“A man in Columbus, Ohio has collected 200 cast iron scales that gave a person’s weight for a coin. Most of them operated on a penny. He says this was America’s first vending machine that offered a service instead of a product. At the time these came into existence people were concerned about not weighing enough. Tuberculosis and other diseases caused weight loss. During the 1930’s, Americans deposited more than 10 million pennies a year into these machines. Bathroom scales became affordable in the 1950’s.”

Source: The Budget, January 5, 2011