Victrola is the trademark name of a line of phonographs produced by the Victor Talking Machine Company in the early part of the 1900's. Eldridge Reeves Johnson, the founder, wanted to make is product the "Steinway of Talking Machines" and he did succeed at that.
The Victrola in its original incarnation was produced from about 1906 until the late 1920's (circa 1929). It was a departure in that it was the first sound-player designed expressly for home use, and was designed, marketed and sold as such.
There is an important distinction between a Victrola and a Victor Phonograph -- the Victor Phonograph is what is traditionally thought of them you think of a phonograph, with an external horn. The Victrola was a departure from this, integrating the horn into the cabinet itself and making the Victrola look like a piece of fine furniture instead of a spectacle.
Annual sales of the Victrola quickly rose from a modest 2,500 in 1906 to over half-a-million in 1917. When compared to the sales of external horn Victor phonographs, which peaked at around 95,000 per year, one can quickly see the magnitude of the invention of the Victrola.
There were two real different versions in the Victrola line, the manually driven (hand crank) models and the electrically driven models introducted in 1925 which also may include electrical amplifiers as well. Other differentiations in models included the type of electricity used (because for a large portion of the Victrola's life there was a schism between the Edison DC camp and the Tesla AC camp).
The Victrola in its original designs died in 1929 when RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine Co. with the intention of incorporating its radio products into phonographs and dominating the home entertainment industry.