The "bread bin" turntable

Since the 1930s, many companies have manufactured electric turntables that could play the standard 78 RPM records. The turntables were placed in a wooden cabinet that resembled a traditional box for bread storage. The turntable was powered by an asynchronous slip motor with a centrifugal friction regulator. The pickup was of electro-magnetic or piezo-electric type and used steel needles that had to be replaced after each side of the record. The turntables were usually equipped also with a light and and automatic switch off device. The output of the pickup would be connected to a radio which would sit on the top of the cabinet. Turntables for LP vinyl records were also manufactured in these cabinets in the 1950s.