Jukebox History 1888-1913
These
years the music machines for public entertainment have been around for more
than a century. The first steps to make the modern electrically amplified multi-selection
phonographs possible were taken in the late 1880's in London, England, by the
American born Charles Adams-Randall (1888), and especially in San Francisco,
California, by Louis T. Glass and the Canadian born William S. Arnold (1889).
The coin-operated automatic phonographs, known today as jukeboxes, have over
the years turned out to be among the most hard to kill cultural phenomena. Of
course there have been good as well as bad times for the individuals and
companies involved in the
production of automatic phonographs, but so far the jukebox as such has
survived both as a cultural and as a commercial phenomenon in most parts of the
modern world.
The
very early European and American history of the phonograph is still not quite
elucidated, as new information concerning the pioneers Édouard-Léon Scott de
Martinville, Charles Cros, Thomas Alva Edison, and especially Frank Lambert,
has been found in recent years. However, the first important name connected to
the cylinder phonographs was of course Thomas Alva Edison, who applied for a
patent for a "Phonograph or Speaking Machine" in December
1877. Edison's invention, and the following patented improvements by Alexander Wilford Hall filed in November 1878, became the basis of
the first American automatic music machines with coin slots called 'nickel-in-the-slot
machines'. The concept of inserting a coin in order to listen to music from
an automatic or semiautomatic cylinder or disc playing machine forms the actual
basis of the term 'jukebox'.
Another
invention of the same era as that of the first coin-op phonographs became
rather important for the further development of stable machines for public use.
The invention was of course the disc-record as we know it today invented by
Emile Berliner and originally filed for patent in May 1887. Both cylinder and
disc playing mechanisms were soon fitted with patented coin slot attachments in
The
official birthday of the jukebox is the 23rd November, 1889; - the day of the
first public demonstration of a coin-op phonograph in the Palais
Royal Restaurant at 303 Sutter Street in San Francisco. The operator was Louis
Glass (1845-1924) (grave at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, CA),
the general manager of the Pacific Phonograph Company at 323 Pine Street two blocks
away, and together with his business associate William S. Arnold (1851-1908) (grave at Angelus
Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA) Louis Glass had been permitted by
the proprietor, Frederic G. Mergenthaler (1840-1902) (grave at Olivet Memorial Park, Colma, CA), to demonstrate the nickel-in-the-slot
machine in the restaurant. Today Louis Glass alone is often regarded as the
inventor of the jukebox concept, and he left the phonograph business around
1894 to get more involved in the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Co.. The noted historian Richard M. Bueschel
(1926-1998) tried to find information about the Palais
Royal in San Francisco, but without success. The fact that there is very little
information available today is quite easy to understand, as the Earthquake on
the 18th April, 1906, levelled the area around Sutter Street and Pine Street in
the centre of San Francisco. After that the only reliable records of a saloon
or restaurant on the spot can be found in old copies of the "San Francisco
Chronicle", and in a City Directory of 1890 discovered by the historian
Allen Koenigsberg in Brooklyn, New York.
In
connection with the two American patents for "Coin Actuated Attachment
for Phonographs" (cylinder) and "Coin Actuating Attachment for
Phonographs" (disc) applied for in 1889 by Louis Glass and William S.
Arnold it is also important to mention the British patents for a complete
coin-operated "Automatic Pariophone"
applied for in July 1888 by American born electrical and mechanical engineer,
and former employee at the Edison company in New York, Charles Adams-Randall
(1846-1923) (grave at Pine Island Cemetery, Mattapoisett, MA). Today it is
difficult to find out, whether the Automatic Pariophone
or Improved Phonautograph
was actually demonstrated to the public in London, but the patents by Charles
Adams-Randall are so detailed that at least one model must have been around for
testing. The jukebox has always been considered a typical American phenomenon
even though it has become quite popular in other parts of the world, mainly
after World War II.
