We’ve recently (as you can see a tiny bit of here in the form of a late 1960s LocWil flyer) got hold of a bumper pack of flyers and brochures from the 50s-90s heyday of British and European vending companies. The interesting exception to this is that every US based Jukebox manufacturer you can think of was also trying to licence or import hot drinks and electrical, multi selection snack and chilled beverage machines into the UK.
It’s not so much that I’m not interested in the electronic side, so much as there are other people out there who are more interested, own actual vintage electrical / electronic equipment, and would make better use of them.
One such person is Karl who is setting up a really interesting project in Lytham St. Anne’s, around the Ditchburn Organisation who (if I have got this right) were amongst many things the sole UK agent for Seeburg jukeboxes as well as a range of vending equipment, made in the UK from primarily US supplied mechanicals. I notice one of the exhibits is the fascinating Seeburg BMS1 BGM as covered (and featured in the closing credits to every episode!) by the excellent Techmoan.
So I’ve decided to send all the electronic paraphernalia, in fact over a kilo, to this very exciting project and hope it can be made better use of as well as hoping one day I’ll be able to go and visit the finished museum (and possibly enjoy a powdered freeze-dried tea via some 60 year old running gear!).
What’s the ‘Knowledge Base’ bit about in the title then? Well now the rebuild is complete, in the New Year, I’ll be uploading ALL the mechanical vending documents I do have to a new section of the site, called the Knowledge Base, as well as trying to list the names and addresses of ALL the companies that once supplied equipment to this once burgeoning trade. I am amazed myself how many flyers are for companies just down the road from us, that have never been heard of again, and all traces of them long gone. Until then – don’t forget to check out Karl’s Ditchburn site!