Salt water, vending machines
Gregory Duke
Back in ancient times for me (about 11 years ago) when I was doing
coursework at Bucknell University, a classmate of mine told me an
unlikely story. All the Coke machines had been vandalized by pouring
salt water down the coin slots. This short-circuited the electronics
and allowed the vandal to take out all the cans _and_ the money
(somehow), leaving Bucknell about $5000 out of pocket.
Now, not that I'm planning to try this anytime soon, but--could
something like this actually work? If a vending machine is
sophisticated enough to tell the difference between a real coin and
a slug, wouldn't the electronics have some way of distinguishing
saline and metal? Coca-Cola is no dummy--wouldn't they have figured
out some way of defeating such a blatantly simple method of cheating
them? Frankly it sounds like something one of the dumb guys out of
an Elmore Leonard novel would try. This classmate of mine used to
tell all sorts of whoppers like the UFOs allegedly sighted over
Williamsport, but this story seems, shall we say, more down to
earth. I wouldn't put anything past the Bucknell engineering
department--they're the ones who supposedly stole the Bechtel cow.
Gregory Duke
Jesus College, Oxford
"You're like playing poker with a deck that's all aces.
You've got everything and you've got nothing."
--Raymond Chandler, _The Long Kiss Good-bye_
Issac Merkle
Unfortunately, I can tell you from personal experience that salt water
*will* short circuit at least some machines.
Let me tell you a story...
One evening, I came home to my humble apartment which I shared with three
other guys. One was my original roommate, the other two were ne'er-do-well
guys that we wound up taking in to prevent them from sleeping in other
people's cars, one of which was a good guy whose luck was ridiculously bad,
to the extent of a bad movie, while the other turned out to be a dickhead
who we mistook for a good guy.
Anyhow, I walked to the fridge to see if there was anything to drink,
knowing that there probably wasn't. There were four college-age guys living
in the apartment, after all, and money was tight. Opening the fridge, I was
shocked to find that it was completely full of Cokes. Completely. I mean
every shelf was totally full of the cans, and, I found, so were the produce
and meat drawers.
I couldn't believe it. I lit a cigarette, thought about it, and looked
again. Yep, totally full of Cokes, as I thought. I sat down and had a
Coke.
Shortly, my original roommate returned, and I asked him if he had looked in
the refrigerator lately. He laughed and said that our other two roommates
had assaulted the Coke machine in the middle of the night. Apparently, they
had mixed up a quantity of salt water and poured it into the coin slot. The
result was that Cokes were dispensed one after another until there were none
left. (The machine sold only Cokes, so it was a *lot*).
No money was dispensed, however; I believe that is a false rumor. Once the
money goes into the change box, I don't think you can remove it without a
key.
Issac.
Gregory Duke wrote in message <6apnh5$k4i$1...@news.ox.ac.uk>...
Binyamin Dissen
On Thu, 29 Jan 1998 09:59:28 -0500 "Issac Merkle" <is...@icx.net> wrote:
[Posted and mailed]
[ snipped ]
:>Shortly, my original roommate returned, and I asked him if he had looked in
:>the refrigerator lately. He laughed and said that our other two roommates
:>had assaulted the Coke machine in the middle of the night. Apparently, they
:>had mixed up a quantity of salt water and poured it into the coin slot. The
:>result was that Cokes were dispensed one after another until there were none
:>left. (The machine sold only Cokes, so it was a *lot*).
:>No money was dispensed, however; I believe that is a false rumor. Once the
:>money goes into the change box, I don't think you can remove it without a
:>key.
Well, as most machines do return change there must be a method of removing it
without getting to the change box.
[ snipped ]
--
Binyami...@theoffice.net
Binyamin Dissen <bdi...@netvision.net.il>
Jason Dossett
The amount of change you could get at would all depend on when you got to
the machine. The machine does not 'recycle' the change customers put into
it (at least not the ones I've seen open). Instead, the change returned
is stored in one place, while the change entered gets dropped into a box
that is occasionally cleaned out, which would be impossible to get at
without physically opening the machine.
JD
CKOPPITZ
>>Once the money goes into the change box, I don't think you can >>remove it
without a key. Well, as most machines do return >>change there must be a method
of removing it without getting to >>the change box.
I used to empty the change from the machines in high school (my job, not as
a criminal!) and I can tell you that there is NO way that the money in the coin
box can be removed once it is in there, without the door being opened. On the
models we had, there were "funnels" for the quarters, nickels, and dimes to
slide out of for change, but there were only about $5 maximum in there.
I can't see how the cans would be dispensed either, as the mechanisim used
to dispense them is triggered electrically, and the slaine water would almost
certainly short-out the whole machine, causing the whole thing to go dead.
Now... can someone explain how the note-to-coin cachines work?
Thanks...
Chris :Ş
Matt Mahoney
>
> [ snipped ]
>
> :>Shortly, my original roommate returned, and I asked him if he had looked in
> :>the refrigerator lately. He laughed and said that our other two roommates
> :>had assaulted the Coke machine in the middle of the night. Apparently, they
> :>had mixed up a quantity of salt water and poured it into the coin slot. The
> :>result was that Cokes were dispensed one after another until there were none
> :>left. (The machine sold only Cokes, so it was a *lot*).
>
> :>money goes into the change box, I don't think you can remove it without a
> :>key.
>
> Well, as most machines do return change there must be a method of removing it
> without getting to the change box.
>
totally mechanical. The early models needed the change dipenser
restocked by hand. Later versions have a nifty way of sending smaller
denominations to the change magazine. Of course the largest coin they
ate was quarters. Those fell right to the coin vault. Dimes and nickles
would go to the mag until it was full. These can be distinguished by the
coin\change return being noticably lower on the front of the machine.
