2001.33

NLS Talking Book Reproducer, Model A-80

Portable electric phonograph for playing talking book discs at 33 1/3, 16 2/3 or 8 1/3 rpm. Brown plastic case with hinged lid, metal clasps, a plastic handle, and rubber feet on the bottom corners. The 9-inch turntable automatically stops at end of play. Machine has an on-off switch, volume and tone controls, and rpm selection control, all with braille labeling, a built-in speaker in the lid and electrical cord storage in back of case. Manufactured for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. Metal label on front of lid has "A-80 69873" impressed on it. Foil label on inside of lid indicates repair work by Telephone Pioneers of America.

H-8.5 W-14.5 D-13 inches

1980

Interstate Industries, Inc.

Mundelein, IL

The passage of the Pratt-Smoot Act in 1931 created the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The act was amended in 1933 to include talking book service. The WPA began manufacturing talking books machines for the NLS in 1935. The first commercially purchased machines were bought by NLS in 1947. The first three-speed players appeared in 1965. The first transistorized machines appeared in 1968. This model, the A-80, and its cousin the A-79, were the standard NLS machines until the introduction of the variable speed A-1 in 1990.