Plastic key operated vending machines

[suebutcher]

Do we have information on the 1960s food vending machines that used coloured plastic keys to open glass door compartments containing snacks? (Toddington Services on the M1 had this system circa 1969 if I remember correctly, also the Warrior Square baths in Southend.)

[Graham G3ZVT]

I don't recall them Sue but I've found this that might match what you're after.

There was another craze in the US in the 1950s.
In the UK I vividly remember visiting an automated motorway service station restaurant near Newcastle in the late 1960s. The hot meals were stored cold and came out of the vending machine with a plastic 'key'. You were supposed to put the meal and the key into a microwave cooker. The the service station was very busy, the keys were very brittle, the plates came out extremely hot - the result was pandemonium - crying children, the floor awash with spilt meals, the cookers jammed by broken bits of key and frantic staff producing ordinary food from round the back.

https://www.underthepier.com/19_vending_machines.htm

Never mind the plastic key, the 1950s vintage microwave interests me!

[Nickthedentist]

Thanks for the link to Tim Hunkin's website!

[dglcomp]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

Thanks for the link to Tim Hunkin's website!

He's quite the interesting person, and his amusement arcades in Southwold and London seem like must visit places.
Look up the secret life of machines on YouTube, an excellent science program with his cartoons and sidekick Rex Garrod, the bloke who made Brum (the actual remote controlled car).

[Nickthedentist]

I remember tbe programme well from my childhood. Sad to see that Garrod died last year.

[Station X]

Back on topic please.

[G6Tanuki]

I remember something similar at a .US aerospace-company's canteen.

You bought [or were given, if you were on one of their training-courses] a 'key' that was about 4 inches long and had notched segments along its length.

To choose your meal you pushed the key into a hole - different meals (or meal-options) had holes that let the key go in more or fewer holes. You then twisted the key, which was snapped off at the pont where it entered the machine, so the piece-inside-the-machine was gobbled-up. The door then opened and you took your selected option.

This was kinda fun because the 'general' assumption was that you'd go for a starter [soup, 1 key-unit], a main-course [3 key-units], a dessert [1 key-unit] and a coffee [1 key-unit]. Some of us just bought two of the rather sumptious [steak!] main-courses.

In a way the idea was a logical - cash/cashier-free - version of that once-popular food-idea the "Automat"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat#United_States

[Richard_FM]

I've heard of some works canteens that worked like the one Frank Spencer accidentality overloaded in the public relations episode of Some Mother's Do Ave Em, which my wife finds hilarious since I introduced her to it a few years ago.

A couple of weeks about I was reading about the history of Automats thanks to finding this https://www.newsfromme.com/2018/09/2...deo-link-2768/. The dispensers weren't fully automated but were filled from the back from the kitchen. One problem they had was they could only price the items in multiples of 5 cents. For years the coffee was a loss leader when it started to cost more than 5c per cup, but eventually it had to be increased to 10c & customers were not pleased with this.

[suebutcher]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I remember something similar at a .US aerospace-company's canteen.

You bought [or were given, if you were on one of their training-courses] a 'key' that was about 4 inches long and had notched segments along its length.

To choose your meal you pushed the key into a hole - different meals (or meal-options) had holes that let the key go in more or fewer holes. You then twisted the key, which was snapped off at the pont where it entered the machine, so the piece-inside-the-machine was gobbled-up. The door then opened and you took your selected option.

This was kinda fun because the 'general' assumption was that you'd go for a starter [soup, 1 key-unit], a main-course [3 key-units], a dessert [1 key-unit] and a coffee [1 key-unit]. Some of us just bought two of the rather sumptious [steak!] main-courses.

In a way the idea was a logical - cash/cashier-free - version of that once-popular food-idea the "Automat"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat#United_States

That pretty much describes the vending system at Toddington. There may have been microwave ovens there, but the only time I was up late enough to need self-service I selected a cold sandwich. The plastic keys were notched, but I'm not sure if they were break-off or simply retained in the compartment lock. All the cash would have been retained in the key dispenser, simplifying the mechanics of the system. Certainly logical, but it seemed quite magical to a ten-year-old!

[Richard_FM]

I heard that during Nikita Khrushchev's good well visit to the USA in 1959 he visited one of IBM's facilities. Supposedly he was more impressed by the self service canteen than the computers! I believe the Soviets managed to licence the design of the machines he saw.

[kirstyd]

back in the early 70s i was an apprentice with a company called HC troldhal .I worked at the Middlesbrough branch but the main office was based in Newcastle .We would repair the domestic oven sized microwave that was operated with a plastic key .The ovens brand name was Dysona a very heavy unit with a door that popped up when the food was cooked .Places like ICI would have them in their canteens .Workers would select their meal from the chilled cabinet place it in the microwave push in the key and wait for the door to open very useful for nightshift workers when the main canteen would be closed .there were two models one had the key mechanism the other just a conventional timer .Inside all the usual components were in situ just three times larger than what you would find in a modern microwave .Although the oven was large and heavy the oven cavity was quite small just big enough for a conventional dinner plate .the cavity had a plastic liner [the consistency of Tupperware] that could be pulled out and washed in a dishwasher .the door was quite heavy and was pulled up by two large springs.