Early 706? Or is it?

[andy1702]

I've been trying to sort out the history of the GPO 700 series phones for quite some time now. In particular I'm trying to work out what they looked like originally, before dials got replaced etc over the years.

I've been told that they originally had embossed 'arrows' on a silvered finger plate and a stainless steel finger wheel on a dial number 12. The numbers (and letters) were printed on a colour coded ring around the outside of the dial. I'm also told this dial bezel always had numbers and letters until a plain version was brought in during later years. The rule I understood until now was that if the dial bezel had just numbers then it was a phone by Ericsson or one of the other companies that had been supplied privately to a private system such as might be found in a factory or large office block.

So imagine my surprise when the phone shown below turned up on E-Bay. At first glance (judging by the dial bezel) it looks like a privately supplied phone, maybe an Ericsson N1900, supplied privately to some big company somewhere. But look underneath and it's revealed as a very early GPO 706 from 1959!!!!

I have an identical phone in black with the same numeric obly bezel and dial number 12, supplied privately by AEI. I know this because their dial label was still in it with a hand-written extension number on it. But that phone has a blank base.

This ivory example clearly says 706 despite having the numeric only dial bezel which I have always been led to believe was only supplied on instruments destined for privately operated systems. So what is it? Have some parts been switched around? Or did telephone manufacturers sometimes divert instruments made for the GPO to other customers like Telephone Rentals etc?

The phone is currently in the post on it's way to me. I'm hoping it arrives safely because the case looks like the fragile Diakon, which would be correct for 1959.

I'd be grateful to anyone who might be able to shed any light on what this might be exactly.

[twocvbloke]

The base is certainly a 59'er, very early 706 indeed, as for the rest of it, well, that's a bit uncertain, as the L on 706L means "Letters and numbers on dial or surround", so either the dial or surround has been swapped at somepoint, possibly even the shell & handset from another set (goodness knows what has happened to it in the almost 58 years it's been around!), the dial's appropriate for it's age, that's a given, and the dial surround is seemingly transparent (as it should be), the domed feet instead of the later cupped versions, but, both the dial and the surround being numbered, that's an oddity...

I can't really make much of a guess, most of it seems right except the discrepancy between being a 706L on the base but a 706F on the dial... 

Still, regardless of the continuity there, it's a 59'er, the first year of the 706, much like the much sought-after 49'er 500 across the pond... 

[andy1702]

I missed out on another 59er a couple of weeks back. Interestingly that one did have the alpha-numeric dial bezel but I can't remember what the actual dial was.

I've checked the manufacturer code and (I think) S stands for Siemens.

The bit I don't get is why would you put numbers on the bezel and numbers on the dial plate behind the finger wheel as well? I've always been told (by someone who says he saw the first ones at the GPO when they were new) that the first 706s had a kind of 3d effect ring of arrows behind the finger wheel. There's evidence in GPO publicity shots from the time to support this. However there's also a shot showing one with numbers AND letters on the dial back-plate in 300 series style!

To complicate it even more, Ericsson made some N1900s with the dial 12, the 3d arrow things but only a numeric dial bezel. This is why I thought at first glance this was an Ericsson. All the Ericsson's I've seen from that era though have a plastic base  but this phone has a metal one.

Then there's the black one pictured below. It appears to be exactly like the ivory one, but it has no trace of anything on the base and arrived with an AEI dial label with an extension number written on it.

When the ivory one arrives hopefully there will be a date on the dial which might give a few more clues. There might even be a paper wiring diagram glued inside the case.

By the way... The 59 I missed went for just over £130! This one was £34. It's still the most expensive phone I've ever bought though! 

[twocvbloke]

I think all the different manufacturers of the same phones really does confuse matters, as one manufacturer produced their own take on the phones, and another put their mark on it, etc., for example, my '62 706L was by Plessey, has a black fingerwheel, black dial plate (no numbers, letters or chevrons), 21CA dial, the Letters & numbers dial surround, and some slightly different baseplate tooling compared to the ivory 59'er here...

I've seen pictures of the No.12 dials with 300 series letters & numbers plates on them too, I think they did that to use up excess stock before moving to the 21 series dials, they do look somewhat out of place on them, but given they work and were fitted as standard, they do belong there for originality's sake...

[Jack Ryan]

I think a 12FA dial is correct for an early 706L or 706F. What is not right is the combination of F surround and the 706L code on the base.

Jack

[andy1702]

I agree with you both. Given diakon's tendency to crack and break I wonder if the whole case has been replaced with one from an Ericsson N1900, which would have had the F dial bezel? I mnow when I've bought cases they often come with the bezel still attached. Whether or not it has a GPO diagram stuck on the inside might help to answer that.

Jack, I'd be interested to know what makes you think the dial might be correct? The 12F is the only variant of dial 12 there is no evidence for in period photos. I thought the back plate has 3d arrows on the earliest phones, then they used coloured but plain back plates up to about 1963 (like the one Twocvbloke mentions), then coloured backplates with black or white printed arrows between about 1963-1967. I'll stand to be corrected though.

Another thing I don't know is which manufactureres  were making conventionally wired phones and which were making those with circuit boards?

