The "Drop Feeler" was also used by German Equipment.
German makers like Blaupunkt, Lowe Opta, etc built their own radios and console cabinets, but tended to by record changers from Perpetuum Ebner. The Rex A and AA models were popular from about 1955 to 1965 (with cosmetic changes along the way).
The German cycle used a sweep motion of the tone arm as the Mangavox did, however, before sweeping, the record dropped onto a step on the spindle first. This put the record in the same plane as the tone arm probe. It also sent a signal to the sequencer to show there was a record in position. As a result, there is no "feeling" at the end of a play sequence for a record; there's no weight on the spindle so the mechanism shuts off.
BTW there were minor differences: Blapunkts (as seen in the videos) used conventional stabilizer arms, most other makes used a stacking disk to keep records level.
This drop feeler was probably used because records (especially in Europe) were not as standardized as they became in the 60s. 7", 10" and 12" could all be found at 33 RPM. And this allows them to be mixed.
Closing thought: the Perpetuum Ebners also had 16 RPM record. Normally the fidelity of that speed was too low for music, so it was mostly used for spoke word (Plays of Shakespeare or Bible readings). Some jurisdictions mandated the speed for the blind. The only 16 RPM music recordings I can think of were the proprietary records put out by Seeberg Background Music, a kind of Muzak popular up to the 80's
I thought this little dance was unique to Perpetuum Ebners: when I was a little boy I was fascinated by my Grandmother's Blaupunkt and was keenly disappointed that my father's GE did not do the same thing.
