Thomson Houston 'Hangman' Phone

[FABphones]

This pair of Thomson Houston 'Hangman' phones had been together at the same residence for decades.
Having now made their way to me, and having been together so long, I won't be splitting them up.

All pieces are marked Thomson Houston (Paris, France). This model dates from 1911. Nice early horn shaped combination receiver.

Their number ranges are not too far apart, I hope to try to be able to pin down their ages a little more when I take a look inside the base. For a 100 + year old design, this pair are looking quite nice on the exterior. I am optimistic that the inside is as good.

They won't need too much work to get them looking smart again. The nickel parts have been handled so have rubbed and dulled over the decades. They have a few slight dings (which isn't unusual for these). The base of one of the phones needs a button sheath replacing (what I can't find in the spares box may be found on the garage floor; some cast aside piece of metal may fit the bill to form a replacement). One of the cables needs replacing (the other will remain as is. It is original and condition is fairly good). Each will receive a new covering to their base.

They have their original paint, which is in pretty good condition. The Bakelite is undamaged. I always like the little extra attention to detail that Thomson Houston did with their TH monogram in the receiver. This style commonly goes by the name of 'Hangman Phone'. Easy to see why.

Photos are taken straight out of their delivery box. Will keep this thread updated as their restoration progresses.

[HarrySmith]

NICE! That is very cool they have spent the entire time together all these years and you are keeping them together. It is always a bonus when you get the history with the phones. Congrats on a nice pair. Looking forward to your restoration photos.

[Doug Rose]

Great find CJ. Very desirable for one, a matched set...priceless....Doug

[RB]

agreed!

[HarrySmith]

Do you mind revealing the source and the cost?

[FABphones]

Thank you folks. 

I already had another quite nice one but I had to make room and didn't have the heart to split these two up, so the other went to a new home.

I hope to get a bit of spare time tomorrow to take a look inside the phones, in the meantime I thought I'd take a moment to show the thorough packing done on these. We hear of so many badly packed shipments, I thought it might be nice to highlight a good one.

Well padded, good amount of bubble wrap (not all shown in photos) around the phone parts and each phone boxed separately. The receivers were bubble wrapped and surrounded in cardboard for extra protection. Both boxes were then placed into another larger box which was itself padded out with polystyrene (I prefer to use foam chips rather than paper balls in smaller boxes, but they worked just fine for this shipment) and marked Fragile. All in all, very thoughtfully and carefully packed by the seller.

[Pourme]

~

That is a wonderful find....I'm very jealous over this "pair"......That will make a beautiful display and story!

Find of the Month material!

Benny

[Pourme]

~

I now see at about the same time I made the above post, John, Teleplay did indeed nominate the Pair to FOM.

[Jack Ryan]

Not the same model but interesting nonetheless.

Yours are presumably intercoms - what is the function of the buttons? Looks like they use a series circuit.

Thanks
Jack

[tubaman]

A lovely pair, and quite right not to split them up.
I really like the 'TH' transmitter capsules in these - they are worthy of display in their own right in my mind.

[twocvbloke]

The red buttons on them look almost like red LEDs, and I'm not sure if it's just refraction of the plastic, but in the close-up, it even looks like one of them actually has the anvil & lead frame of an LED... 

And the handsets remind me of the telephones in The Flintstones with that horn shape to them... 

[FABphones]

Thanks for the kind words and to Teleplay for the fotm nomination.

The TH monogrammed Transmitter I have in other Thomson Houston phones, always nice to find them in there, nicely put together too.

These could have so easily been split up, prior to delivery I had to make a choice of one to rehome as these would have totalled three in the collection, all the same make and each quite similar. I opted to move on the one I already had (and took a chance as these had not arrived). As for price, initially I thought the figure quoted was each. After a bit of chatting it was confirmed the price was for the pair, and they would stay together.

The red button doesn't move on either phone. The white button depresses and springs back on both.

I removed the base from one and took a photo (attached below). The second I will need to give some thought as to how best to remove without marking the baseplate as it appears to have a rivet holding it on (see photo). Luckily having a second phone for comparison shows what to expect when opened, and shows how it is held together.

...I couldn't help myself, curiosity got the better of me as to how well the metal would shine so I gave the receiver (combination receiver but I will call it receiver for speed of typing) an initial polish.

...And the handsets remind me of the telephones in The Flintstones with that horn shape to them... 

Now we know where Hanna-Barbera got the idea from  . This duo will now be affectionately known as Fred and Wilma.

ETA: Side by side photo of the last two images would be better for comparison but I haven't figured it out in Photoshop App yet.

[HarrySmith]

I would agree, the red buttons look like lights. That "receiver" cleaned up nicely!

[Jack Ryan]

And the handsets remind me of the telephones in The Flintstones with that horn shape to them... 

http://telephoneexchange.info/ART_HistoryOfTelephony.html

Jack

[Ed Morris]

Very interesting telephones.  Looking forward to your restoration updates.