The Rolling Ball Web
An Online Compendium of
Rolling Ball Sculptures, Clocks, Etc.
By David M. MacMillan et. al.
Dale Emery of the Bixworks Company has put together a wonderful history of the Entertainment Bulk Vending Machine, including many rolling gumball machines. This page is on their website, at:
http://www.bixworks.com/spn.htm
The Bixworks Company, L.C. makes the Gumball Gizmo and the Gumball Gizmo Jr. The Gumball Gizmo was invented by Dale Bix Emery and Van C. Peery. They have much information on their machines at their website:
http://www.bixworks.comRolling ball sculptor Fred Crusade has built two gum vending machines, Zig Zag Zoo I and Zig Zag Zoo II. For more information, see the Rolling Ball Web's Fred Crusade page.
This machine appears at the Cumberland Science Museum, Nashville, TN. David Brown photographed it, and describes it in this way:
This Candy Dispenser was also at the museum. It uses a combination of electrically operated mechanisms and rolling-ball track to deliver the goods. One interesting thing about this was that the mechanism includes some error recovery. When I tried the machine, the candy fell off the track about halfway through and landed on an earlier section of the track. I thought I'd just blown a quarter, but after waiting a few seconds, I watched as the machine restarted the mechanics at the section of the track where the ball landed. The delivery continued this time without interruption. At several points along the track, small photoelectric sensors are installed. That's evidently part of the reason for the bright interior lighting. As the ball passes the sensor, it turns on or off parts of the mechanism. If a ball fails to exit some part, the machine tries to recover the lost ball by restarting some section of the track.
Photo Copyright © 1998 by Davd Brown.
With the exception of any material noted as being in the public domain, the text, images, and encoding of this document are copyright © 1998 1999 by David M. MacMillan and David Brown.
This document is licensed for private, noncommercial, nonprofit viewing by individuals on the World Wide Web. Any other use or copying, including but not limited to republication in printed or electronic media, modification or the creation of derivative works, and any use for profit, is prohibited.
This writing is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but "as-is," without any warranty of any kind, expressed or implied; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
In no event will the author(s) or editor(s) of this document be liable to you or to any other party for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use of or inability to use this document or the information contained in it, even if you have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
In no event will the author(s) or editor(s) of this document be liable to you or to any other party for any injury, death, disfigurement, or other personal damage arising out of your use of or inability to use this document or the information contained in it, even if you have been advised of the possibility of such injury, death, disfigurement, or other personal damage.
All trademarks or registered trademarks used in this document are the properties of their respective owners and (with the possible exception of any marks owned by the author(s) or editor(s) of this document) are used here for purposes of identification only. A trademark catalog page lists the marks known to be used on these web pages. Please e-mail web@lemur.com if you believe that the recognition of a trademark has been overlooked.
Version
1.5, 1999/05/13.
Feedback to web@lemur.com
http://www.database.com/~lemur/rb-gumball.html
Go to the: