Vending machines have come a long way from selling simply cans of Coke, chocolate bars and packets of crisps. Almost anything imaginable can now be purchased from the dispensaries, there is little that can’t be found in the self-service devices. Here’s a collection of vintage photographs, which date from the 1920s to the late 1960s, showcases some of the world’s oldest and oddest vending machines.

A woman in London is able to continue her grocery shop thanks to a vending machine which says it dispenses fruit but seems to offer kitchen cupboard essentials such as Oxo cubes, tins of food, matches and Colgate products, 1920.

A woman buys fruit from a coin operated machine at Paddington Station in London, ca. 1920s.

A woman uses The Maiwarm Company soda machine in 1928. It was the first of its kind not to require a soda squirter.

Mid adult couple purchasing ice cream from a vending machine, ca. 1930s.

A man uses the cafeteria vending machine called ‘Automat’, ca. 1940s.

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