Trivially Speaking: Going back to the gumball machine - Loveland Reporter-Herald

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GUMBALL MACHINE! There I said it.

I don’t know why certain thoughts pop into my mind. I wish I did. It doesn’t seem to be happening more frequently in COVID-time; everything seems to have slowed down except the spread of the virus.

Back in the days when you’d bend over to pick up a penny from the sidewalk gumball machines were ubiquitous — I’ve been wanting to use that word for several columns but this was the first good chance.

And by the way, many would recall that if the penny you picked up was “heads up” it was good luck.

My first recollections of the little “kid-magnets” were when my folks would take me out to a meal.

Others of my vintage know what it was like to eat out before fast fooderies stole the market from mom-and-pop restaurants. It seemed as though there was a gumball machine when you came in the door or if that was inconvenient, located next to the cash register — there were no credit card devices.

So, that puts my acquaintance with gumball machines in the mid-1940s — even with my super memory I can’t be more specific than that. They’d been in cafes for about four decades by then.

If you’re too young to know what I’m writing about, let me describe the little contraptions. The first ones had a clear sphere of glass (now plastic if you find one) filled with small gumballs sitting on top of a metal base.

The sphere had a metal top with a keyhole in it so it could be opened to replenish the gumballs.

The penny then (quarter now?) was inserted into the base and a handle was turned clockwise 360 degrees, depositing the coin in the base and allowing a gumball to be dumped into a chute at the bottom of the base. The chute was closed by a little metal flap preventing the gumball from rolling to the floor.

The early ones were not very sophisticated, perhaps leading to their charm for kids.

Vending machines for stick or block shaped gum had been in the public since 1888 but the first machines to carry actual gumballs were not seen until 1907. These were ostensibly released first by the Thomas Adams Gum Co.

Scientific minds were never satisfied and in 1923, the Norris Manufacturing Co. patented their “Master” line of chrome gumball machines. They produced these gadgets in volume during the 1930s.

These were clever; they could accept either pennies or nickels. Those were the heydays of gumball machines (a penny during that Depression, then not now) was a big deal.

Thus, in 1934, the Ford Gum and Machine Co. made its appearance on the gummy scene. The Ford brand of gumball machine had a distinct shiny chrome color.

Sales of gum from these machines typically went to local service organizations such as Kiwanis or Lions as local fundraisers.

Ford is the name I remember as I connected it to Kiwanis on machines that I recall dropping in a penny and hoping not to get a black (yucky) gumball.

It’s been a long time since I dropped in my first penny; a lot of gum has been stuck under desks since then.

A quarter seems to be asking a lot but if most of the proceeds go to service club’s work I might give it a try once again (only if no black gumballs were showing).

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Trivially Speaking: Going back to the gumball machine - Loveland Reporter-Herald
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