The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

When I first got into this hobby as a teenager in the late 1970's, I had a late teens (maybe early 20's) Columbia Grafonola, in a mahogany cabinet. Typical louvre doors on front, nothing fancy. Nothing really rare but what to me was very unusual was the fact that the lid support structure/mechanism had this long rod which came out the front left portion of the lid's frame, with a "button" on it. I assumed that the "button" was to be pressed to lower the lid but since it was badly damaged I could not at the time understand how it should have worked. At the lower end of this mechanism, close to the lid's hinge area was a sheet metal assembly with some Columbia patents stamped into it. This is where most of the damage was.
Has anyone else out there seen or know what I'm referring to? I haven't owned the machine for over 40 years. In that time I've NOT seen another example. Just curious about this.
Thoughts? Pics? Thanks for reading!!

The early Columbia Favorites (maybe 1913ish) had that button on the front left of the outside lid to release the catch and close the lid. I had one and it was surprisingly nice, very well built machine and sounded great.