The thing had the shape and look of one of those parking meters that we’re constantly pumping with quarters and nickels to stave off a parking ticket.
But I could see that this one was different, and I asked the auction-house attendant for a look-see. It was heavy like a parking meter, but on the side were an oversized loop and a button presser.
It did have something to do with coins, based on the manufacturer’s name: Money-Meters Inc., Providence, RI. So with that bit of info, I Googled.
The contraption was a portable trolley/streetcar/bus hand-held coin collector, as several sites labeled it.
This is how one site described its function:
“The passenger would place the fare coins directly into the top slot of the “Rookie Register” (as they were called by transit workers). Once deposited into the Money Meter machine, the coin is pulled by internal jaws into the device which in turn rings a clear toned bell. The conductor or operator then squeezes the trigger, which registers the money on a side meter and causes the coin to drop down to a lower chamber and then into the palm of the employee’s hand. The coin can then be placed into the Cleveland lock vault fare box for safe keeping until back to the company’s nickel and dime counting geeks at the carhouse.”
The company, though, saw its potential with much more than transit companies. In a 1948 ad, it touted that the device was good for anyone who sold “Rides, Games, Merchandise, Admission – in fact, anything where you collect cash on the spot – do it with – No Tickets! No Ticket Sellers! No Cash Registers! No Lock Box! No Uncounted Cash! No ‘Mistakes!'”
The device came in floor and counter-mounted, as well as portable. In another ad, the company offered to lease them to fairs. “A Money Meter Never Forgets to Ring Up a Sale,” continued the ad’s hard-sell (it didn’t mention that an operator might). It apparently was not the only coin collector by Money Meters: The company also sold a Robotcashier for cafeterias, food stands, soda fountains, diners, cigar counters and more.
It seems that a system of collecting fares on streetcars and trolleys began in the simplest ways. First, conductors walked through the vehicles collecting fares and ringing them up on an overhead fare register. This didn’t work out too well because the conductors would siphon off some of those coins for themselves. Tom Loftin Johnson through his Johnson Fare Box Co. made the first farebox in 1880. That drew competitors, including the Cleveland Farebox Co. (which Johnson later bought.) The manual boxes were eventually mechanized.
As for parking meters, they first were used on a street in Oklahoma City in 1935 at a time when automobiles had become more affordable to a lot more people. Drivers had to pay a nickel an hour to park.
