1927-28 Victrola Orthophonic Floor Player Cabinet

Introduced in 1927 The 4-40 Victrola Orthophonic floor model offered a larger and more stylish, mahogany finish, cabinet design to the 4-4 “Granada” Model, essentially the 4-40 was the updated successor to the 4-4 model. The 4-40 featured a medium-size folded Orthophonic horn, a 2-spring motor, and an elegant, modern "low-boy" cabinet. Nickel-plated hardware and an automatic brake were provided; the hardware was later enhanced via an "antique bronze" finish toward the end of production. It was an immediate hit, as it provided excellent performance in a substantial cabinet for an affordable price selling at $165.00, which equates to approximately $2,500.00 in today's money. Production ended in late 1928, but unsold machines continued to be sold by Victor dealers well into 1929.

In 1896, Emile Berliner, the inventor of the gramophone and disc record, contracted Eldridge R. Johnson, owner of a small machine shop in Camden, New Jersey, to manufacture a spring-driven motor for the gramophone. Over the next several years he developed a number of improvements for it and the process of disc recording. In 1900, Johnson formed the Consolidated Talking Machine Company of Philadelphia which, after lengthy and complex patent litigation, was reorganized in 1901 as the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey. In the company's early years, Victor issued recordings on the Victor, Monarch and De Luxe labels, even issuing the first Jazz and blues records.

In the early 1920s, Victor's senior executives were initially dismissive of the encroachments of radio, but after plummeting sales and their apathy and resistance of radio and electrical recording brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy in 1925. In response, they switched to a new microphone-based electrical system developed by Western Electric and marketed a new line of phonographs referred to as "Orthophonic Victrolas”. In 1926, Johnson sold his controlling (but not holding) interest in the Victor Company to the banking firms of JW Seligman and Speyer & Co., who in turn sold Victor to the Radio Corporation of America in 1929.