The American Jukebox

What is a 'jukebox' exactly? A jukebox is a machine that automatically plays a selected musical recording when a coin is inserted.

So when was the jukebox invented? Well, in 1890 Louis Glass and William S Arnold patented a retrofit device they called the 'Coin Actuated Attachment'. They fit their device to a cylinder phonograph, the 'Edison Class M Electric Phonograph' (Thomas Edison had invented the phonograph in 1877), and called it the 'nickel-in-the-slot phonograph' (later shorted to nickelodeon). This first 'jukebox' was installed in the Palais Royale Saloon (owned by Louis Glass) in San Francisco, USA. However, coin operated machines that automatically play a selected musical recording were not referred to as a 'jukebox' until the 1940's. Most 1930's 'jukeboxes' were simply referred to as 'coin-operated phonographs', or 'automatic phonographs'. Some consider the 1906 'Gabel Automatic Entertainer' by the John Gabel Company (Chicago, Illinois) to be the first 'jukebox', as this was the first coin-operated record player with an automatic mechanism.

The birth of the 'jukebox', as we know it today, didn't really begin until amplified sound became more popular and the 'Big Four' companies started to produce coin-operated phonographs in larger numbers.
In 1927 both AMi and Seeburg introduced their first 'jukeboxes'. The Automatic Musical Instrument Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan) released their 'National Automatic Selection Phonograph' which played both sides of 10 78-RPM records. While J P Seeburg (Chicago, Illinois) presented the 'Melatone', of which about 100 were produced.
In 1933 Farny Wurlitzer, son and successor of Rudolph Wurlitzer, bought the patents for the 'Simplex-Mechanism' from Homer E Capehart and WurliTzer (North Tonawanda, New York) introduced their 'Debutante' prototype phonograph. It had 10 selections and around 266 were made.
The Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation (Chicago, Illinois) entered the 'jukebox' business in 1935 with the release of their 'Model A (Multi-Selector)', a 12 selection 78-RPM record playing phonograph.

Other companies were also producing jukeboxes around this time, but most didn't survive. In the database below we have tried to include as many American jukeboxes and jukebox companies as possible, but due to poor record keeping and the short existence of some companies, this is by no means an exhaustive list.

Browse the entire database below (ordered by date when each company first began manufacturing jukeboxes), or select an individual company from the following list: -All Manufacturers- Aireon AMi Cameron Capehart Capitol Carson Centuri Chicago Coin Daly Denson Evans Filben Gabel Holecomb & Hoke Link Meladie Vendor Mills NSM Packard Pantages Ristaucrat Rock-Ola Rosen Rowe AMi Seeburg United Williams WurliTzer