![A traffic policeman explains a parking meter to two pedestrians, Lausanne, 1959.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/titel-parkuhr-300x225.jpg)
‘Black Maria’ – the world’s first parking meter
The parking meter is the scourge of the hurried motorist, demanding coins they don’t have on them. It was originally designed less as a way to generate revenue and more to ease parking congestion in cities. The first parking meter in Europe was installed in Basel in 1952.
![A parking meter in Long Beach, California, circa 1940](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Parkuhr-195x300.jpg)
Carlton Cole Magee, inventor of the parking meter 1268 YouTube
![Diagram of the parking meter patented by Carlton Cole Magee, 1935](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/patent-203x300.jpg)
![A traffic policeman and a pedestrian next to a parking meter, Lausanne, 1959](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/polizist-erklart-parkuhr-296x300.jpg)
![A municipal employee emptying a parking meter in Seattle, Washington State](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Parkuhr-Arbeiter-285x300.jpg)