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"FATME ROMA" BY SIEMENS

Started by gpo706, February 19, 2011, 10:49:59 PM

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gpo706

Unusual set, looks similar to a GPO HES (house exchange system) 4.

Went for 4.99 (I didn't bid).

'WELCOME TO OUR AUCTION,

THIS AUCTION IS FOR A MULTILINE OR SECRETARY PHONE

MADE BY SIEMNS "FATME ROMA" AND WE THINK IT WAS MADE FOR

ITALIAN MARKET!!!

OUR PARTNER WHO HAS WORKED ALL HIS LIFE AT THE GPO TOWER

AS AN ENGINEER THINKS SO AND HE IS VERY RARELY WRONG, HE HAS MADE TO WORK

ON BT LINE NOW,HE HAS ALSO POLISHED IT TO A VERY SHINING EXAMPLE.

THIS IS A VERY HUGE PHONE VERY HEAVY AS WELL, THIS DOES NOT HAVE ANY BELL SYSTEM IN SIDE(THIS PHONE DOES NOT RING), BUT YOU CAN DIAL OUT AND SEND OUT RECIEVE CALLS AS AN EXTENTION PHONE ,IF YOU PLUG IT IN AND LIFT THE RECIEVER HANDLE IT IS DEAD (NO LINE)AS YOU HAVE TO PRESS THE BUTTON TO CONNECT THE LINE.

HOW TO USE IT THAT WE WILL SHOW TO THE WINING BIDDER.

THE MOUTH RIM HAS A VERY FINE CRACK TO IT THAT WE HAVE SHOWN IN THE PHOTOS

OTHER THEN THAT IT HAS NO DAMAGE WHAT SO EVER."

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

AE_Collector

An AE number card on it. That's it for me.

Terry

GG



FATME is Italian Ericsson. 

The handset is most definitely an Ericsson design.  The base bears a slight resemblance to TeleNorm phones from Germany but is definitely not TeleNorm. 

However I have never seen this one before. 

But what's it doing with a GPO UK dial on it?  Might be worth asking if whoever worked on it left the key switch assembly in its native state, or if they tweaked it, what they did.

The GPO dials are slightly larger than 3", and Ericsson dials are just about exactly 3", so there's another bit of a puzzle there: was the housing modified to install that dial?  As long as the cutout in the housing hasn't been enlarged, one could put an Ericsson dial in this and get it back to almost its original state. 

How those key switches work:

Two lines, and automatic hold.  The lights would be for ringing and for hold or line in use. 

By "automatic hold" I mean this: you're talking on line 1, and a call comes in on line 2.  You press the other button to answer line 2.  Doing this causes your first line button to pop up but places a hard hold across the line (e.g. a resistor).  Now you can switch back and forth between the two lines just by pressing their respective line buttons.

To take a call off hold, there is another adjacent button to press for that purpose only.  So for example if you want to get back to line 1 to tell that person you'll call them back later:  you're on line 2... you press the line 1 button, and tell the person you'll call them back.... then you press the line 2 button to return to that person, and then press the hold release button for line 1 to drop that call.   

All of the foreign equipment I have works that way:  Australia (UK type GPO 2+10), Germany (W-48 based, and 611 based), Norway (Elektrisk Bureau, 4x10), France (2x5) and Italy (another manufacturer, can't recall name at the moment).   So it's reasonable to assume this example works the same way.

One can also press an intercom button to cause one's existing CO line button to go on auto-hold (if one is on a CO line at the time one wishes to make an intercom call).  Intercom is probably selective buzz, common talk. 

As long as the switch matrix behind the keys wasn't gutted in some manner, this could probably be fitted with a 25-pair connectorized cable and made to work as it originally did. 


gpo706

#3
darn, wish I had bid on it, very unusual set.

As you say I looked up the manufacturer and found an Italian website saying it was a company bought over by Siemens at some point.

From what the seller was saying it was converted by an ex-GPO engineer, and worked on PST so probably bypassed all the switching gear.
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

GG



FATME bought out by Siemens?  I'm skeptical; where did you see that?  I have a few Italian phones by Siemens but they are marked "AUSO SIEMENS" or something very similar.  That handset is definitely an Ericsson design and I don't know of any instances of a Siemens subsidiary using that design.  And there are other instances of FATME = Ericsson, such as Italian 332-equivalents. 

Yeah, would have been nice if you or someone here got that one.  And it would have been interesting to figure out what was up with that dial. 

gpo706

#5
GG - found this:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=8257

Which in a rough translation says:

"The FATME, a small factory of material telephones to us, has been born in the roman suburb in via New Appia 572, in the October of 1918. It then received a first impulse with the income of entrepreneurs of the biellese and, a more decisive anchor, some year after, for the participation in its happens them of the L M Ericsson of Stockholm, already then between the greatest world-wide producers than telephone equipment. The Factory Telephone Equipment and Material Electrical worker - Licences Ericsson (F.A.T.M.E. Ericsson), in the 1960 was moved in the new plant of Via Anagnina 203, in 1974 the center of Pagani enters in production and the 1977 the centers of Avezzano and Sulmona.
The company has produced nearly exclusively material, centers them and systems telephone to us. (Bibliography: Gaetano Arming)by Biagio Laureti"

Which I construed to mean Fatme was absorbed by Ericsson at some point!

The GPO dial is still a mystery, I reckon it was the ex-GPO guy managed to squeeze it in?

I'm a bit confused now, where does Siemens enter the story, as the seller described the phone?

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

GG



You'd said you found a website saying FATME was absorbed by Siemens, but on further research, your info and mine are convergent about Ericsson... I don't know where else the "Siemens" aspect of this came in but it would appear we're both on the same page about this. 

Anyway, that one's gone but there'll be other interesting multi-line stuff around.  BTW, would you happen to know where I might find a GPO Keymaster 2+10 in ivory?  I have some comparable US equipment for trade. 

gpo706

GG - there was a HES4 Ivory on the bay UK last month, I passed as I was skint.

Best trawl ebay UK, pretty rare beasts though, only ever seen 2 and I bought the grey set.

OR,

try

http://www.telephonelines.net/

or

http://antiquetelephones.co.uk/

Neil Carpenter, above link had a few unissued Ivory ones last time I looked.
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"