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Equipment file · Desk telephone with fixed carbon transmitter

Candlestick telephone transmitter

Western Electric · 1897

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

The Western Electric candlestick telephone combined the company's solid-back carbon transmitter, patented by Anthony White in 1892 (US 485,311), with an upright desk stand, beginning around 1897. Later models (No. 20B 1904, No. 20AL 1905, No. 40AL in steel, No. 50AL with a dial in 1919) refined wiring and materials.

Introduced
1897
Category
Desk telephone with fixed carbon transmitter
Intended use
Upright desk telephone with solid-back transmitter and separate receiver
Production
Western Electric, from c. 1897 through numbered models into the 1920s–30s

Equipment photographs · 1

Western Electric Bullnose Candlestick Telephone (53993129386)

1 / 1 · Western Electric Bullnose Candlestick Telephone (53993129386)

Western Electric Bullnose Candlestick Telephone (53993129386)·Ethan Long·CC BY-SA 2.0

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    Its solid-back transmitter solved the packing and adjustment problems of earlier carbon designs.

  2. 02

    The same robust transmitter type became the voice input of early announcement and paging systems.

Engineering record

Transmitter
Western Electric solid-back carbon transmitter, patented by Anthony White on 1 November 1892 (US 485,311)[1]
Model progression
Early candlestick (1897), No. 10 (1899), No. 20B (1904), No. 20AL (1905), No. 40AL steel, No. 50AL with dial (1919)[2]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

Public price evidence was not sufficient to publish a defensible original figure.

Use in the field

No named deployment could be tied to this exact item by a checked source yet. Know of one? Suggest it on the contribute page.

Manuals & original documents

No authoritative manual or original document has been located for this profile.

Sources

  1. 1Western Electric No. 317telephonecollecting.org · reference
  2. 2Western Electric Telephonestelephonecollecting.org · reference

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