During
the first year of the jukebox, from autumn 1889 until summer 1890, quite a few
coin-op music machines with cylinder or disc mechanisms were produced in San
Francisco. Louis T. Glass told other operators and manufacturers during a
conference in
From
the start there was an acceptance of the phenomenon and an understanding among
operators and saloon owners. The mutual understanding was easy to notice,
because the operators often recorded a request like 'go to the bar and buy
yourself a drink' at the end of each cylinder. The financial advantage was
certainly greater than the costs of running a phonograph, and especially the
operators were happy to get another source of income and prosperity. It was probably not easy for operators and
saloon owners to get loans to support their businesses. Today Title Max loans
are easy to get approved for,
but may not be enough to help fund a small business. Instead Title Max
loans can help pay for unexpected personal bills.
It
gives food for thought that the United States Patent Office had registered 18
patents for coin attachments for phonographs, which might have been in conflict
in 1891 (only three years after the first machine had seen the light of day).
The number of patents pending in those early years show the operators' eager to
gain a foothold on the new market. However, it has to be mentioned that about
1/3 of the electrically driven mechanisms were Edison Class M machines
for cylinders, and also it has to be mentioned that Thomas Alva Edison did not
take active part in the production of coin-op phonographs in the early years.
Thomas Alva Edison entered the market years later (after 1896), when he was
able to buy back rights from the North American Phonograph Co..
Rights, that years before had been sold to the founder of the company, Jesse H.
Lippincott. The crisis on the stock market in 1893 had an unfortunate effect on
Jesse H. Lippincotts activities (he died of a stroke
in 1894), and the Columbia Graphophone Co., a
subsidiary of his firm, took over most activities of the North American
Phonograph Co.. The subsidiary (Columbia Graphophone
Co.) was in fact saved by the production of nickel-in-the-slot phonographs.
However, important business connections soon gave Thomas Alva Edison a major
share of the coin-op phonograph market with the electric Class E of
1899 and the succeeding electric models named Imperial, Ajax,
Regal, Climax, Majestic, Windsor, Vulcan,
Acme, Eclipse, and Alva, produced in the years 1900
through 1907. The spring driven Edison machines Bijou and Excelsior
(1901 through 1906), which came after the Class H of
After
1893 the spring driven motors, that followed the stable motors for phonographs
first filed for patent in 1891 by Edward H. Amet
(associated with the Chicago Talking Machine Company) and later by Joseph E.
Greenhill in England (this one, however, not suited for coin slot attachment),
soon made it possible to operate such a 'money maker' even in the most
remote places. In the small joints near the cotton fields, officially called 'juke-joints',
the music machines now called 'juke-boxes' could be found replacing the
live 'juke-bands'. The origin of the term 'juke-box' can be found
in the following text on page
The
fact, that a reliable spring driven motor had been missing for years, had
resulted in many patents related to electric coin-op phonographs. Some years,
however, would pass before stable electric installations were common in the big
cities of
The
starting of the semi-automatic phonographs became the basis of many patent
conflicts during the early years. Normally a 5 cent piece, called a nickel,
blocked the crank when it was inserted in the slot. After that the crank had to
be turned up to seven times before it slipped the shaft. During the same
sequence the reproducer was returned to the starting position, and the cylinder
started revolving. Other phonographs had an almost reverse mode of operation,
as the coin released the wound spring when it was inserted in the slot. The
handle had then been turned until it slipped the shaft before the coin had been
inserted. The mode of operation by blocking the crank was used for cylinder
phonographs. The disc playing phonographs, called gramophones today, had no
feed-screw, and they were therefore difficult to attach with a coin slot
device. That problem was of course soon dealt with, and Louis T. Glass and
William S. Arnold had as early as 1890, as mentioned previously, been granted
the first patents for both cylinder and disc phonographs with coin slot
attachment.
The
machines mentioned until now all had one single recording to offer the patron.
