The earliest known reference to a vending machine is in the work of Hero of Alexandria, an engineer and mathematician in first-century Roman Egypt. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed wine2 or holy water.3 When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened a valve which let some wine flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counterweight snapped the lever up and turned off the valve.

Neat

That's pretty fucking incredible

I wonder how much it would cost in modern cash

You had me at wine vending nachine

RIP Necco Wafers, you were better than like half the stuff in that photo.

wine... holy water. wine... holy water.

Shit, I only have one coin! I guess the blessing will have to wait.

(I love it when people learn this)

edit: and I think it's so cool that the weight of the coin determined how long the valve stayed open. Real money and all that.

With inflation 5 cents 2000 years ago is worth $1 billion