Gabel Automatic Entertainer

[phonographgirl]

Greetings to all. This may be a little off the mainstream. One of my interests is in machines made by the Automatic Machine And Tool Company in Chicago. Specifically the Automatic Entertainer. Anyone interested in discussing the machines, or their history, is invited to contact me. Also, I was lucky to find an empty cabinet for one recently, and I'm now seeking to complete it. If you've a spare mechanism, I'll gladly take it off your hands. Thanks, Russie

[phonogfp]

Wow - That's quite a project! Congratulations and good luck completing the Gabel's. Are you aware of the article written by Rick Crandall on the GAE that appeared in The Antique Phonograph Monthly 25-30 years ago? If not I can scan you a copy.

George P.

[FloridaClay]

For folks like me who don't know about them, here is some info.

http://www.jukebox-world.de/Forum/Archi ... -1920.html

Looks like a fascinating machine, and complex.

Clay

[JohnM]

Greetings to all. This may be a little off the mainstream. One of my interests is in machines made by the Automatic Machine And Tool Company in Chicago. Specifically the Automatic Entertainer. Anyone interested in discussing the machines, or their history, is invited to contact me. Also, I was lucky to find an empty cabinet for one recently, and I'm now seeking to complete it. If you've a spare mechanism, I'll gladly take it off your hands. Thanks, Russie

Was that the cabinet that Coin-op Warehouse had for sale recently?

[barnettrp21122]

Very interesting description and pictures! I especially like the holder for the needles. It'd take you awhile to load them!
I seem to recall that some regular home machine had a type of semi-automatic needle changer but I don't remember anything else.
Bob

[phonographgirl]

Yes, the article from Rick Crandall was very interesting to me. It served as an introduction to the world early jukeboxes. I spoke with Rick a few years after that article appeared and he sent me pictures of his machine. It was an early one, with external horn. We talked about serial numbers, and he mentioned another external horn model he knew of that was serial number 735, or something near that number. I say that because, about a year later (around 1979), I found serial number 815. It was an enclosed horn model. I still have that machine. The needle changing system is fascinating to me. It works well except it seems to prefer to drop a needle on the record (which then gets slung outward into the cabinet) now and then. There is likely an adjustment for that, however, as long as the machine keeps working, I don't see any urgency in fixing that little bug. By the way Bob, the home system that you refer to may have been the Gabelola. It had a needle changing system like the Automatic Entertainer. Apparently it was short lived, as there are only a few advertisements I've seen that are dated 1917. I've never heard of anyone having one and would love to see photos of one. Thank you guys for the input.