The big automatic or semi-automatic music machines with six or more selections
were not to be found on the market until after the year 1900, except the German
push-button 6-selection Hydraphonograph
introduced in 1897 by the firm Runge & von Stemann in Berlin, Germany, and the special 5-selection Multiplex
machines made by the mechanic George Washington Moore and the operator George
V. Gress in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the American Multiplex
machines were, however, shipped to
The
noted automatic music machine of the first decade of the 20th century, the Automatic
Entertainer with 24 selections, was produced and patented by the John Gabel
owned company in Chicago. The first model (constructed in 1905) was produced in
1906 with an exposed
A
counterpart to John Gabel's machine was the cylinder playing Autophone with 12 selections made in
Mentioning
the coin-op multi-selection music machines of the period between 1900 and 1910
it is important to remember one particular fact. The fact, that there was no
real amplification of acoustic sound. It was a problem for both the Automatic
Entertainer and other machines of the same size, because it was difficult
to operate these in bars and saloons with many people. The machines had to
bring in a lot of money to make it worthwhile.
However,
there were two means of amplification in those days, which could be used in the
big machines. One of them was friction amplification according to the patents
of Daniel Higham. A popular definition of
amplification by friction is that an amber wheel connected to the feed-screw
rotates, while the phonograph is in operation, and rubs a friction shoe, which
is a simple strap of partially vulcanized rubber. As the stylus moves up and
down in the groove the tension on the shoe changes affecting the amount of friction
between the shoe and the wheel. The increased friction between the wheel and
the shoe gives the stylus a little aid in tugging the diaphragm. That
particular kind of amplification was used by Thomas V. Skelly
in 1906, when he constructed the 25-selection Concert-o-Phone. The
machine played three-minute cylinders, and it was, so it seems, exported for
the European market before the Great War (1914-1918), but with the name Uncle
Sams Entertainer. Today it is not known how many
machines were exported across the
Another
way to amplify acoustic sound was the use of pneumatic amplification, which had
become possible with the development and improvement of the 'aux-e-to-phone'
principle by Horace Lenoard Short and Charles
Algernon Parsons in 1898 and 1902, respectively. In the construction of the
pneumatic disc playing machines the principle that the stylus alone should tug
the diaphragm and produce vibrations of the air was no longer used. The
diaphragm was to some extent still there, but in the form of a small
comb-shaped body placed opposite two counter-combs. The comb-shaped body
influenced with its vibrations the opening between comb and counter-combs, and
when a current of compressed air from a receptacle was led through the opening
amplified air-waves were directed through the horn. Another kind of
amplification somewhat like the pneumatic one was used by Fortophon
in
Concerning
coin shutes the
manufacturers had searched for years for a stable rejector
that could detect false coins and token for use in various coin-op amusement
machines. The first company to introduce a special music token for coin-op
phonographs was in fact the New York Phonograph Company in 1890 (token for the
Albert K. Keller styled phonographs). However, a good and reliable rejector was not available until Thomas V. Skelly developed and patented his version in 1907. Another
even more reliable type was developed by Henry Koch, who sold the patents to
The Regina Music Box Company of
The
rather nice machines from The Regina Music Box Company did meet competition on
the market for middle size models, especially from machines like the New
Automatic Phonograph and the modified version, the Fortune Teller
Phonograph, filed for patent by Herbert Stephen Mills in 1905 and produced
by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, and the Cailophone
Style A with AC current
operation and the Cailophone Style B
with combined spring motor wound up by an electric motor made since 1906 by the
Caille Brothers Company of Detroit. The highly
competitive models in question did not have any selections to offer the patron,
but they were very typical in design of the era. Today both companies mentioned
above have become well-known for production of various arcade and amusement
machines during the first half of the 20th century, but they were indeed also
represented on the market for coin-op automatic phonographs. Especially the
Mills Novelty Company headed by the 3rd generation of the founding Mills family
(sons of Herbert Stephen Mills) became a well-known manufacturer of modern
style, electrically amplified jukeboxes with ferris wheel mechanism in the thirties.
In
A
destinctive mark of most European style machines was
that they often played Pathé 'hill-and-dale'
records, which were phono-cut. They were played with
a rounded needle in contrary to the ordinary needle-cut records. By using a
rounded needle instead of a pointed one the wear of the records was less
noticeable, and especially the French models were suitable for public use. In
the cabinet below the mechanism of the salon gramophones shelves for extra
records could be found in order to give the patron an option.
The
many different types of automatic or semi-automatic phonographs with coin slots
certainly were important for the promotion of music to the public during
the decades before home phonographs and gramophones could be owned by
everybody.
Gert J. Almind