The Definition of a Vending Machine A vending machine is
commonly known as automatic retailing. It is a machine that
dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, toiletries,
cigarettes, tickets, and other consumer products to customers
automatically, in exchange for a payment in form of a coin,
bill, or card inserted into the machine. The Inventor of the
Vending Machine The inventor of the first vending machine has
been traced back to Hero of Alexandria in the period between
10–70 AD. Hero was a Greek mathematician and engineer from the
city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. Hero, or also known as Heron,
is considered to be the greatest experimenter of antiquity. His
works are great representations of the Hellenistic scientific
tradition. The First Vending Machine The first vending machine
or automatic retailer was a machine that accepted a coin and
then dispensed holy water, documented in Hero’s book entitled
“Mechanics and Optics”. A coin was inserted via a slot on the
top of the machine. The coin falls to a pan at