Wood Phone...Trying to Pin Point a Date for it......

[John S]

Good Afternoon,

I bought a wood phone today.  Its really beat/rusty.....for the price I could not pass on it.  I can't seem to find any date on it.  I took some pictures.  I never seen anything like it.  The ear piece is missing a big chunk of it...


John

[Jim Stettler]

It looks to be pretty early, and the magnets(?) for the transmitter seem pretty unique. The receiver looks like a SC brass bottom receiver.
JMO,
Jim

[Sargeguy]

That's an interesting one.  It looks foreign.  I have no idea what it is, except that it looks like it may have been part of a ship's communication system.  The hook looks like it may have a mechanism for holding the handset in place.  SOme sort of "push to talk, release to .listen system is my guess.

[rdelius]

I suspect the set is on the early side because of the magnetic transmitter and the strange hook switch. If the set hangs up when the receiver hangs up by moving that lever and the hook just holds the receiver , this gets around the gravity hook switch patent. I suspect the SC rec is to new for the set. The early SC rec will be marked Stromburg & Carlson instead of Stromburg-Carlson.because of the early features i think early 1890s. SC i dont think came about until 1895 or 6

[John S]

I looked all over for any kind of marking.  Never seen anything like it.  I thought it was a pony receiver, never seen one like that.  I will wipe it down more to see if there is anything I miss....

John

[Sargeguy]

Additional pictures of the transmitter, hook(s) and contents will help.

[John S]

Here are some extra pictures.  I looked it over carefully....no marking....

[Sargeguy]

Looks like someone knows what it is if they are prepared to throw $149 at it. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140999198197?

[John S]

I looked everywhere for some info but  could not find anything on it.  I think the ear piece is what people might be interested in.  Wood phones are not my thing....thought I give it a spin and see what happens.  Yes I think a few people might know what it is, I have gotten a few e-mails on it.  I will just let it ride and see what happens...

John

[wds]

The receiver is a Stromberg, and in that condition is only worth $20-30.  It's the transmitter that's the prize.  I'm sure it's from the 1800's, during the period when Bell had all the patents, and the other companies were trying to find a way around those patents.  Here's a link to a page that talks about those "other" transmitters.  I have a couple of the "cone" transmitters.

http://www.bobsoldphones.net/Pages/defaultEssays.htm

[John S]

Very nice website...lots of information.......there is some good information on there....Thanks!!!

John

[Sargeguy]

New theory-is that a Hunning's transmitter?

[wds]

$1,814 - were you expecting to that much for the box?  We should have had a contest for this one.

[John S]

When I first put it on, I was hoping for one bid.  After 1 day, I was getting "buy it now offers" and tons of e-mails.  I did a bit more research and found out it was a rare item made by Stromberg Carlson. I talked to several phone collectors in Iowa, Oregon, and California.  Very nice people who told me they never seen anything like it. One fellow from Oregon said something about it being a voice powered transmitter.  They all said it will go high. To me it looked like your average wood phone...  Overall happy with the results and that there are people with knowledge out there that are willing to help others out.  Again, it all started on this site.......Thanks to everyone who helped! 

John

[WesternElectricBen]

I'm going to say old...