I don't think salt water would do much to these types other than mung
them up. The next poor schumck would just lose his money, kick the
machine a few times and go away thirsty.
I have never worked with the fangled dollar bill eatin' kind so I can't
say what would happen to one of those.
Rev Chuck
Jnogrimes wrote:
>
> I'm at a loss to see why it would have to be salt water. If you wanted to bung
> the thing up over time, via corrosion, I suppose salt water makes some sense,
> but for the purposes of larceny, what would the salt accomplish?
>
> Saline, saline, over the bounding main...
>
> john
It would screw up the electrical parts so no one else in your straits
could get a soda -- woe be unto him who deprives me of caffeine -- all
because you wanted one, and the trick would cost you more than it was
worth for the time wasted. Plus, it doesn't work.
Rev Chuck
Greg Goss wrote:
>
> jnog...@aol.com (Jnogrimes) wrote:
>
> >I'm at a loss to see why it would have to be salt water. If you wanted to bung
> >the thing up over time, via corrosion, I suppose salt water makes some sense,
> >but for the purposes of larceny, what would the salt accomplish?
> >
> >Saline, saline, over the bounding main...
>
Right, and those machines work off of 220v, if I recall. Now, if you
should just happen to be be touching something grounded (such as the
machine's cabinet) while you're pouring in the salt water, can you
tell me what happens next?
Paul
ckop...@aol.com (CKOPPITZ) wrote:
>>>Once the money goes into the change box, I don't think you can >>remove it
>without a key. Well, as most machines do return >>change there must be a method
>of removing it without getting to >>the change box.
>
> I used to empty the change from the machines in high school (my job, not as
>a criminal!) and I can tell you that there is NO way that the money in the coin
>box can be removed once it is in there, without the door being opened. On the
>models we had, there were "funnels" for the quarters, nickels, and dimes to
>slide out of for change, but there were only about $5 maximum in there.
>
> I can't see how the cans would be dispensed either, as the mechanisim used
>to dispense them is triggered electrically, and the slaine water would almost
>certainly short-out the whole machine, causing the whole thing to go dead.
>
> Now... can someone explain how the note-to-coin cachines work?
>
>Thanks...
>Chris :Þ
But doesn't some of the money get diverted to the change dispensing
mechanism? Otherwise, how would the "use correct change" light ever go
out (as it does once you plug in the right combination of coins)?
For example. I work at Mutual of Omaha. When I first started there,
20-oz Cokes went for 95 cents. Since the nickles were drained from the
machine quickly, the "correct change" light would come on. After that,
if you inserted a dollar bill and hit the button, the machine would
spit out your dollar. To avoid it, you had to do the "nickle trick"
(that's what my co-workers called it). You inserted a nickle, THEN a
dollar bill (making your payment $1.05). == And you had to do it in
that order, because if you put in the nickle after the dollar bill,
the nickle would run through the machine and come out the change slot.
== Then you hit the button, and got a dime change. The "correct
change" light would go out, allowing the next person to purchase a
Coke with only a dollar bill.
Mutual has since solved the problem -- 20-oz pops are now a dollar.
Jnogrimes
I'm at a loss to see why it would have to be salt water. If you wanted to bung
the thing up over time, via corrosion, I suppose salt water makes some sense,
but for the purposes of larceny, what would the salt accomplish?
Saline, saline, over the bounding main...
john
Degerberg
>Salt water, vending machines
I worked as a vending machine mechanic for over thirty years and there are a
lot of ULs concerning them told by a FOAF. Putting salt water in a machine
would cause the internal fuse to blow and turn off the machine. I have heard
hundreds of stories on how to cheat vending machines and I believe that less
than 1% had any substance.
Grandfather Bob(dege...@aol.com)
Modesty in the face of talent is hypocrisy.
Better honest arrogance than false modesty
CKOPPITZ
>I suppose salt water makes some sense,
>but for the purposes of larceny, what would the salt accomplish?
Salt is a good conductor of electricity. Our bodies need it to cary on all the
wee electrical impulses that make us do what we do. I would assume that the
salt would be added to the water to create some connection to cause the desired
effect But as I said in an earlier posting and others have also said, the
water would short out the machine first, thus rendering it stone dead.
Chris :Ş
Greg Goss
jnog...@aol.com (Jnogrimes) wrote:
>I'm at a loss to see why it would have to be salt water. If you wanted to bung
>the thing up over time, via corrosion, I suppose salt water makes some sense,
>but for the purposes of larceny, what would the salt accomplish?
>
>Saline, saline, over the bounding main...
Saline is an electrical conductor.
Ben Walsh
Rev Chuck wrote:
> Right, and those machines work off of 220v, if I recall. Now, if you
> should just happen to be be touching something grounded (such as the
> machine's cabinet) while you're pouring in the salt water, can you
> tell me what happens next?
I would imagine that, while the refrigeration etc. uses up lots of Watts
and runs at a high voltage, the vending bit and the little lights that
go on when the product is sold out run at a much, much lower power and
won't hurt you that much. Just a speculation - anyone know?
ben
--
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dan
> Right, and those machines work off of 220v, if I recall. Now, if you
> should just happen to be be touching something grounded (such as the
> machine's cabinet) while you're pouring in the salt water, can you
> tell me what happens next?
metal frame to the ground wire triping the circut beraker. Unless some
idiot cut the ground prong off the plug to get it to fit into a two
prong outlet. ZAP jolt (with out caffeene)
mos...@gmail.com
beckyh...@gmail.com
It was the late 80's early 90's & cocaine was expensive. People were creative & with hardly any cameras, it was sometimes like the wild west. Says Jane.
Les Albert
wrote:
description of it:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/salt-water-solution/
Les