Hand telephone for coffin set
date: label: date made
content: 1877
name: label: maker
content: Bell Telephone Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Hand Telephone, this was the last form of wooden case telephones used commercially by the Bell Telephone Company. Mahogany case with two connecting binding posts at the top, mouthpiece fastened to the frame with 4 screws. Marked: "Patented Mar. 7, '76, Jan 30, '77, No. 601." Object is pictured on the left.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Original catalog description reads: "These are the second form of hand telephones made by the Bell Telephone Company and were used on a line constructed by Mr. Bedlow's father, J. S. Bedlow, Portland, Maine, which connected the coal office with the wharf and was put in operation in 1877. This line was first equipped with an earlier form of telephones, Nos. 1 and 2, which was shortly after replaced by these instruments. These have been in the possession of Charles C. Bedlow since his father's death. At the time the line on which these instruments were used was inaugurated, Frederick A. Gower was General Agent for the Bell Telephone Company and he furnished these instruments." [George C. Maynard]
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Charles C. Bedlow
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.298969
label: accession number
content: 60955
label: catalog number
content: 298969
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telephone
label: Object Name
content: hand telephone
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 in x 2 3/4 in; 15.24 cm x 6.985 cm