Telephone History

Bakelite Phones (1930s–1950s)

Tel 232 [6kb] Siemens Neophone - Atkinson

Telephone 232

 House Exchange System (Telephone Intercommunication No. 2) [9 KB]

House Exchange System
(Telephone Intercommunication No. 2)

Tel 232 on wall bracket [6 KB] - Atkinson

Tel 232 on bracket

 Bell Set 26 [4 KB] for use with Tel232 - Atkinson

Bell Set 26 for use with
Telephone 232.

Above scans from Atkinson

Herbert and Procter / Atkinson

If you need any wiring diagram from Atkinson revision (Part 1, Telephony and Manual Switching, or Part 2, Automatic Switching) or H&P (Part 1 only) for personal use only, please email Technical Support stating what you require and if I can locate it I will scan and email it back to you.

If you need any wiring diagrams redrawn or plotted to A0 size, for presentation or archive purposes, please contact David Burke CAD Services mentioning me!

Creed Teleprinter No 3 (without cover)

Creed Teleprinter No 3
(without cover) as used in the
telegram service in
the 1930s. British Telecom.

“Beauty Chorus” coloured telephone

One of the “Beauty Chorus”
of coloured telephones in the
Map Room, Cabinet War Rooms.
Imperial War Museum.

Trimphone

Green DTMF trimphone

Green DTMF Trimphone

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Green Dial Trimphone

Remember these? For the British public, the appropriately named Trimphone (standing for Tone Ringer Illuminated Model) meant liberation when it appeared in 1965. Production of the new telephone commenced in 1965, and an initial quantity of 1000 was offered to customers on a selective trial basis. It then became freely available, at extra rental cost, with a choice of three two-tone colour schemes: Grey-white, Grey-Green and two-tone blue.

Survivors are now back in vogue, led by the original two-tone colours (grey and white, light and dark blue, and grey and green). There’ll always be a lingering fondness for that ring. Watch out for re-sprayed versions in far from original colours.

The 712 was the original Trimphone, with circuitry based on the Tele 706. The 722 updated version has the same outward appearance but 746 circuitry.

The first design of keypad Trimphone to achieve large-scale production was the SC version (Tele 766); this design incorporates relays, but no batteries are needed. The depth of the casing was increased slightly to accommodate the additional circuitry. Subsequent designs have eased the packaging problems further by eliminating the relays and introducing transistor pulsing. An MF4 (Touch-tone) design had to await the development of an integrated circuit to replace the bulky coils and capacitors otherwise needed. This was introduced in 1979 (Tele 786).

In 1980, leather-covered versions were released as “Deltaphone” or “Deltaphone Deluxe”.

All versions of Trimphone (that I have met) can be rewired to ‘new style’ plug working — refer to /telephones/pst1.htm (local file)

Mickey Mouse Phone

Mickey Mouse (small)
Mickey Mouse telephone.
large version (40 kb)

Phonecards

Visit my Phonecards page for some telephone history themed phonecards

Telephone History Websites

Inclusion of an external link does not imply endorsement of the website, individual or organisation concerned.
Some of the images on this page, which are from my collection of telephone pictures, may have originally been downloaded from these sites.

Other UK Telephone History Sites

Inclusion of an external link does not imply endorsement of the website, individual or organisation concerned.

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TC