PHOTOGRAPHS AND FILES

This page contains an assortment of various image files plus, International Telephone Posters, collectors photos, scans from books, etc.  Links to those pages are as follows:

• International Telephone Posters
  

• Bell System Advertisements
  

• Bell System photos
   

• Telephone Art Collection - link goes to another website
  

For some nice photos of the Frank Woods Museum, click HERE.

Here are two photos of drop wires in Mexico City sent to me from "Russ" of Southwestern Bell Telephone.

A famous New York Telephone phone book cover was scanned and sent to me from Remco Enthoven of the Netherlands.  To view a larger image, click on the thumbnail size images below.  Full-size scans are available by contacting me.

A big thanks to Michael Hagan who contributed the following photos of his phone collection.  Click on the thumbnail images to view the full-size pictures.

John Carson has an unusual collection of phones.  Here are some photos he sent of his collection (click on thumbnail images below to view full-size images):

Eric Korenman sent me these photos of a phone he sold on Ebay.  It is the Western Electric A1 model:

Click on above thumbnail images to view full-size

A big thanks to Paul Wills for the following photos and descriptions!

First, a photograph of his Western Electric Number 5 Toll Test Board. It is what got him started. It came from the Pennsylvania Railroad 30th. St. Station in Philadelphia. It was installed around 1935 and retired in 1981.

It was used to test and monitor the railroad telephone facilities originating out of Philadelphia. Similar installations were also found in the other major cities served by the PRR. The three main positions are:

• The Voltmeter position where the initial tests for shunts and grounds were made. This is also where the Wire Chief talked to the field people and applied various test tones from.

• The Telegraph position where Morse and Teletype circuits were maintained. This had several monitor keys and sounders and a milliamp meter for checking the loops.

• The Wheatstone Bridge which was used to locate the exact distance to a fault in the line. The bridge uses a reflection galvanometer.

It's a spectacular piece of equipment!

Here are some more photos of his collection:

(See my Signals and Circuit Conditions page for actual sounds from this equipment).

Central Office Photographs (Courtesy of Steff Kerman)

Misc. Files

Scans from "The Birth and Babyhood of The Telephone", published by the Bell System, April 1976:

Scans from "Legacy and Promise - The Story of Southern Bell" by Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company

These are scans from "Hawkins Electrical Guide" published in 1917! I have the complete set (10 volumes) from my grandfather. These books cover almost every imaginable topic on electricity including electrotheraputics, motors, elevators and other "modern" devices of that era eighty years ago!

Some weird things that people do to telephones can be seen in the following images.   Most of these were from actual items people were trying to sell on eBay! Click on thumbnail image to see full-size image:

This is what happens when you've got your fingers on the tip and ring wires of the telephone line when a call comes in and the 90 Volts ringer current makes your hair stand on end!

Gray Manufacturing Company Stock Certificate - (Nice scan by Paul Rauth who bought the original certificate) Has Gray pay station image on it.