One of the exhibits that everyone still remembers is the machine that said "coffee". With two buttons you could influence the way the machine spoke the word, high or low, stating or asking. In 1966 it was a big miracle that a machine existed that was able to speak a word very human-like in a lot of different and correct sounding ways.
The coffee machine has been present in the Evoluon from 1966 to 1989. It has been totally rebuilt at least once. There was of course a lot of wear and tear because so many people were playing with it.
Download the clip
This is a short clip from the Evoluon movie where you can hear what the coffee machine sounded like.
Click here to download koffie.ogg (6 MB)
Where is it now
In 1989 when the Evoluon was closed, the machine was given away to the Ontario Science Centre. Here the machine was a big hit as well.
After a modernization the machine dissapeared from the Ontario exhibit. We thought it had been thrown away. But in a Facebook posting from 2009 the machine suddenly resurfaced. From the caption it turned out that the machine had stopped working and they needed parts to repair it.
So if there is anyone who has the schematics for the coffee machine, or can tell us more about it's history, we'd love to hear it! Please mail us at kees at evoluon.org. So we will be able to help the museum to get it working again.