How cool is this? I have never seen this attachment on a stick....Doug
http://tinyurl.com/3cbgkqr
...and it's in Michigan!
Is that for loud environments, like a factory?
In the olden days everybody's desks were side by side. Privacy in conversations was very difficult. This attachment allowed the user to whisper into the mouthpiece and prevent eavesdropping.
Take a look at this webpage and you'll see some interesting offices with some old phones.
http://www.officemuseum.com/photo_gallery_1920s_1930s.htm
Russ
I saw an ad for one of these in an old firefighting magazine from the 30s.
It's gone. The seller ended the auction. :o Larry, do you have something to do with this? ;D
One version of a device like that was known as the Hush-O-Phone or Hush-A-Phone, the purpose of which was, as you said, to provide a bit more privacy from others overhearing one's speech.
In an office with desks close together, it seems to me that the purpose of something like that would have been more related to reducing the volume of ambient sound of all those people shouting into their phones in the room together. Today when we design call centers, we specify binaural headsets with noise-canceling mics to give the workers better isolation and the people they speak with less ambient noise.
Telcos did not approve of these types of "foreign attachments" because they made it take longer to disassemble the relevant parts of phones for service in the field. A desk stand with one of these things on it would be a rare find because if it was returned to the telco in that condition, the workers at the repair shop would have removed the unwelcome addition with much disdain and consigned it to the refuse bin. (And possibly fished it out at the end of the day to take home and stick on their own phones?:-)
The Hush-A-Phone argument with AT&T made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and the ruling played a big part in the future of AT&T trying to control everything about attachments on your telephone.
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush-A-Phone_v._United_States > Either someone made the seller an offer they couldn't refuse or you will see it again with a large Reserve. eBay has a stat for Buyers that cancel bids. IMO, they should have one for Sellers that end auctions early.
Doug Pav
It's back up again.
Quote from: bigdaddylove on September 07, 2011, 11:09:20 AM
It's back up again.
With a Reserve this time. < http://tinyurl.com/3vrmsyr >
Doug Pav
Is it a WECo device? I did a cursory review of candlestick information but did not find any reference.
Chuck
Quote from: Wallphone on September 07, 2011, 11:22:01 AM
Quote from: bigdaddylove on September 07, 2011, 11:09:20 AM
It's back up again.
With a Reserve this time. < http://tinyurl.com/3vrmsyr >
Doug Pav
More than likely, he was "educated" on the potential value. Perhaps Mr. Helpful struck again. Darn, looks like another one will higher than I can afford.
Since this is a rotary phone, let make this an auction contest. I'll guess $527.00
I found a picture of it on page 115 in Mountjoy's book, but no written information.
Chuck
Thanks Chuck, I looked through a couple of Ron Knappen's Scrapbooks but didn't find anything on it. So since it is in Mountjoy's 100 years of Bell Telephones book then it must be a Western product? I just emailed Gary G. asking what he knows about it and I will report back if I hear anything.
Doug Pav
Doug - thanks. I looked at the three patents shown in the eBay listing on Google Patents. All three were assigned to an arm of the Bell System. Patent 1909375 shows the device that the seller calls a 1A silencer. So I assume the device is a WECo product.
Chuck
It occurs to me that if this device was used by placing it over one's mouth to block background noise from getting in....
.... holy cow it must have been "exciting" to be on the phone with someone who sneezed while using one of these.
"What happened!? Was there an explosion or did lightning strike?"
"Oh, sorry, I just sneezed..."
WOW!
Auction closed at $1681
Over 3x my estimate!
Unbelievable!
Sooo. That's about $150 for the stick and $1531 for the attachment. :o :o :o
Here is the BSP on this attachment, which is called the !A Voice Silencer.
Chuck
Thanks Chuck, How did you find that one? I see that it is not in the TCI Library so maybe Remco or Paul can add it to the collection.
Doug Pav
Thanks, Chuck. It's in the library.
paul-f:
I sent Remco a copy for adding to the library. Did he forward it to you or did you upload the one I posted?
Chuck
The 1A voice silencer was featured in the attachment corner section of the February 2000 issue of the TCI newsletter, copy attached.
Chuck
For some reason I get the impression that using one of these things would produce a vocal sound similar to using a mute on a trumpet. "Wah-wah-wah..."