These two photos are of the lunchroom inside a Vendo vending machine factory lunchroom sometime in the 1950s. As you can see in the first photo, the lunchroom was fully stocked with Vendo vending machines of all kinds. These were soda, fresh food, ice cream, milk, juice and coffee machines.

The second photo shows a more humorous take on the assortment of food and drink vendors available to the employees. This room has been set up to look like a town in the old West. Instead of the words “Coca-Cola” over the vending machine, a rustic –looking sign with “The Cold Bottle” is displayed overhead, making it look more like an old saloon. Old storefronts have been painted on the walls. What a fun place to have lunch—“How ‘bout a nice cold Coke, Pardner?”

The Hupp Console-Cup Cold Drink Machine was an automatic drink vendor that was marketed for use in all types of locations. These 1949 ads show them placed in a bowling alley, gas station, bus station, theater, supermarket, company lunchroom and on a factory floor. Although it may not have been a very attractive machine, they were touted as being economical to operate and having an innovative design.

The Hupp Corporation is not usually associated with vending machines, but rather, with the automobile industry. They started in Detroit in 1908 as a manufacturer of the Hupmobile car. The company was formed by Robert C. Hupp and named the Hupp Motor Car Company. They moved to Cleveland in 1928 where they manufactured a less expensive Hupmobile model as well as automobile parts. Automobile production was halted in July 1940 as Detroit struggled to recover from the Depression. During WWII they manufactured munitions for the U.S. Government and following the war, they made parts for other automobile manufacturers. Hupp returned to Cleveland in 1946 and began making appliances, including the Hupp Console-Cup Cold Drink Machine we see pictured here.

The company was bought by John O. Ekblom in 1955 and he combined Hupp with several other companies he had acquired. Hupp diversified into several manufacturing areas including air-conditioning, heating, appliances and aviation. About 35% of the overall business was made up of appliance manufacturing. Hupp was sold three more times and declared bankruptcy in 1991.

The unique-looking Hupp Console-Cup Cold Drink Machine was manufactured for several soft drink companies, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Hires and Royal Crown. It vended the soft drink into a cup, as well as ice. These are rare machines and we’d love to hear if you’ve come across one.

Dimensions: 36”H x 32”W x 27”D
Weight: 400 lbs.
Produced: Late 1940s

Manufactured by:
Hupp Corporation
Cleveland, Ohio

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

Is Refreshery even a word? In any case, we had this photo of what looks to be a movie theater concession stand. Really great 1950’s styling for the back wall with “Refreshery” spelled out in a great-looking script set on top of alternating square panels.

There’s a popcorn machine, candy counter, self-serve ice cream and a cup vending soda machine, all you would ever need to watch a movie.

Does anybody remember where this might be? Bottom of the photo has “Kingston” written out. Please blog-in if you know where this may have been.

Vendo Milk Vendor

The Vendo Milk Vendor was manufactured by The Vendo Co. in the 1950’s. It uses a lot of the same parts as the V-80 and 81 soda machines as well as having the same shape. This machine was not intended for large volume, but rather was classified as a small to mid-size machine for “’in-between’ volume needs”. As with other machines of the 50s, this is an upright with rounded corners. The upright design was intended to save floor space and this model requires only three square feet. The design includes the addition of an illuminated display case on top of the machine for the customer to view the different drink options. The drinks were available in cardboard cartons and the selection could include up to four different choices. There was a 52 to 80 drink total capacity and the machine operated with a push-button selection.

The Vendo Milk Vendor was one of a group of three very similar machines produced by Vendo at the time. In addition to the Milk Vendor were the Hot Food Vendor and the Ice Cream Machine. The Milk Vender is a rare machine, but of the three, the Ice Cream Machine is the most rare.

The standard color for the Vendo Milk Vendor was blue, as seen in the brochure. But we had a machine that we decided to do a little differently. See our earlier blog about the Cow Motif Vendo Milk Machine.

Dimensions: 58”H x 27”W x 16”D
Manufactured by:
The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

The Mills 65 Soft Drink Vendor

The Mills 65 cold drink dispenser was advertised as a smaller version of soft drink vending machines of the time. This machine was manufactured from 1947-1953. For a nickel, it would dispense an ice cold drink and it could make change from a dime or quarter with its electric coin changer. It could hold 65 bottles of soft drinks and was painted in a variety of colors with a baked-on enamel and stainless steel accents. Manufactured by:Mills Industries, Inc.4100 Fullerton Ave.Chicago, ILIf you have one of these, they are the most desirable of the Mills machines made after WWII. If you are fortunate enough to have one of these, blog-in and let us know. Or if you have anything of interest to add to this blog, please let us know.

1950’s SuperVend Cold Cup Drink Vendor

The ad for this 1950’s superVend drink vendor stated that this machine could be used at a variety of locations to increase drink selling profits. Some of the locations listed were schools, air, rail and bus terminals, supermarkets and filling stations. This model cold drink dispenser was capable of vending 3 different flavors of a cold drink into a cup.

Manufactured by:
SuperVend Corp.
2586 Cedar Springs Ave.
Dallas, TX

The ad proclaimed that this machine was “A sleek, glistening beauty!” Maybe you have seen one. Blog in and let us know.

