I recently took my nephew out to see one of those 3D animated movies. The movie was fine, but the real excitement occurred when we were leaving. Somehow, my nephew missed an ice cream vending machine in the lobby when we entered the theater, but he immediately noticed it on our way out.
He was beside himself with excitement. First, he knew I’m a sucker for ice cream. He figured (correctly) that I would buy some for him. Second, he just couldn’t believe that ice cream could be sold through vending machines. To him, this was one of those giant technological advances by mankind akin to the iPad and the Mars Rover mission. I didn’t have the heart to tell him this was nothing new.
While not at the saturation level of soda machines, ice cream vending machines have been around awhile. They were around when I was a kid (and my reaction much like my nephew’s). That said, there have been some “updates” to the ice cream vending machine since my childhood. Following are images of some of those cooler vending machines.
Ice cream vending machine from, I'm guessing, the 1950's.
The cost for an ice cream from this machine? One smile.
There are machines that dispense soft serve ice cream. Some even play music while you wait.
Click to see a machine that "Hoovers" your ice cream.
