MEI Conlux (formerly known as Mars Electronics International) is a manufacturer of electronic banknote validators, coin acceptors and changers. MEI was spun off to private investment interests in July 2006. In December 2012, it was sold to Crane Co., which also manufactures vending machines. A new division was created inside the company by merging former CPS (Crane Payment Solutions) and MEI into CPI (Crane Payment Innovations). The firm began operations in Great Britain in 1965 and expanded to the United States in 1967. The firm invented the electronic

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...

and is one of the largest manufacturers of vending machines in the world. As of 2011, the company operated in over one hundred countries and processed over two billion transactions per week. It has had a co-educational relationship with the Mechanical Engineering department of the

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

, London. In 1996, the firm signed a deal with

DigiCash DigiCash Inc. was an electronic money corporation founded by David Chaum in 1989. DigiCash transactions were unique in that they were anonymous due to a number of cryptographic protocols developed by its founder. DigiCash declared bankruptcy in ...

, one of the first digital currencies. This led to the widespread integration of

smart card A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an Embedded system, embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart ...

technology in vending machines. Since 2000, the company has been the sole manufacturer of bill handling units (a form of

automated cash handling Automated cash handling refers to the process of dispensing, counting, and tracking cash within various business environments using software and hardware devices such as banknote processing. Automated cash handling is used by banks, retail store ...

) for the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

References

External links

CPI Website
Vending machine manufacturers {{Crane Co.