Difference between revisions of "Multiphone"

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Shyver's Multiphone separated itself from these previous music telephone line systems through its much greater selection.  Users could pick from up to 170 different selections as opposed to the average coin-op automatic phonographs of the time, which could gave users only 24 choices at most.  The system became popular throughout cafes and diners in cities in the Northwest including Shyver's home of Seattle.  Many diners and cafes installed the Multiphone either at the bar or on individual booths for customer use.   
 
Shyver's Multiphone separated itself from these previous music telephone line systems through its much greater selection.  Users could pick from up to 170 different selections as opposed to the average coin-op automatic phonographs of the time, which could gave users only 24 choices at most.  The system became popular throughout cafes and diners in cities in the Northwest including Shyver's home of Seattle.  Many diners and cafes installed the Multiphone either at the bar or on individual booths for customer use.   
  
The Multiphone then required two leased phone lines: one for the machine itself, which connected to the Shyver library in Seattle, and one for the speakers.  At the central music library in Seattle, a team of female disc jockeys managed all of the Multiphone user requests and put the records on manually.  Once the customer inserted payment, the two lights on the Multiphone would light up, indicating that the telephone line was connecting to the library to get a disc jockey's services.  The customer would actually speak to the disc jockey through the small speaker found at the top of the Multiphone, telling her his or her request through the system.  Each song was given a number, which was displayed on the Multiphone in a cylindrical case, which could be rotated to make room for al the possible selections.
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The Multiphone then required two leased phone lines: one for the machine itself, which connected to the Shyver library in Seattle, and one for the speakers.  At the central music library in Seattle, a team of female disc jockeys managed all of the Multiphone user requests and put the records on manually.  Once the customer inserted payment, the two lights on the Multiphone would light up, indicating that the telephone line was connecting to the library to get a disc jockey's services.  The customer would actually speak to the disc jockey through the small speaker found at the top of the Multiphone, telling her his or her request through the system.  Each song was given a number, which was displayed on the Multiphone in a cylindrical case, which could be rotated to make room for all the possible selections.
  
 
== Rise and Demise ==
 
== Rise and Demise ==

Revision as of 18:25, 3 October 2010

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The pre-war model of the Multiphone, then called the "Music-Phone"
Shyvers' 1947 patent for his music box design [1]


The Shyvers Multiphone, released in 1939 by Kenneth C. Shyvers, was an early model of a coin-operated phonograph (also known as a jukebox). It allowed patrons at restaurants, cafes and bars to play music at their table, and worked through telephone lines. The user inserted the necessary amount of coins, and was connected to a team of all-female disc jockeys in Seattle, who manually put on the selected song on a phonograph, playing the music through the telephone connection. At the height of the product's popularity, the 8,000 Multiphones were used in various establishments primarily on the west coast.

Kenneth C. Shyvers

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The post-war model of the Shyvers Multiphone [2]

Kenneth C. Shyvers, an inventor from Seattle, is best known for the creation of the Multiphone, an early version of a coin-operated restaurant jukebox that played music through telephone lines from a central music library. He developed the product with his wife Lois in 1939, gaining a patent for its coin control device one-year prior. It was not until 1946/47 that he patented the music box itself. The product's design shows that Shyvers found inspiration from New York architecture, namely the Empire State Building. Although, the original Pre-War model of the music box (then called the "Music -Phone" more resembled a rocket ship. This design change might have been due to an increase in Shyvers' desire to show patriotism in the years after the war, or his ideas of what would appeal more to the costomers at the time. Shyvers is also known for his work on early interactive gaming machines. In 1936, he and fellow inventor Lyn Durrant designed one of the first "score totalizers," an aspect of gaming technology that is still prevalent today.


