! Thanks to MR. P. and other members for all the great research.

I tried to contact the museum at Smith College but they are closed because
of the virus.......It will be interesting to learn how they created an image of
the Holy WATER Coin-Op and the source of their research. ROGER :!?!: !PUZZLED!
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brigham
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by brigham »

The EGYPTIAN Holy Water dispenser is certainly not a period drawing.
The perspective is right...
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arrgee
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Re: Sorry -- Not For Sale -- Holy Water Vendor

Post by arrgee »

coppinpr wrote:If it is indeed a wafer vendor - I've always suspected it's a condom vendor pretending to be something else.
Brings a whole new meaning to 'come to mass' :lol:
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