abadidea on cohost

@christianmlong

@christianmlong5/1/2024, 11:55 PM

abadidea @0xabad1dea

Cliff 🦖 Pervocracy @pervocracy4/30/2024, 2:28 PM

Look at this magnificent mechanical monstrosity

you know how people say "if toilets were invented today they'd need electricity and have to be replaced every two years"? this is... this is the opposite of that

Sylvia Lilith @estrogen-and-spite4/30/2024, 2:55 PM

As someone with dyscalculia who used to work registers... this would have made my life so much better for that time period.

Alex Zandra @zandravandra4/30/2024, 4:25 PM

I REMEMBER THOSE!!

omg I was so delighted as a kid every time a coin would roll down the little chute, I so rarely got to see it

abadidea @0xabad1dea5/1/2024, 6:05 AM

okay but what does the 100 button do???

You must log in to comment.

in reply to @pervocracy's post:

Anschel @Anschel4/30/2024, 5:40 PM

Where is this? I want to see whatever exhibit this machine is a part of

Cliff 🦖 Pervocracy @pervocracy4/30/2024, 5:52 PM

It's on display at Howe Caverns in upstate New York, about an hour from Albany

(the main attraction is a cave tour, but I got there early so had some time to pick through the tchotchkes in the upstairs area)

(the cave is very cool too and they built an elevator down to it, bless them)

Anschel @Anschel4/30/2024, 10:58 PM

I can totally imagine going to this with my partners and just staying upstairs while they do the cave

in reply to @zandravandra's post:

Sarah @defiantoptimist4/30/2024, 7:45 PM

Note the memory’s coming back. The grocery store my mom used to go to when I was 4 or 5 has one of these. It was fascinating to watch.

in reply to @0xabad1dea's post:

ur bff jll @wolfwood5/1/2024, 6:30 AM

probably gives you 4 quarters, eg change from a dollar for parking meters / pay phones.

edit: actually, i think it would dispense dollar coins, based off the buttons below it and the 5 in the zero's place. I know the baltimore metro ran exclusively on susan b anthony dollars.

abadidea @0xabad1dea5/1/2024, 9:01 AM

oh, so for doing someone the courtesy of exchanging a paper bill for coins, okay.

gotyaoi @gotyaoi5/1/2024, 6:30 AM

If it's similar to Brandt's other patents, those buttons on the right dispense the marked amounts of change directly. Like, this patent specifies that the 100 button dispenses two half dollars (page 6 part 80).

Ghostpaw Snowmiaux @snowmiaux5/1/2024, 6:20 PM

Seconding people mentioning the later versions of this that were integrated with the cash registers, I think they were common in grocery stores well into the 90s.

One of my oldest memories / family stories was little me absently wondering how these things worked (out loud) while my mom was checking out, and me getting tilted when the cashier tried to explain it worked by magic. Good times.