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Rex

Samuel Cupples Wooden Ware Co., c. 1910s, 24". My date on this model is an estimate based on the only other 'Samuel Cupples Wooden Ware Co.' match vendor listed in Silent Salesmen Too, for which Mr. Enes cited a patent date of May 17, 1910. That said, the relationships between the Samuel Cupples Wooden Ware Co. (which made this), the Safety Match Vending Co. (which made this), and the Specialty Mfg. Co. (which made this, this, and this) have never been clear to me so it's possible that this was introduced a year or two earlier or half a decade later than 1910. These companies seem to have been connected like Simpson, Ad-Lee, and Columbus were connected, but the Simpson/Ad-Lee/Columbus connections are clearer to me than were the relationships between the companies mentioned in the previous sentence. The Rex mechanism differs completely from that used by the Samuel Cupples Match Vendor, and I'm sure that the two models were covered by different patents. The company name may be more important than patents to dating the Rex; I don't know how long Samuel Cupples Wooden Ware Co. existed under that name, but I suspect it was short-lived since the Rex and the Samuel Cupples Match Vendor are the only two machines of any kind attributed to that company in Silent Salesmen Too.

This is a solidly built, dense, nickel-plated cast iron machine with several interesting features. The customer put a penny into the coin slot and then pulled the handle below the "ONE CENT" rectangle. The door attached to that handle is hinged at the bottom so the door opens to angle outward about 45 degrees from the bottom. That exposes a box of matches that the customer could pull out and then close the door. I don't consider this an unusual feature---lots of machines dispense by pulling something toward you---but Mr. Enes described it with that word so I wanted to describe the action here to remove the mystery.

What is unusual is the way the machine loads and holds the product. Silent Salesmen Too mentioned that the machine holds "a whopping 12 boxes of matches," and I have found that strange over the years. How many proprietors want to reload a machine after only 12 sales? None, that's how many, which may explain why this model is so rare. While most match vendors hold boxes stacked flat on top of each other, this one holds them stacked on their sides so the longest axis is side to side, the next longest is top to bottom, and the shortest is back to front. The orientation of the boxes is why the machine is so shallow, which is good for collectors¹ but isn't as practical as stacking them flat would have been. I haven't measured and done the math, but I'd bet that flat-stacking the boxes would have allowed the machine's capacity to be at least twice what it is. But then it would have stuck out further from the wall and my wife wouldn't have let me mount it where she did, so it all turned out for the best in the end.

The downside created by the model's low capacity is largely mitigated by how the machine is loaded. The machine has no lid, and instead has a permanent opening through which the proprietor simply dropped boxes into the machine from the top. It's a tight fit (but not a too-tight fit) so boxes can't turn during their fall; you put the box in side-down at the top and it'll be side-down at the bottom. The proprietor could load 12 boxes without having to even open a panel for access, so it was a quick and easy task. The top has a one-way barrier that prevents boxes from being pushed out the top from the bottom, much like the one-way spikes at car-rental agencies that get pushed harmlessly into the ground when you drive over them the right way but will destroy your tires if you go the other way.²

The box of matches on the front of the Rex is held in place by an upside-down L-shaped piece of metal. You can see the end of the longer leg held in place with two screws in the picture; the rest of the piece is hidden by the match box. The short horizontal leg on top pushes the inner box up to display the matches inside, while the longer vertical leg squeezes the outer sleeve to hold it in place. That longer leg can be tightened and loosened by turning the two screws that attach it to the body, so you loosen the screws to install the box and tighten them to lock it in place. I didn't know about the locking aspect of this design when I was looking at this machine on someone's table at the November 2021 Chicagoland show; I thought the box sleeve simply slid on and off and couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time removing it. I wanted to see the finish behind the box, so removing it seemed reasonable. Instead, I ended up slowly (and not on purpose!) tearing the box apart with my efforts, never understanding till later that it was vice-gripped into place, not simply slid over a holder and held there by gravity. The seller scolded me for ruining his match box, and I felt so guilty that I felt compelled to buy the machine. I think he forgave me after that.

The machine above is 100% original, complete, and working. I liked it when I first saw it at the show on Friday morning but I was distracted by other items that were calling my name louder. I heard people talking about this machine on Friday as it sat on the seller's table but it was still there at the end of the day. As I thought about it overnight it kinda grew in esteem and I thought of a couple places I could put it, so I went back Saturday morning and bought it. It's not in either of the places I'd thought about putting it---it's in a better place!---and looks even better there than it did on the seller's table.

¹ Although personal tastes differ, it's safe to say that most collectors prefer less protrusion from the wall if given the choice. It's more elegant and simply looks better when compared to something that juts out further. If you question this, consider the Advance Unit A and the Advance Unit E; the former is much shallower and is considered more attractive and more desirable than the latter. The former is also earlier and less common, which helps, but independent of that I believe most collectors would choose the shallower design based just on looks.

² Those spikes have always intimidated me and I'm ultra-careful whenever I'm around them. I stay out of reverse! The barrier on the Rex is less scary.