by Joe_DS »
Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:40 am
That's what's known as a "drop changer." You swing the L-shaped arm (tension arm or retaining arm) to the right, then pile on LPs--normally up to six--onto the top portion of the spindle.

Then swing back the L-shaped arm which will clamp the records down.
If it's working properly, after the first record is played, the tone arm (thing with the needle in it) will swing to the extreme right, clearing the record's edge, and the next record in the stack will plop down on top of the first record. Then the tone arm will swing over to the start of the record and begin playing it.
I don't have the instructions for this player handy, but there is probably a switch to set the size of the record. In the case of most LPs (33&1/3) rpm records, you'll set it for 12" prior to loading the records. (If you don't see this knob or switch, then the changer probably automatically determines the record's size.) There may also be a switch to set it for automatic or manual playing. If you just have a single knob, you'd probably just set it to "eject" to start the turntable spinning. After the final record in the stack is done playing, the tone arm will swing back to the right and set itself down. At this point, the mechanism may or may not automatically shut itself off.
It will look like this, in operation:
