Soda fountain machine
Science and technology have done a lot to improve the life of man. They have made life comfortable for man through the invention of many machines. One of such machines that provide comfort to man and make for quality living is soda fountain machine. This is a type of vending machine that dispenses carbonated drink. They are mostly used in restaurants, conveniences stores and concession stands. Soda fountain machine can be used at homes, pharmacy, and in other places or any gathering where ice cream, soda beverages and light meals are being served.
Soda fountain machine was born out of man’s attempt to produce effervescent water that has some healing effects on the body. The attempt was as result of the belief that consuming or bathing in mineral waters – drinkable water that contains high mineral salt or gas and it can be gotten from mineral spring or the mineral being added – could cure diseases. Given the above scientists and technologists of medieval times attempted to replicate minerals waters that come up from the earth crust. This attempt led to the production of soda water and soda dispensing machines.
The first set of soda fountain machine to be produced did not have the comfort of mechanical refrigeration owing to the fact that refrigeration mechanism has not been properly defined as we have it today. Science and technology were still growing. In place of that natural ice was used to cool drinks in soda dispenser machines. During winter, ice harvesters cut lumps of ice from frozen ponds and lakes. These lumps of ice were being stored to be used in summer. These blocks of ice were not as efficient as mechanical refrigeration. Given the above drinks and ice creams from fountain drink machines were not as chilled as we have it today. Effort was made to improve quality of soda fountain machines.
In the 20th century, as soda fountain machine business is growing many companies started using brine instead of ice in soda fountain. This led to the emergence of iceless soda fountain machine. These iceless soda machines have improved features than the previous ones. Their preservative ability is higher than the previous ones.
Soda fountain machine usage is no longer popular today. The decline in the use of soda fountain is as a result of the emergence of bottled and canned carbonated drinks. It becomes more convenient for people to buy carbonated drinks in cans and bottles given its flexibility. Secondly, roadside retailers began to use self-serving soda fountain machines for selling pre-packaged soft drinks.
However, soda fountain machine still retains its values. Self-serving soda fountains are still used in shopping centres, farmers markets, supermarkets, sidewalks in busy areas and even in some restaurants.
Nowadays soda fountain equipments have improved features and better refrigeration mechanism. Some of them has inbuilt structures that regulate the temperature. It has different brands and designs. Some also has low energy consuming capacity. If you want to buy on, there are a number of websites that deal on it.
Whether you call it coke, cola, pop, soda, soda pop or soft drink, the name still rings a bell in the proverbial mind of the United States consciousness, conjuring images of the soda fountain machine. That name, is a tradition of sugary success, that has had a long road of challenges and innovations along the way, from the most basic soda fountain machine, to the latest state of the art soda fountain machine.
Perhaps we take some pride in knowing that a majority of our soda flavors helped our history grow. Maybe it brought together families and extended families, during those ‘oh-so’ special moments in history. We know that our grandmas and grandpas sure liked the stuff, and we continue to enjoy the refreshing appeal of soda pop today. So sit back, relax and have a soda because it is a fascinating topic to talk about.
Soda Fountain Machine history
The soda pop history can go all the way back to naturally bubbling springs, which come up from the earth’s surface. We call these sources of natural carbonation and natural mineral water sources, partially because they come from the very rocks that we call home today. Soda fountain machine history, however, is a more recent invention.
Even in Ancient times, when soda pop was an alien term, the societies (such as the Romans for example) thought that these natural mineral sources were a healthy and almost revitalizing source of life. They felt that going to bath houses and drinking these mineral waters made them feel better.
Naturally, there were many scientists who wanted to study the effects of these mineral waters, for example, Joseph Black, whose studies discovered gases present in carbonation, such as Carbon Dioxide for example.
Obviously, many more people researched the health benefits of this early bubbling mineral water, being fascinated by the invigorating effect of bubbly water, that we all associate now with the soda fountain machi ne. The soda fountain machine concept, copied this idea of flavored waters.
Early sherbets came about in early times by Arabic chemists, who implemented many different spices and flavorings into them such as crushed fruits, herbs and aromatic flowers. Soda fountain machine culture, used many of these recipes.
Even in the later 13th century, soda pop started to get a name with the introduction of an English born drink called the Dandelion & Burdock, which was made from the fermentation of dandelion and burdock. This drink is similar to what we call Root Beer nowadays in the United States, which can be made using a soda fountain machine today. Most of these ancient drinks were naturally carbonated from naturally recurring Carbon Dioxide sources, such as the mineral waters mentioned above, but in this century, manmade bubbles were introduced, via the soda fountain machine.
The first soda fountain machine
The first commercially marketed soda pops that were not carbonated in the West happened during the 17th century. Most of these noncarbonated drinks were made from lemon juice, sweetened with honey,but the soda fountain machine had yet to be invented.
In the later 17th century, an Englishman named Joseph Priestley found a process to implement carbon dioxide into regular water, thus making carbonated water in the lab, a kind of crude soda fountain machine. His invention of carbonated water would lead to huge soda fountain machine innovations.
Another Englishman named John Nooth caught hold of this information and made a soda fountain machine capable for commercial use. There also was a Swede named Torbern Bergman who made a soda fountain machine that generated carbonated water in a most similar way (by sulfuric acid and chalk).
Soda fountain machine gets developed
The biggest time for the soda pop industry in the United States, was the innovation of the soda fountain machine. During the early 19th century, John Matthews and John Lippincott (New York and Philadelphia respectively) started making soda fountains. They became successful and had large factories built for making the soda fountains machine varieties.
People started to drink mineral water because as we stipulated earlier, it was found as a healthy practice. In the United States, many pharmacists started to sell mineral waters for these reasons. They also started to add herbs and other chemicals to mineral water. Some examples of the things they added were birch bark, dandelion, sarsaparilla (early root beers) and fruit extracts. These flavorings and additions were included to improve the sale value of the mineral waters and offer more taste to the consumer. American people loved to go to these pharmacies with soda fountain machines, daily. Most of the soft drinks that were consumed by American people during parts of the 19th century were found at the soda fountain machine, at pharmacies or ice cream parlors. After this period, canned soft drinks became one of the hottest markets ever for United State consumers !
Soda fountain machine becomes the next big thing
When the bottling industry first started there were over 1,500 patents created for the process of bottling these soda pops. Since the carbonation put the soda pop under great pressure there were many innovations in the way the soft drink was bottled. You did not want the Carbon Dioxide to escape from the bottle, or else you would lose all the carbonation and flavor. During the last part of the 19th century, William Painter (originated from Baltimore) created the “crown cork bottle seal”. It was the first successful method of storing carbonated soft drinks, without losing the gas.
The inventor of the soda fountain machine was named Michael Owens (worked at the Libby Glass Company). The production of glass bottles rose exponentially after this patent from 1,400 bottles a day to around 58,000 bottles a day.
Now that we have soda available in many forms like aluminum cans and plastic bottles, we can enjoy the wide variety of offerings from soda pop companies, or bottle our own by using our soda fountain machine, at home. The soft drinks themselves are made by mixing the ingredients and flavorings with water. Most of the time, soda pop companies will use a syrup (like corn syrup) to sweeten the drink. Syrups are also used with the soda fountain machines, that mix the syrup with the carbonated water separately. There is a rich tradition of the soft drink and we are now in a period where famous soda pops enrich our everyday lives; when we go to that soda fountain machine and press for the soda, we now know the history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_fountain If I missed anything on the history, here’s more information on soda fountain machine.
