Rick Crandall

Gabel’s Automatic Entertainer

1905 first record-changing multi-selection phonograph invented by John Gabel; His Automatic Machine and Tool Company competed with Victor coin operated phonograph; early competitive tactics; coin op jukebox; automatic talking machine; automatic acoustic...
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Diary Disclosures of John Gabel, A Pioneer In Automatic Music

The Gabel Automatic Entertainer dates to 1905 and is the very first disc record-changing multi-selection phonograph invented by John Gabel; His Automatic Machine and Tool Company competed with Victor in massive patent fights that Gabel finally won. The...
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Popper Orchestrion

1910 German-made mechanical orchestra shipped through newly-opened Panama Canal to Nevada City, California to play in a gold rush saloon owned by Ernie Schreiber. Named the Popper Felix orchestrion, it has extensive instrumentation for playing classical...
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1981 Scene Magazine Cover Story

Comshare history; Comshare timeline chronology; transition from timesharing to software; Execuchart mouse based graphics terminal; Executive team Kevin Kalkhoven; Dick Eidswick; Ian McNaught Davis; Don Devine; Wally Wrathall; Ann Arbor, Michigan’s focus...
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1981 Ann Arbor Scene Magazine Article

Coin-operated musical instruments; Gay 90’s America; coin-op nickelodeon Encore Automatic Banjo; Mills Novelty Company slot machines; Violano Virtuoso automatic violin player; scuba underwater photography; Wildflower photography.
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Boyer Coin-Op Museum

1930’s Alden Scott Boyer created Chicago Coin Club and the Chicago Coin Device Museum; first coin-op machines museum; roll-operated musical instruments; player piano; coin-operated machines; perforated roll music; pneumatic mechanisms; collecting coin-op...
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The Encore Automatic Banjo

The Encore Automatic Banjo is one of the first commercialized automatic coin-op music machines in1897. It operated from a perforated paper roll controlled in similar fashion to player pianos. This article is based on original company records of the American...
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1969 Time-Sharing Article

the early challenges managing time-sharing systems; load balancing, scalability, human factors; interactive languages; review of in-house vs. commercial timesharing services
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