This
model is mostly known from illustrations, but there is a good picture of one
on a Swiss website. It is essentally a Blake or similar top box on a small platform
to allow desktop use. A similar model appears to have been used in the U.S.
for a short time. It consisted of a Blake box fitted onto a turned wooden pillar
and circular base. ("Old Telephones Price Guide" by R H Knappen 1980.
)
These models are The Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company's first desk phones. They do not appear to have been used in the United States at all, and are probably Bell's response to Ericsson's skeletal phone of 1892. First production seems to have been in 1895. The handset styles shown are the only ones known to exist. The handset came in two versions - the elaborate version as seen on the example of the right or a more basic plain model as seen in the left illustration. Early handsets up to about 1898 used the Ericsson-style handset with the tubular mounts for the receiver and transmitter but after this the "saddlebag" style was introduced. The handset appears to have been rather weak, as most examples seen have a laterEricsson handset fitted.
The phones were widely used in Britain and its colonies, and they are also known from Spain and South America. In Australia they were often used by Government departments and usually carry a government stamp to mark their ownership. The base is cast aluminium and the magneto cover is folded steel. The phones are known as the "Eiffel Tower" in most countries, but in the U.S. they are called the Skeletal.
This model is generally called the "Turret Phone" after the swing-arm-mounted transmitter. It dates from 1893 and it appears to have been built at the Antwerp factory. It seems to have been in use for many years, as it underwent a series of upgrades. Whether these were factory upgrades or were later refits is unknown.
Top left: An early adaptation of Berliner's Transmitter . From "A Manual of Telephony" Preece and Stubbs 1893.
Second : Model 5711 with Solid Back transmitter. This pattern was used by the National Telephone Company in Britain. From the 1902 Western Electric catalog. They are also found with Ericsson transmitters from later refits.
Third: National Telephone Company side handset version. This one appears to have been refitted with an Ericsson handset. National adopted Ericsson phones in the late 1890s to replace its previous Bell phones.The phone may be a factory model rather than a later conversion. From "Old Telephones " by Andrew Emmerson. This book is now out of print but is readily available through eBay, and covers many early British phones including some rare Bell models.
Fourth: Later model with Hunnings transmitter. Auctioned on eBay in 2002. Stamped with rampant lion, serial number T247E. The construction of the transmitter mount suggests that this was a factory model rather than a later refit.
Right: These phones are also known with a Blake transmitter inset into the front of the case. They were made by Stockholm Bell in the late 1880s and many were later refitted with an Ericcson upgrade transmitter as shown in this illustration. Note that the bells have been moved to the top of the phone to allow room for the Blake transmitter. This arrangement seems to be unique to the Stockholm model.
Model
6421b Desk Intercom, ten line model. It was also available in five lines (Model
6214c), or ten lines with a buzzer in an extra case at the rear (Model 6214d)
. The unusual sloping front case design was also used by Sterling Telephone
and Electrical in Britain and by Berliner in Germany, but whether they copied
each others' design or bought parts from each other is unknown.
Model
5423 "Radial Switch" Intercom. It came in two versions, with five
lines (Model 5420) or ten lines (Model 5423). The elaborate cast metal cradle
is a distinguishing feature. From 1920s catalog. There is a wall version of
this phone also. It does not appear to have been used in the United States.
Model
40045 Desk phone of the early 1900s. By this time manufacturing was becoming
standardised and more efficient. Timber cases had been replaced with pressed
steel, the handset was almost universal (in Europe, anyway), and there was a
desperate rush to increase production to meet demand. In the United States handsets
were still rare and most U.S.- built phones still relied on the separate transmitter-receiver
combination. Some companies like Kellogg were building handset phones with parts
from Ericsson. The handset style was generically known as the "French Phone"
because that was where most people first saw handset phones. Western Electric
did not adopt the handset in the U.S. until the bakelite era in the late 1920s.
Bell Desk Phones
Bell 3-box Wall Phones
Western Electric Wall Phones
Early Bell & Western Electric Phones
Bell Wall Phones
Early Bell and Western Electric Phones
Consolidated Phones
History