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Communication Equipment and Engineering Co., Chicago
Picture courtesy of
Pat;
Information:
Gert Almind
An interesting type of music library system invented
and manufactured in Washington was the Telo-Music invented by Audry R. Kinney in
Mount Vernon.
Audry R. Kinney was a very able inventor, and around 1939/40, when he was in his
prime, he developed both central units for bars and cafés and remote controls
for telephone line music. These inventions including a complete 10-turntable
central operator's unit are believed to be the forerunners, or maybe in fact the
basis, of the Rock-Ola Mystic Music 3701 Master and 3708 Super phonographs with
up to 250 selections introduced in 1940/41 connected also in some cases with the
Mystic-Music 3801 booth or bar boxes. It seems that the Rock-Ola Manufacturing
Corporation bought most rights to patents for the system known today as the
Mystic Music, most probably also the patents filed by Audry R. Kinney in Mount
Vernon, Washington.
Other important competitors on the market were Personal Music
Corporation of Newark, New Jersey, and Telo-Tune (Communication Equipment and
Engineering Company) in Chicago, Illinois, which should not be confused with
Telo-Music and the inventor Audry R. Kinney mentioned above. Personal Music
Corporation entered the market in 1940, but was inactive for a few years during
the war until it started up again in May, 1945, with new equipment and control
units called Phonette Melody Lane. The Telo-Tune company in Chicago was active
at the end of the war, and the firm mainly used control units named Teletone
Musicale designed by George Phelps. George Phelps' design for the Teletone
Musicale was filed for patent on the 15th march, 1946. Several small, local
companies also tried to get a foothold on the market, but none of them were
successful, and very few are even remembered today by name. |
