Eric Waterworth Auto-Changer c.1925

Eric Waterworth from Hobart patented the very first automatic record-changer in 1925. It was demonstrated in October 1925 to the Tasmanian premier, J. A. Lyons. The device could play several records automatically, using an ingenious stepped spindle which would become common in record changers of the future.

In Sydney, Waterworth arranged with a company called Home Recreations to fit his record changer in their new model of Salonola Gramophone. Unfortunately, Home Recreations went into liquidation shortly afterwards, and the Salonola was never built (although the advertisement for it still exists).

Waterworth went on to build three prototypes of his invention, one of which is now reportedly in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences in Sydney. A parts machine is in a Tasmanian museum.

Not one to give up, Waterworth went to London and sold the patent for his invention to the new Symphony Gramophone and Radio Co. Ltd. It was never produced.

The ingenious Tasmanian went on to design and build high-end optical lenses for military sights and lenses for cameras, projectors, printers, and optical systems.