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http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRA-RARE-4-PL ... 1336808512


Anyone know what this is?

Dance Party 1922.

The other thread shows a different maker's early jukebox/changer mechanism, and although it has a single tonearm and four turntables, there is not much more in common between them. The item currently offered on ebay features a numbered dial for each turntable (1-20, along with an interesting double arrow indicator), and a marked, single central motor speed control, so they are repeater controls.

Look at the listing, which has more details in photos additional to what was uploaded here to the forum. You can see that the tonearm has a rotational arrangement with little triggers that trip for each position.

I would think the "early radio broadcast equipment" theory is unsound, since magnetic pickups and radio came at around the same time, and the acoustic coupling from horn to mic would be too lossy. They would have made an airtight dubbing connection instead. But the 4 platter configuration doesn't bring any operational advantage either.

I believe this is a mechanized attempt for extended play. It's electrically powered so it doesn't need anyone to jump up and wind it, and the 4-platter approach just lends more time between having to get up and load new records. I bet you'd set it playing, and as the 4th record spun you could easily replace the prior 3, and the fourth after it finished, then go back to dancing or listening.

Or one might use the apparent repeater mechanism to play the dickens out of just the four on there. And if you think about it, that's not weird, because people bought and used repeaters that played a single disc over and over and over in those days.

The mechanism wouldn't be too complicated, just rotating the arm 90 degrees to the next platter rather than just back to the platter edge like a Brooks Repeater or the like.

The size of it likely means it was not intended for average home use, but the lack of a housing and the small horn means it wasn't a commercial or concert item either. Perhaps this was for wealthy folks who had small ballrooms in their homes and liked to host small dances there.

In any case, somebody in the area (New Mexico?) needs to go inspect and document this thing before it disappears. Has anyone tried a patent search?

My first thought was that it was made for a dealer showroom.

I confess that I am baffled...


The e-bay listing has several close-ups of the machine and motor that are helpful, if not entirely revelatory.

Close examination of the listing photos, especially the ones of the base of the tone-arm, reveal that the post extending down from the tone arm, that might have triggered an auto-stop on a wind-up machine, involves a "wiper contact" that engages contact studs around the perimeter of the tone-arm base. Perhaps some sort of auto-stop ( or start), but of an electrical nature.


The motor photos suggest one central induction disc ( I cannot see the field coils), and the four satellite wheels seem to be friction-drive wheels that rotate the four platters.

The motor frame casting is impressively beefy looking.

Not sure what the four dials marked 1-20 are for...


My thought is some sort of timed announcement / music gadget ?

It certainly is an impressive "what-zit"...

Speaking of whatzit's...

I believe the Gaumont was synchronized to a movie projector.

Maybe an attempt by/for a classical music lover to be able to play multiple records of a longer work without the interruption caused by stopping to switch records? I suppose that with the use of something like a Tungs-Tone needle, and replacing records as each in the series had finished playing, one could get through quite a long piece with only minimal interruption, with a machine like this.

VintageTechnologies wrote:I believe the Gaumont was synchronized to a movie projector.

Yes- the Chronophone System- a compressed air amplifying mechanism similar to the Auxetophone, the lugs studding the horns are to deaden the resonant spots. You can see a number of "Phonoscenes" made for the system on Youtube.