___________________________________________________________________________________________

Columbus Model 46

Columbus Vending Company, Columbus, OH, c. 1946, 14 ¹/₂. This is essentially a post-war version of the Model M. People often confuse the 2 models, but the differences are obvious once you know what they are. The Model 46 baseplate, base, and lid are aluminum, and the lid is softly rounded and does not have the nipple that the Model M has. The midsection that houses the mechanism is cast iron. The Model 46 mechanism is similar to that of the Model M, but components don't interchange.

I've seen this model painted the following original colors: Hammertone silver, hammertone copper, bright red, and the same shade of green that Columbus made its porcelain. Of these, I've seen only one of the hammertone copper, although a friend tells me that he's seen others. He's either hallucinating, he gets out more, or he's been paying more attention than I have. It's probably the last of these explanations. The cast iron midsections were almost always (or perhaps even always) painted black.

Like the Model M, this came with a bulk mechanism, a gumball mechanism that has a shorter throw than the bulk mechanism, and a pistachio model that from the front looks identical to the bulk model but which has flexor bars on the top plate. Of these, the bulk model is most common, while the gumball and pistachio models are less common than the bulk model but about comparably available to each other. The small round starred globe (#8) and the large hexagonal globe (#4) are both correct, as are barrel locks or small Master locks.

Both of the examples pictured above are 100% original.