March 14, 2012

Hand-Crank Vending Machine needs to be turned 70 times in emergency

by ruchi

Japan has high levels of automation across various industries and thus vending machines can be pretty much seen everywhere for almost everything. These have a lot of leverage on parameters of convenience but are rendered pretty much useless when there’s a power cut. Japan has long established the tradition to dish out technology and products that leave you with a jaw dropping expression. Their latest innovation proves my point. Sanden, who has as much as 30 percent of the global market when it comes to vending machine, has been showing off a hand-cranked vending machine for emergencies when the power’s out and solar generation isn’t available or feasible.

Statistics suggest that Japan had as much as 5 million vending machines as of the end of 2010, including coin lockers, which makes them close to life-blood for normal routine life. Hence an innovation like that of Sanden’s crank seems quite-essential. The only flip side here is that this takes about 70 rotations of the crank to power up the machine. The gauges by the crank show the appropriate amount of force to use. Sanden, for that matter, too conceded that this is difficult but just 20 seconds after being powered up, the machine ready to dispense up to six or seven bottled drinks. Check out the video below to get a better understanding of that this hand-crank vending machine.

Via: CNET