My french PTT modèle 1924 phone

[countryman]

I made a video about my french model 1924 phone :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIgkZFmC2Wo

[Jack Ryan]

Hi,

Thanks for posting the video - much more interesting than just a photograph.

A couple of comments.

Thomson Houston (TH) in the USA was merged with Edison-General Electric which became became General Electric.

In France, TH retained its name but became associated with the Automatic Electric company. Later it was bought by ITT so that ITT was guaranteed to win the contract to supply telephone equipment and services to the French PTT. It wanted to supply Rotary equipment but would supply Strowger SxS via TH if it had to.

The Model 1924 handset is not a clone of the US Western Electric (WE) E handset. If anything, the E handset is a clone of the Model 1924 handset as the latter existed first.

The Model 1924 telephone was designed by LMT, the French R&D arm of Western Electric. I believe that LMT and Bell Labs jointly developed the handset which was then supplied to the French PTT via LMT and through patent sharing, other French manufacturers as well. An almost identical handset was also made by BTMC in Belgium and supplied to many telephone operating companies in Europe, Asia and South America.

Bell Labs continued the development of the handset and released the E handset about three years later.

Regards
Jack

[countryman]

Thank you for your added information Jack!

[Jack Ryan]

Thank you for your added information Jack!

You're welcome.

Jack