A spring and clockwork move the cylinder, and a fly regulator governs the rate. The music box was probably invented about 1770 in Switzerland. It was a popular domestic instrument until displaced by the phonograph and player piano. The disks could be changed to allow different selections, as could the cylinders on some instruments of the other type. The bars are arranged in two rows, the second corresponding to the black keys of the piano.
Military bands use a portable form with a lyre-shaped frame, called a bell lyre.
A glockenspiel may be fitted with a keyboard mechanism so that chords can be played. The glockenspiel became part of the orchestra in the 18th century. A pedal lifts a felt-pad damper from the bars, permitting use of either sustained or short notes. Such instruments can be found from the South Seas and South America to Africa and the Far East. Large stones are used in some Vietnamese religious temples, and one of the oldest surviving lithophones was discovered there in 1949.