Strowger 3 box telephone

[Gary Z]

This is part 2 of a recent find and I would like some information about it. The top box is clearly stamped "Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange" PATENTED. It has a steer horn switchhook. It appears that most of the transmitter is missing as there is nothing behind the mouthpiece. The middle box is missing the door and the bottom battery box is missing the top. Any thoughts are welcomed.
Thanks,
Gary Z

[Jack Ryan]

I don't recognise it - do you have a picture of what you think it should look like?

Lever dial? Attached is the only 3-box lever dial with that type of transmitter I can remember.

Of course there are probably others I know nothing about.

Jack

[Gary Z]

I haven't been able to find anything like this configuration. I can't find any examples of a Strowger 3 boxer.

[Gary Z]

I am still trying to find out more about this phone. Anyone have information of this model? It looks just like it but more complete. It may have been meant for a release in Britain from an article that I was shown.

[RB]

Wow! that is early...
I have not seen that kind of electric switching.
The coiled wires are a clue also...
Weren't those behind the wood xmitter's a whole different type???
Can't remember the name......

[.....]

What's up with the payphones in the background?

[Babybearjs]

can it be restored? from the original graphics, it was a mini switchboard.... can that part be replaced? I hate seeing a good phone in such sad condition....

[Gary Z]

The payphones are in the background because my work bench is too full of projects.

[Gary Z]

can it be restored? from the original graphics, it was a mini switchboard.... can that part be replaced? I hate seeing a good phone in such sad condition....

I don't think this one was set up for the switchboard. I think it is closer to the last last drawing.

This article seems to point to a pre- switching British version?

"Within three years of the invention of the telephone in 1876 attempts were being made for the partial machine switching of calls. A step-by-step system was developed by A.B. Strowger of the USA in the years 1889 to 1892 and from the beginning of the twentieth century was the first automatic exchange system to come into widespread use there. Conditions in Britain at the time were not conducive to the adoption of machine switching while telephone service was divided between the Post Office and the National Telephone Company (NTC) but the Post Office undertook a review of USA practice. The Post Office completed the purchase of NTC in January 1912 and instituted a series of trials of available automatic systems. The first of these, the public exchange at Epsom, Surrey, opened in May 1912 using the Strowger system. The paper describes the installation and operation of the equipment at Epsom and how it was received by its users and the wider public. In 1922 the Post Office decided to standardize on a development of Strowger step-by-step for British requirements. Ironically, when Epsom exchange required enlargement in the early 1930s it was instead replaced by a new manual exchange. A few examples of equipment from the pioneer British automatic exchange systems survive in preservation."