[twocvbloke]

The casing could have been replaced, but without seeing inside of it, it's hard to tell to be honest, that and it's vaguely possible it may have been involved in All-Figure-Number dialling trials (that came about in '66 when the first director areas were set up) thus not requiring the lettered dial ring, but that's pure speculation, as letters & numbers dialling was the standard when the 706 was released...

As for conventional wiring versus PCB manufacturers, well, you'd probably have to look at a lot of both versions to find out the manufacturers, as the initial manufacturers of both were as follows:

The Automatic Telephone & Electric Co, Ericsson's Telephones Ltd, The General Electric Co Ltd, The Phoenix Telephone & Electric Works Ltd, The Plessey Co Ltd, Siemens Edison Swan Ltd/ AEI, Standard Telephones & Cables Ltd and The Telephone Manufacturing Co Ltd. Tele's 706 have also been seen with HAS (Association Automation, London) & CWL (Pye Cambridge works) manufacturers codes.

Text borrowed from here - http://britishtelephones.com/t706.htm

Of course more manufacturers came in and of course makes it a bigger mess to look through...

[andy1702]

Hang on... From that list, am I right in thinking that Siemens and AEI were one and the same? This might explain quite a bit because the black private phone seems to be an AEI product and the ivory one is siemens. As far as I can tell, they are absolutely identical.

Still doesn't explain why they might have put a number only ring on a GPO issued phone though.

I'll do more investigation when it arrives.

[Owain]

Is it a 'standard' number ring, or the 'large print' ones produced for visually handicapped subscribers (to use the terminology of the time)?

[andy1702]

That's an interesting thought. I don't think it's one of those though. I've only seen those on 746 phones about 10 years later. The numbers on those are printed on the surface of a coloured plastic ring. These rings are actually clear then the numbers are printed on the back and painted over with the background colour which protects them when viewed normally from the other side.

These number only rings are standard issue on 706-like phones made by companies such as Ericsson who sold them privately.

[Jack Ryan]

Jack, I'd be interested to know what makes you think the dial might be correct? The 12F is the only variant of dial 12 there is no evidence for in period photos. I thought the back plate has 3d arrows on the earliest phones, then they used coloured but plain back plates up to about 1963 (like the one Twocvbloke mentions), then coloured backplates with black or white printed arrows between about 1963-1967. I'll stand to be corrected though.

I cant find where I read about the 12FA dial being used on early 706s but it is repeated here:

First issues of Telephones No. 706 will carry Dials, Automatic, No. 12FA but telephones with Dials, Automatic., No. 21CA should become available during 1960.

http://www.britishtelephones.com/dial21.htm

Another thing I don't know is which manufactureres  were making conventionally wired phones and which were making those with circuit boards?

Two designs were submitted for the internal wiring of the Tele 706... Conventional wiring and printed wiring. In 1959 printed wiring techniques were in their infancy and thus the BPO allowed manufacturers to choose either method of production. The two methods had the same terminal layout and used the same components. Siemens Edison Swan Ltd designed the printed wiring version, whereas Ericsson's Telephones Ltd preferred the conventional method. (Siemens had already produced the first telephone with printed wiring inside - the Centenary Neophone).

http://www.britishtelephones.com/t706.htm#2

Jack

[Jack Ryan]

...it's vaguely possible it may have been involved in All-Figure-Number dialling trials (that came about in '66 when the first director areas were set up) thus not requiring the lettered dial ring, but that's pure speculation, as letters & numbers dialling was the standard when the 706 was released...

Not sure what you mean here. Why would AFN need a trial? It was a change in policy and simply required that the equivalent number prefix be dialled instead of the letters.

that came about in '66 when the first director areas were set up

How do you mean "set up"?

Thanks
Jack

[twocvbloke]

How do you mean "set up"?

Set up as in putting into place the director number style in the exchange hardware in order for the numbers to be accepted, as in 0x1 123 4567, x being 1 thru 9, which were different to the original numbering as used with traditional letters & numbers dialling, infact, those director area numbers are probably the oldest existing numbering scheme still in place that has had the least additional digits added, said digit being 1 (I.E. 091 replaced with 0191), with the exception of 071 and 081 (which did go to 0171 and 0181 on "phONEday") which changed to 020-7 and 020-8...

[andy1702]

I cant find where I read about the 12FA dial being used on early 706s but it is repeated here:

First issues of Telephones No. 706 will carry Dials, Automatic, No. 12FA but telephones with Dials, Automatic., No. 21CA should become available during 1960.

http://www.britishtelephones.com/dial21.htm


Jack

So assuming that's correct, the numbered dial is right for the very early 706 from 1959. Which leads to the question where did the 3d arrows come in?

[Jack Ryan]

What is the problem with a BPO 706 having numbers only on the outer ring? Ever since directors were installed in the 1920s there were dials and telephones coded L (letters and numbers) and F (figures only). For the 706:

Type Codes:-

Some instruments are marked (for example) 706F, 706L, 706R, etc.

The suffix letters F, L & R have the following meanings:-
F - All Figure dial or Dial Surround
L - Figures & Letters on dial Surround
R - Recall button fitted

Ref: http://www.britishtelephones.com/t706.htm (and many others)

Whilst numbers only dials were used on PAXs, they were also used in non-director areas.

Regards
Jack