Who is the inventor of the vending machine?

The inventor of the vending machine is generally believed to be Hero of Alexandria, who was born in the first century. The machine he built will give customers a certain amount of holy water after accepting coins. The oldest existing vending machine in Japan is the "Automatic Stamp and Postcard Vending Machine" invented by Koichi Omotani in 1904. Vending machines in the United States mainly sell snacks and drinks, and also sell newspapers on busy streets. Another type of vending machine is a self-service camera. In each country, the products sold by vending machines are different. For example, some countries sell alcoholic beverages (such as beer, but some countries prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages in vending machines due to laws). There are also vending machines selling cigarettes in the United States, but due to the serious situation of minors purchasing cigarettes, the number of such vending machines has been greatly reduced (some states even prohibit the sale of tobacco and alcohol in vending machines). In some cases, buyers are required to insert a pass to prove their age. In some European and Japanese cities, vending machines selling cigarettes are everywhere, and in Japan, buyers of some models are required to insert a taspo card for age verification.