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unique late 1930's refinished antique american industrial chicago power substation wall-mount crank handle monophone with black bakelite handset
  • unique late 1930's refinished antique american industrial chicago power substation wall-mount crank handle monophone with black bakelite handset
  • unique late 1930's refinished antique american industrial chicago power substation wall-mount crank handle monophone with black bakelite handset
  • unique late 1930's refinished antique american industrial chicago power substation wall-mount crank handle monophone with black bakelite handset
unique late 1930's refinished antique american industrial chicago power substation wall-mount crank handle monophone with black bakelite handset

unique late 1930's refinished antique american industrial chicago power substation wall-mount crank handle monophone with black bakelite handset

SKU: UR-24277-16
original and largely intact c. 1930's american antique industrial wall-mount monophone designed and fabricated by the automatic electric company, chicago, il. the two cabinets are comprised of stamped steel with a uniform brushed metal finish. the bronze and steel crank handle is original and intact. the bakelite handset, cord and craddle remain in good condition, considering age. the bottom cabinet contains two large eveready dry cell batteries. the cabinets are set tightly within rounded edge yellow brass bases affixed to an oversized hardwood back board. the phone was used to connect with the switchboard operator. the handle on the right was manually rotated to generate electricity used to carry voices across the wires. the industrial monophone was salvaged from an old south side chicago power substation. automatic electric company, the largest of the manufacturing units of the automatic electric group, was a telephone equipment supplier for independent telephone companies in north america, and also had a world-wide presence. with its line of automatic telephone exchanges it was also a long-term supplier of switching equipment to the bell system, starting in 1919. in 1889, almon strowger, of kansas city, missouri, was inspired by the idea of manufacturing automatic telephone exchanges that would not require switchboard operators. he founded the strowger automatic telephone exchange company in 1891, which held the first patents for the automatic telephone exchange. subsequently, in 1901, strowger helped form the automatic electric company to which he leased his patents exclusively. the original facilities of the automatic electric company were located in a six-story complex erected at the intersection of morgan street and van buren street in chicago. automatic electric was later located in northlake, illinois, and maintained research and development facilities in melrose park and elmhurst, illinois. monophone box measures approximately 8 x 5 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches.

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