History of the Coin-Operated Phonograph

The Multiphone played an important role in the evolution of the jukebox, an invention that grew to become a staple of its time and is still often used in cafes and restaurants to recreate the temporality of the mid 20th century. The first recorded coin operated phonograph was presented in 1889, in a public demonstration at the Palais Royal Restaurant in San Francisco. Louis T. Glass, the operator of this initial model, is credited as “the father of the concept,” and went on to hold high offices at several telephone and telegraph companies. By 1891, the United States Patent Office had already registered 18 patents for phonograph coin control devices. Soon, Thomas Alva Edison gained business connections to the rising trend, and between 1900 and 1907 he released over 10 different models. The cafes, restaurants and bars that started housing the coin-operated phonographs became known as “juke-joints.” This term (along with the term “juke box”) started in the South, and was brought up with the northern migration of African-American workers in the early 20th century. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that the terms were released of the stigma of being considered ‘black’ terms and gained spots in the official vocabulary. The music boxes developed before 1900 each offered only one song selection, but soon models such as the “Gomber Multiplex” which could hold up to 12 songs, reached the market. In 1925/26, electrically recorded 78rpm records were released, solving amplification issues and changing the market. In the late 1930s, the market for the jukebox grew as it acted a source entertainment to help the public escape the possibility of war and the effects of the great depression. Companies such as the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. and the J.P. Seeburg Corp. became some of the primary competitors in jukebox production, creating new models and finding fiscal success in the process.


The all-female team of multiphone disc jockeys in downtown Seattle [3]

Development of Telephone Line Broadcasting Systems

The Multiphone separated itself form the competition through its use of telephone lines, which allowed for a much greater selection of songs through connecting the device to a central music library. This technology was not new however at the time. Before coin-operated music machine companies began to develop telephone line systems to be used with existing jukeboxes, telephone lines had already been used for similar purposes forty years earlier in France. Clement Agnes Ader invented the “Theatrophone” in 1881, which could broadcast and transmit sounds to 48 listeners at a time. It was able to broadcast the Opera de Paris to those listeners through various telephone lines running through the sewer systems, making it the first public broadcast entertainment system. A few laters in 1895, the Universal Telephone Co. in London developed a British equivalent known as the “Electrophone.” Coin slots were produced for both the Theatrophone and Electrophone and were placed in salons, hotels, and restaurants throughout several big cities in Britain and France. just like jukeboxes at the time. These two telephone line systems along with coin-operated phonographs allowed for the very idea of the multiphone to come into being.


A Centralized Music Library

Riding off the success of the Theatrophone and Electrophone, several different music libraries were created on a similar infrastructure in many large European cities and capitals, utilizing telephone lines to broadcast music to several users from one central location. Most of the time, the central music library would often be in the basement of the salon in which it broadcasted to the public. These music libraries could be found in Copanhagen and France in the 1910s. Eventually, this concept was adapted in the United States, when Kenneth Shyver created his "Multiphone" system in 1939, which went on to be the most successful of these various telephone line-based music libraries.

Shyver's Multiphone separated itself from these previous music telephone line systems through its much greater selection. Users could pick from up to 170 different selections as opposed to the average coin-op automatic phonographs of the time, which could gave users only 24 choices at most. The system became popular throughout cafes and diners in cities in the Northwest including Shyver's home of Seattle. Many diners and cafes installed the Multiphone either at the bar or on individual booths for customer use.

The Multiphone then required two leased phone lines: one for the machine itself, which connected to the Shyver library in Seattle, and one for the speakers. At the central music library in Seattle, a team of female disc jockeys managed all of the Multiphone user requests and put the records on manually. Once the customer inserted payment, the two lights on the Multiphone would light up, indicating that the telephone line was connecting to the library to get a disc jockey's services. The customer would actually speak to the disc jockey through the small speaker found at the top of the Multiphone, telling her his or her request through the system. Each song was given a number, which was displayed on the Multiphone in a cylindrical case, which could be rotated to make room for all the possible selections.

Rise and Demise

References

http://coin-o-phone.com/history.pdf

http://www.google.com/patents?id=eWkCAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=shyvers&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=shyvers&f=false

"Almind - Coin-Op Telephone Music." Danish Jukebox Archives. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://juke-box.dk/gert-telephone-music.htm>.

"Shyvers Multiphone." Bill Hare Productions. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://www.dyz.com/phones/multiphone.html>.

"1939 Multiphone by Shyvers." Antiques, Art, Collectibles & More - GoAntiques. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. 

<http://www.goantiques.com/detail,1939-multiphone-shyvers,1167164.html>.

"Shyvers Jukeboxes Multiphone Selector Speaker." Jukebox Stamann Musikboxen Jukebox-World: Wurlitzer Jukebox Parts Ersatzteile Jukeboxparts Musikbox Anzeigenmarkt Forum AMI Rowe Rock-Ola Seeburg NSM Wiegandt Tonomat. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://www.jukebox-world.de/Forum/Archiv/USA/Shyvers.htm>.