The American Soda Machine Archive • Manuals, history & restoration

Manufacturer archive

Rome Box

Original reference photography from the Cola Machines archive. Select any image to inspect the machine, mechanisms, identification plates, and restoration details.

An evidence-led history reconstructed from 1 surviving model record

Rome Box

Rome Box's public corporate record may be incomplete, but its machines still reveal a working history of refrigeration, vending and changing retail design.

Founded
Not established in surviving sources
Founders
Not identified in the cited public record
Home
Not firmly established in surviving sources
Archive
1 machines
Rome Cooler from the Cola Machines archive
Rome Cooler · A surviving reference machine

This reference catalog documents 1 Rome Box machine. Model-specific archive photography survives for 1 of the 1 entries. This profile treats missing information as part of the historical record: uncertain dates stay uncertain, while surviving machines, literature and photographs carry the narrative.

01

What survives

The Rome Box record begins with machines

Rome Box is represented here by 1 model record, 0 with usable production-date evidence. The documented span is dates not fully established.

The recovered manufacturer summary adds this period evidence: was located in Rome, Georgia and manufactured bottle cases, battery boxes, and box shooks (I don't know…). This cooler may have been their first attempt in Coca-Cola Cooler production. We have no additional information about Rome.

02

Reading the catalog

Models become a working chronology

Rome Cooler (N/A) marks one edge of the surviving chronology; Rome Cooler (N/A) marks the other. Between them, model names and cabinet sizes trace how the line responded to package, capacity and retail-location demands.

Archive dates describe surviving examples and period literature, not guaranteed factory introduction and discontinuation dates. That distinction matters when corporate catalogs are missing.

03

The visual evidence

Photography preserves 1 model

Model-specific photographs survive for 1 of 1 entries—about 100 percent of this manufacturer catalog.

Together, specification records and images let collectors compare proportions, doors, vending mechanisms and branding without pretending every unresolved identification has been settled.

Archive chronology

Rome Box in motion

First record

Rome Cooler helps establish the earliest documented portion of the line.

Catalog growth

1 model record now define the surviving manufacturer shelf.

Dated evidence

0 records carry usable production-era information.

Photo record

1 model has model-specific archive photography.

Latest record

Rome Cooler helps define the latest documented portion of the range.

Recovery

Legacy pages and images are consolidated into the Cola Machines reference archive.

Today

Open questions remain labeled while additional literature and identified machines can extend the history.

The headline machines

The machine that tells the story

N/A

Rome Cooler

The best-photographed Rome Box record in this collection, with 2 surviving archive views.

Explore the machine →

The complete reference shelf

All Rome Box machines

1 model records

Research notes

Sources & further reading

Corporate milestones are cross-checked against the sources listed here. Model dates and archive counts follow surviving Cola Machines records; gaps and uncertain dates are left visible rather than filled with guesses.

  1. Cola Machines — Rome Box archiveComplete surviving model list, production notes and photographs.
  2. Smithsonian Institution — vending collectionsBroader museum context for commercial cooling and automatic retail.