AE 48 (?) Speakerphone

[AE_Collector]

"Poplar1" (Thanks David) PM'd me the link to this auction for what looks like an AE 40 Speakerphone. I bid and won for the opening price of $24.99.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/321047165125

There are some interesting clues that it is likely a speakerphone of some sort. It seems to have the same number of buttons and gadgets as the AE 88 speakerphone had. There is potentially an On and an Off button located up top near the carry handle. What definitely looks like a microphone on the lower left and a volume knob on the lower right. I'm guessing the broken looking thing on the right side might be a lamp indicator for the on/off function.

The speaker is the standard speaker used with AE 88 and 88T speakerphones prior to introduction of the AE 880 that we are all more familiar with. Also, it looks like it has an "Autelco" sticker up near the cradle. Autelco seems to have been a refurbishing arm of AE. So maybe there is a little bit of legitimacy to this phone? Maybe Autelco was building them, but why would they go to all the trouble to build one in an AE 40 when AE was manufacturing brand new AE 88 SPeakerphones? If the AE 48 (I'm calling it an AE 48 for now) was made before the AE 88 Speakerphone why would it have the Autelco sticker unless it just happened to go through Autelco and get rehabed.

Other questions that won't be answered until it arrives are: Where's the amplifier? An outboard Amp like the AE 88 that is likely missing now? Or did they take the ringer out of the 40 and put the transistorized amp inside?

More to folllow......

Terry

[Phonesrfun]

keep us informed.  At $25, you can't go wrong.

[rdelius]

That Autelco type 40 look a like is from Italy.Had one but not a speakerphone .Most parts would not interchange with an AE set.Got stolen so I cannot post a photo

[AE_Collector]

That is a possibility that hadn't occured to me though I did notice that the fingerstop didn't look AE.

The "AE 48" has now arrived at my In-laws in Washington state where I have all US purchases sent. My father-In-Law sent me these two additioional pictures. I implored the seller to pack it carefully and he came through. It looks as though Robby is likely correct, looking at the base it doesn't look very "AE ish" but could very likely be European. I am looking forward to seeing more of it, maybe this Sunday.

Terry

[AE_Collector]

I picked up the AE 48 today. I am pleasantly surprised to see that it is a complete Speakerphone made by Autelco, obviously somewhere in Europe (maybe England) based on the AE40. It has a crude transistorized printed wiring card amplifier inside quite similar to the one in an AE 88T. T for transistorized unlike the AE 88 which has a box with a vacume tube amplifier in it attached to the phone.

This one appears to be line powered so I will have to give it a try soon. I would appear to be made for the North America based on the Letters/Numbers Dial plate and it came from the USA via ebaY.

It seems to be made of bakelite though it feels lighter than a real AE 40 would feel. The speaker housing is exactly the AE 88 and 88T speaker housing used in North America and it is soft plastic. The speaker inside of it is made in England.

Notice that the main housing does not have the side indents that are on the AE 40 to help carry it and also it does not have the ringer vents in the side. No room for a ringer in there! Maybe it rings through the speaker like AE 880 speakerphones. Robby (rdelius) mentioned that he had one of these AE40 (ish) phones but not a speakerphone. I would have thought that a regular AE 40 copy would have had the vents and a ringer inside. The base has 4 rubber feet rather than the rubber ring that AE 40's have.

The base seems to say December 1959 and parts on the inside have dates from 1957 and 1958. It looks as though there may have been a paper sticker on the inside but it is long gone now so that source of further information is unavailable.

The only "non standard" looking thing about it is the mounting cord (3 conductors) has had the spades loped off of the two Line wires and have been soldered onto a switch that looks as though it had telphone line wires connected to it as well. Thus the switch could add this phone into a line or remove it from the line.

Thanks again to David (Poplar1) for pointing this out to me on ebaY. I decided to take the gamble based on the one crappy picture which made it look like a cobbled bunch of parts.

Terry

[AE_Collector]

Here are the rest of the pictures.

Terry

[AE_Collector]

Here's a picture of the Amplifier Board mounted on the base. Forgot this in the above pictures.

I have now "plugged it in" and the phone works but no sign of life what so ever from the speakerphone portion.

I find it very interesting how they kept the looks of the AE 40 so much yet almost every component inside is completely different. All handset parts are different even though they put ridges around the handset caps to mimic the rings on the earlier AE type 41 handset caps. The base of the phone doesn't use the rubber ring but it has a ridge molded into the bakelite to make it look like the rubber ring on an AE 40.

Terry

[LarryInMichigan]

That phone is very interesting.  Most of it looks European.  Base on the date stamp, I will guess Italian.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

Autelco Milan.

[AE_Collector]

Where did you get that info from Larry? That looks like the little brother (no speakerphone) version of the one I have. That one has the newer type 81 handset rather than the older type 41 handset. I wonder if it is an Autelco version of the type 81 or if it has had an AE type 81 put onto it here in North America.

Terry

[LarryInMichigan]

I did a google search for "Autelco Milan".  The Italian ebay site has lots of Autelco phones.

Larry