1883 Registration of the family-business of Hermann Thorens, in St.-Croix / Switzerland, manufacturing musical boxes and movements.
1900 Manufacture of Thorens' cylinder phonographs.
1906 Change-over to the manufacturing of horn-gramophones for flat records.
1913-1964 Manufacturing of cigarette lighters
1914-1952 Manufacturing of harmonicas (except for the time from 1921-1938)
1927 Conversion of the family business to a joint-stock company (AG)
1928 Development of the first electric motor (direct drive) for gramophones.
1929 Development of the first electric phono pick-up (employing a magnet principle).
1933 Manufacturing of wireless appliances, partly in cooperation with the Strassfurt-Imperial Co., Germany.
1940-1950 Production of professional disc-cutting lathes and phono pick-up cartridges.
1943 Production of the first record changer.
1957 Introduction of the classic TD124 Hi-Fi record player. The success of this player had an enormous effect at Thorens, shaping the future direction for the company into that of a worldwide manufacturer of high quality stereo record players.
1958-1961 Introduction of the models TD184, TD134 with BL104 tonearm,
1962 Introduction of the unique TD224 HI-Fi record changer, the TD121 & the TD111.
1963 Thorens merges with Paillard SA, St.-Croix / Switzerland. Denerges three years later.
1965 Introduction of the TD150 with TP13 tonearm. This new suspended layout presents a significant step forward in efforts to reduce rumble noise.
1966 Effective July 1st, 1966, the Swiss Thorens-Franz AG took over the entire business concerning Thorens record players and together with EMT Wilhelm Franz of Germany, they established a new business for research, development and manufacturing in Lahr / Germany, located in the foothills of the Black Forest.
1968 Introduction of the TD125 electronically-controlled (Wien Bridge Oscillator) turntable equipped with the TP25 tonearm. This table replaces the TD124 II as the flagship of the product line.
1969 Introduction of the TD150 Mk II with new tonearm TP13A.
1972 The introduction of the TD125 MkII.
1974 Presentation of the TD126 "electronic" with tonearm TP16.
1976 Introduction of the "Isotrack"-tonearm with a low effective mass. This led to models: TD126 Mk II , TD160 Mk II , TD166, TD145 Mk II. Thorens also commence with building the AT410 stereo receiver.
1978 New Products TD104, TD105, TD110, TD115. The Receiver AT403, Cassette Deck PC 650, Sound Wall l
1979 Development of the state-of-the-art turntable "Reference"
1981-1983 Introduction of the TD226, featuring a vacuum pump platter and space for two tonearms.
1982 Introduction of the upgraded TD166 Mk II
1983 The Thorens Prestige is introduced.
1984 Design, development and introduction of the new standard: TD320
1985 Introduction of the TD520 professional, successor to the TD126.
1989 Development and production of the TD2001
1990 TD3001, an improved variant of the TD2001
1990-1991 Relocation of Thorens production and Thorens sale/distribution to new premises.
1991 Presentation of the new tonearm TP50 and the TD180 semi-automatic record player.
1992 Introduction of the TD290 "Budget High-End" turntable.
1993 The production of the low-priced Thorens record players starts up in Lodz / Poland.
1994 Development and introduction of new Thorens proprietary electronic audio components. Considered absolutely High-End and provided with the family name "Thorens Consequence", the first devices to hit the market are a highly musical preamplifier and power amplifier. Presentation of the Thorens "Classic" line, a pre and power amplifier employing tubes.
1995 Foundation of the Thorens Laboratory in Berlin with the purpose of developing and manufacturing High End audio components. Introduction of the CD player, D/A converter and RDS-tuner.
1996 The "Thorens Consequence" family welcomes a pair of powerful mono block amplifiers and a unique power line conditioner.
1999 Thorens TD325 is shown at CES '99.
Dec/2000 Thorens was refused Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the German government.
May/2002 Restructuring of ownership and shareholder organization. New management appointed to re-launch the brand "Thorens".
Present Day Thorens still exist and continue to win acclaim and prizes for their High-End Audio
This machine has a similar basic layout to other Thorens 2 minute standard cylinder machines, however unique by the fact of being able to be wound from both the left and right hand sides. With the standard Thorens machines, the winding mechanism operated on the center of the spring barrel. With the Thorens Cleopatra, the additional left / right winding technology acts on the outside of the spring barrel. This is a double spring motored machine.
It is designed to play wax 2 minute records. It is housed in a reversible case
The interesting point with this machine is that there is an interesting construction of the start / stop leaver and the lever that lowers the reproducer and feedscrew. The lyre type endplate is the way to identify Thorens phonographs.
This machine played a normal 2 minute cylinder, and has a single spring motor.