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Mold-A-Rama is a brand name for a type of vending machine that makes blow-molded plastic figurines. Mold-A-Rama machines debuted in late 1962 and grew in prominence at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The machines can still be found operating in dozens of museums and zoos.
History
American inventor John H. "Tike" Miller is credited with conceiving a free-standing plastic-molding machine in the 1950s. He licensed his mold-making patent and related technology to the Automatic Retailers Association, a vending-machine company, which operated Mold-A-Rama machines as a subsidiary company through 1969. As of 2010, two US companies own and operate Mold-A-Rama machines: the William A. Jones Company in Illinois and Replication Devices in Florida. As of November 2015, there are 124 machines in a total of eight different states.