RCA Estate Sale Find, Need Help in Identifying.

[pastorerik]

Found 2 of these at an estate sale. What are they? The handset looks like an RCA sound powered but there is no button on it. The back says Radio Corporation of America, Made in Great Britain.  Anyone have an idea what these are?  Thanks in advance.
Here is the photo.

[LarryInMichigan]

They are intercoms.  The handset in your picture looks like a British GPO handset.

Larry

[GG]

That is a British GPO 164 handset.  See britishtelephones.com for all the details.

Quick note: the transmitter cap doesn't "unscrew" in the normal manner.  There is a small hole that faces toward the inside of the handgrip, through which one can press any suitable small tool, to push down a metal tab inside and thereby enable the transmitter cap to rotate a fraction of a turn counterclockwise and lift off.  All of which is probably illustrated at britishtelephones.com

[pastorerik]

THANK YOU! Looks like I came to the right place!

[dsk]

Hi, welcome!
What text do you have in the field, in the middle of the handset?
Could very well be Scandinavian: EB or LM Ericsson or??

dsk

[Stephen Furley]

There are two types of receiver cap used on these handsets; you have the older type 18, which means that behind it should be a receiver type 1L with a No. 12 diaphram.  These, and the newer type, are shown here:

[urlhttp://www.britishtelephones.com/t164.htm][/url]

The transmitter element should be a number 13:

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

The front of these is often, but not always, painted dark red.  I have one which is green, and a couple of late ones which are unpainted.  If you have one with a third ring of holes, and probably painted blue, then it is the older type 10.

[Wallphone]

Here is the first link without the extra stuff. < http://www.britishtelephones.com/t164.htm > Stephen, what is the time period for these handsets? They look like they were from the 30's. Can you still get parts like transmitter spit cups for them?
Doug Pav

[Stephen Furley]

These handsets were used on the 162 pyramid 'phone in 1929; and were also used on the very similar looking 232, and then on the 300 series which was the standard GPO one-piece telephone desk set from 1937 until the 706 was introduced in 1959.  I'm not sure when the later type of receiver, diaphragm and cap were introduced. There were plenty of them still in use long after that; they were used, and still maintained, in the office where my mother was working in the early '70s.  ITI made them in India after production ended here.

Parts are available; Old phone works have some, or Telephone Lines over here.  They have the later type receiver elements, both types of caps, diaphragms, transmitter elements and mouthpieces.

http://tinyurl.com/3zs66p5

It looks  like the earlier 'Pepper pot' style caps are only available in 'turned down' form now, modified to enable them to be used on candlestick receivers.

[Wallphone]

Thanks again Stephen for the additional info. I looked at the link you sent and I have another question. When they say "Turned Down" do they mean they made them thinner or did they reduce the diameter? According to the pictures it looks like they made them thinner. The reason I ask is because in the machining world when using a lathe when you turn something down, that means to make the diameter smaller. If you want to make the part thinner, that is called "facing". If you were to face off the threaded end then it wouldn't matter too much how good the finish was because it would be hidden. But if they actually did reduce the diameter how would they bring the finish back going by the assumption that Bakelite has a glossy outer skin and is porous once the outer skin is removed.
Doug Pav