The machine was invented in 1870; it was first manufactured by the Polyphon Musikwerke, in Leipzig, Germany, full-scale production having started about 1896 and continuing into the early 20th century.

Polyphons were exported all over the world; music was supplied for the English, French, German markets, as well as further afield, with pieces cataloged for the Russian, Polish, and Balkan regions.

On April 24, 1917, Polyphon-Musikwerke AG acquired the Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft record plant from the German government.

The German state had taken over DG and British holdings during World War I on the grounds that they were enemy property.

The factories Deutsche Grammophon and Polyphon-Musikwerke were handled by Polyphonwerke AG, and headquarters were relocated to Berlin, with the new corporate entity taking the name Polyphon-Grammophon-Konzern.

The ownership of foreign activities were concentrated in March 1929 into a Swiss holding company the Polyphon-Holding AG.

In 2000, the French media company Vivendi SA acquired the current owner Universal Music Group from Seagram.

Original examples still exist of 1870-invented Polyphon and contemporary manufacturers produce small quantities of both the devices and discs.

In the manufacturing process, the punched metal was curled back onto the underside of the disc, creating a raised projection that resembles a letter A when viewed obliquely.

Each star wheel, when moved through 40 degrees on its axis, plucks a tooth on the instrument's comb.

Most larger twin-combed examples had alternate strike although other manufacturers, notably Symphonion, produced large size instruments with duplex combs.

Polyphon may have devised an electric motor variant of a large coin-operated model in the latter days of production, but to date, no known original examples exist.

[citation needed] The motor has an output drive dog, which is a circular component with round-topped dowels arrange to fit the holes in the discs.