"The mechanism is simplicity itself, a fluted sprocket wheel with weights attached being set in motion by the descending coin, so as to make a single stamp project from a second slot. The action of the front slot is such that immediately it is opened it closes the second slot. The whole mechanism is only 9 inches by 4 inches in extent and the instrument may be charged to carry from one to one hundred pounds worth of coins."

In June 1905 the machine was ready, Dickie triumphantly demonstrated his invention to the Post Office authorities. A feature in the Dominion from 1960 quoted their response to his invention:

"The idea’s all right", they admitted reluctantly, "but you’ve forgotten one thing. This machine, if placed outside for sale of stamps after hours, as you suggest, would contain quite a lot of money. The Post Office cannot risk public funds being left outside like that."

According to the newspaper, Dickie returned home that evening ‘crestfallen’, but by the next day he had thought of a solution. He bought the stamps himself and took the money when the box was cleared. RJ Dickie, a true entrepreneur from the edge, was born.
   

This arrangement naturally suited the Post Office, and in June 1905 an unknown Wellingtonian was the first person in the world to buy a stamp from an automatic vending machine.

In 1907, in an attempt to gain British approval for the vending machines, Dickie had one of the machines set up in the lobby of the House of Commons where, according to the 1960 Dominion feature, it was a popular curiosity:

"Frock-coated members stopped and stared as they passed through the lobby… like children at the fair, the venerable Edwardians could not resist the temptation to try out the world’s first practical stamp-selling machine."

Although the Wellington machine proved successful, it wasn’t until 1910 that the Post Office decided to order more. By the time Dickie retired there were vending machines in use at almost all New Zealand Post Offices. At first the machines were manufactured in England and imported into New Zealand, until the demand was great enough and the New Zealand Government bought the New Zealand manufacturing rights.
   

Dickie’s machine also made an impact in the US, a huge market even at the start of the century. At the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, when Dickie was aged 33, it won the Gold Medal, Grand Prize and diploma Against All-Comers.

Dickie’s stamp vending machines were in use around the world for more than half a century. In 1938 Dickie visited a factory in England where 800 men were employed building machines from his design; by that time 18,000 had been installed in Britain.

The vending machine that Dickie invented was eventually succeeded in 1960. There was nothing wrong with the simple effective design or the solid brass workings; merely the new machines took three-penny stamps. Dickie’s machine was not adaptable to the new coins.

COPYRIGHT NZEDGE.COM IP HOLDINGS LIMITED 1998-2009.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: BRIAN SWEENEY