Crane Merchandising Systems, or CMS, is a designer and manufacturer of vending machines. Crane manufactures models sold under such brand names as National Vendors, Automatic Products

Automatic Products

Automatic Products International, Ltd., known simply as APi, is a leading U.S. vending company based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1949, they specialize in glass front snack machines....

, GPL

Glasco Polyvend Lektrovend

Glasco Polyvend Lektrovend, commonly known in the vending industry as GPL is a subsidiary of Crane Co. that manufactures glassfront snack vending machines. Under the auspices of Crane Co., the company was formed from the merger of three previous competitors. Along with U Select It, Crane National...

, Dixie-Narco

Dixie-Narco

Dixie-Narco is a major manufacturer of soda vending machines located in Williston, South Carolina. Their main competitors are Royal Vendors and Vendo...

, and Stentorfield. Their manufacturing facility is located in Williston, South Carolina

Williston, South Carolina

Williston is a town in Barnwell County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,307 at the 2000 census.The town lies in the center of the Charleston-Hamburg railroad line, the line of the Best Friend locomotive. The train tracks were removed in the 1990s, however, the track site has...

, United States.

Establishment

Crane Merchandising Systems was founded in 1926 by B. E. Fry, a St. Louis businessman, as the "National Sales Machine Company." Fry invented a more foolproof vending machine that would only accept coins, unlike older machines, such as the "Smoketeria", a cigarette vending machine, which would accept things such as flat buttons and cardboard discs.

The Great Depression

By 1931, National Sales Machine Company was a well established business, manufacturing a variety of merchandisers for various food products. However, The Great Depression proved to much for the company, and it went under in 1932. Soon thereafter, in the spring of 1933, Fry's son, B. W. Fry, reopened the company as National Vendors, Inc. In 1934, Al Diederich joined B. W. Fry in National Vendors, giving it the administrative strength it would need to grow during the tumultuous 30s and 40s.

World War II - 1950s

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, National Vendors took part in the war effort by producing mortar ammunitions casings. After the war, the company returned to the demand for convenient cigarette, candy and pastry vendors. In 1956, National Vendors was acquired by the Universal Match Company, allowing National Vendors to introduce several new products.

1960s - Present

In 1967, National Vendors introduced its first full line of automatic merchandising equipment. CMS was acquired by Crane Corporation in 1985, and became Crane National Vendors.