The First-Ever Vending Machine Was Created In This Ancient Country

The humble vending machine has long been a mainstay of shopping on the go. The most popular kinds sell drinks or snacks, but you can also find vending machines offering everything from ice cream and live crabs to gold bars and luxury cars. Pretty much anything that can be stored in a machine and sold for cash has been at some point. The technology is far older than most people realize, however — we're talking 2000 years ago. The Ancient Greek mathematician and engineer Hero of Alexandria is credited with inventing the original vending machine around the first century A.D. in Egypt.

Hero's invention worked by allowing a buyer to drop a coin into the top of a container. The coin would fall inside and land on a lever. Under the weight of the coin, the lever went down, pulling a string. The string was attached to a plug that opened a valve, allowing the container to dispense holy water. So Hero's invention was not a snack machine — it was designed to prevent people from taking more than their fair share of holy water, which had apparently been a problem in temples up to that point. This way, with the coin-operated mechanism, everyone got the same amount based on what they paid.

Hero's design allowed the coin to slide down the lever under its weight and eventually fall into a coin box. When that happened, the lever righted itself and sealed the valve, cutting off the stream of holy water until another coin was dropped. A simple design, but effective for what was needed.

Hero's invention was not very similar to a modern vending machine. Based on reconstructions and drawings, you wouldn't even think it was a machine to look at it. Instead, it looked more like a large vase with a spigot attached. It had the appearance of something you might take on a picnic to dispense cold drinks, or even an antiquated Gatorade sideline cooler. To be fair, that's essentially what it was, even though the holy water wasn't meant for drinking.

The idea of a coin-operated vending machine wouldn't be revisited until the 1880s when postcard vending machines appeared in England. Towards the end of the decade, American vending machines began to appear. The first ones sold Tutti Frutti gum in New York subway stations.

We've clearly come a long way from this simple holy water dispenser to modern machines fulfilling 3 a.m. Chick-fil-A cravings and bottles of champagne on demand to help you celebrate in a pinch. Still, you can see Hero's influence in machines we use today — it's the idea of convenience over a person having to be there to sell items.

Even though the technology is more complex, Hero's basic idea is not much different from a coffee vending machine. You place your cup in the dispenser, drop in some coins, and press the button for the kind of coffee you want. Even closer to his design are water machines found all over the world that allow you to refill a reusable container with cold, clean drinking water. It may not be blessed, but Hero would probably still be impressed.