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Klinkert's Gum and Confections

Maker unknown, c. 1910, 35 ¹/₂". The picture above isn't the best one I've ever snapped but the machine is taller than the background I usually use to take pictures for this site so I had to improvise. Added to the too-tall issue is the mirror, which is a really good, very fine mirror that reflects every little detail perfectly, by which I mean it reflects things I don't want to show in the picture but what am I gonna do, hang a big black sheet from the ceiling behind me so nothing but a smooth black surface shows in the mirror? Yeah, right. Suffice to say that the picture shows what the machine looks like but doesn't capture how nice it is person. It's stunning! The picture on page 82 of Silent Salesmen Too is even worse, so if you really really really wanna see how nice it is then I guess you'll have to come over to my house sometime. Until then you can see a bit more detail here and here.

I bought this at the Potter and Potter auction in March 2022, as though I needed another L-vendor. At the time I bought this I owned an Adams Tutti Frutti, an Adams Tutti Frutti Gum, an Autosales, an O Pee Chee, a Lee-White, and a Stollwerck, and bought my Honest Vender at the same auction. All of them wood and all of them big, these things take some space and I really should concentrate on smaller machines but I can't help myself---I've always liked old wood, I like gum machines, and I like "statement machines," and a good L-vender ticks all of those boxes. The day will come when I'll need to pare down the number of these bigger machines but that day's not here yet nor is it on the immediate horizon.

Roger Smith wrote an article about this model that was published in the COCA Times; I can't recall when or a lot of the details, but I do recall 3 salient points:

• Not all of the 5 columns on this model are the same; they're different depths and (if I recall correctly) different widths. This is one of very few models---and perhaps the only model---with that feature. It's because each column was made to vend something specific and the column was designed for the dimensions of that specific product. You can see the product labels at the bottom of this picture here: Chocolate, Peanuts, Ball Gum, Spearmint, and Licorice. I've never seen another L-vendor-type machine that sells Ball Gum.

• The model has some kind of fatal flaw that made it jam frequently, which is why so few exist. It wasn't commercially successful.

• Klinkert's name is on the machine but his company didn't make it. Around the turn of the 20^th century, Klinkert had several successful businesses in a city I can't recall and he had some of these machines made so he could add to his riches. I think one of his businesses was a hotel but don't quote me on that. The point of this bullet is that Mr. Enes ascribes the machine's manufacture to "Klinkert's" and while he was the driving force behind the machine's development, someone else actually made it. Roger didn't know who that was, hence the "maker unknown" at the start of this description. That's a shame, frankly; it'd be nice to know who actually designed and made it, especially since it has a couple of unique features.