The Cole-Spa Hermetic vending machine was a 3-flavor cold drink dispenser. This machine was made in the late 40’s and early 50’s. The term “hermetic” referred to the fact that the machine was sealed, the idea being that fewer things should break down, resulting in fewer service calls.

The Cole-Spa was capable of vending 630 cups. It could vend hot cocoa or hot soup with the addition of an attachment available from the manufacturer. There was a handy round mirror at the top of the machine, so you could check your hair or lipstick while your drink was dispensing.

These machines seem to have done very well, according to their brochure: “Chicago’s Northcenter Theatre reports tripled profits with Cole-Spa.” Apparently in an attempt to link their company identity with the world’s most successful soft drink company, the Cole Products Corp. created a logo that very closely resembles the logo used for Coca-Cola, even using the Coca-Cola’s Company’s characteristic white type on a red background.

Manufactured by:
Cole Products Corp.
39 S. La Salle St.
Chicago, IL

Have you ever seen one of these drink dispensers? Blog-in and let us know.

The Spacarb 4-D-51 hot and cold drink vendor was manufactured in the mid 40’s to early 50’s. As with any other drink vending machine from its time, not many of these have survived.

The vending options are listed as any combination of carbonated drink, non-carbonated (or “still”) drink and hot drink, adding up to a total of 4 dispensing choices. It could dispense into either 600 10oz. cups or 1000 7oz. cups.

The brochure states that the machine “serves 3 syrup flavors and club soda”. Evidently the syrup and carbonated water were combined just prior to the drink being dispensed. Spacarb describes itself as “America’s oldest manufacturer and operator of automated beverage dispensers.”

Manufactured by:
Spacarb, Inc.
311-317 East 23rd St.
New York, NY

Have you ever seen or had any experience using one of these drink dispensers? Blog-in and let us know.

The Delf Triple-Selector Soda Machine

The Fully-Automatic Delf Triple-Selector Vendor dispensed bottled soft drinks and was capable of vending up to 3 different flavors. This model machine, made in the late 1940’s to early 50’s was touted as being a smaller model, but with a large capacity. It had an overall 121-bottle vending capacity but had a unique way of vending them. It utilized 3 horizontal vending conveyors that vended 37 bottles. This machine could vend 6 to 12 oz. bottles of soda. There was a stainless steel interior lining and storage available inside the machine to hold 48 additional bottles.

Manufactured by:
Atlas Tool & Manufacturing Co.
5147 Natural Bridge Blvd.
St. Louis, MO

Dimensions: 73”H x 24.5”W x 25”D

Blog-in and tell us if you’ve ever seen one of these machines, or maybe you also have one in your collection.

1950’s Vendo Milk Machine

The 1950’s Vendo Milk Machine is very rare and highly sought after by collectors. We were lucky enough to find 4 of these at one time. So instead of restoring them all in the traditional blue they originally came in, we decided to have some fun.

As you can see, this particular machine was done in a cow motif with a customized milk sign. As with all of our restorations, this machine was redone both inside and out to make it fully functional.

The Vendo Milk Machine was one of a series of three upright machines put out by Vendo in the mid 50’s. Also available was the Vendo Hot Food Vender. It was very similar to the milk machine but vended small cans of hot food. I believe Vendo did away with it because it was a fire hazard. The last machine of the three was the Vendo Ice Cream Machine. Although all three machines are rare, the ice cream version is the hardest to find. We owned several milk machines and one hot food vendor, but never even saw an ice cream machine.

If you are searching for one of these machines to collect, the one you want is the early, smaller machine from 1950’s. Vendo came out with all kinds of upright milk and ice cream machines later on, but these machines are nowhere near as collectible as the original three. The exception to that is the Vendo Dairy-Vend ice cream vender, a chest style ice cream machine that we will blog about soon.

Parts for these machines are not available so you will need to find a complete machine or a second one you can use for parts. Happy hunting and blog in and let us know how you make out.

Dimensions:
58”H x 27”W x 16”D

1960 Coca-Cola Vendo Soda Machines

This is a Vendo Company brochure announcing their available soda vending machine line for the year in 1960. Note the Vendo 44, which was introduced in 1956, was still being manufactured. This was a very popular model, and tens of thousands of these were manufactured.

As the Vendo soda machines were modernized and improved, they were also getting larger, as you can see in this photo of a Vendo V-304-4 Multi-Drink model. This machine was capable of vending 304 regular or king (10 oz.) bottles, as well as cooling an additional 36 bottles. It could vend up to 4 different beverages. With its large capacity, this vendor was designed for high-traffic areas.

Blog-in with any comments you may have.

Welch’s Juice Vendor

The 1950’s Welch Juice vending machine dispensed cups of Welch’s juices, like grape and apple. This model was a 2-flavor dispenser. Inside the machine, concentrated fruit juice was mixed with water and then dispensed into cups for the customer. The unit needed to be connected to the city water supply to intake water for the mixing of the drinks.

Manufactured by:
The Welch Grape Juice Co.
55 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY

Dimensions: 25.5 in. wide x 22 in. deep x 68.5 in. high

Blog in and let us know if you remember vintage models like this.