Working History — C. 1885
Telephone, wall telephone
This telephone would have been mounted on a wall in a home or office. The cranking handle was used to alert the operator when a call was to be made or ended.
The cabinet originally held the battery, which provided the power to make the call. After the introduction of central battery exchanges in the 20th century telephones no longer needed local batteries and could therefore be manufactured in smaller sizes.
- Category:
- Working History
- Object ID:
- 2003.2/253
- Object name:
- telephone, wall telephone
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- —
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- c. 1885
- Material:
wood, metal, bakelite
- Measurements/duration:
- H 320 mm, W 190 mm, D 100 mm
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
BT Connected Earth
- Copyright holder:
BT
- Image credit:
© BT Heritage
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.