How About That!

[QQVO6/40]

G'day everyone.
Couple of months ago I was given access to a deceased estate. First time in my life I have been in early. Managed to get about 6 pallets of good stuff. Christmas time in July!!
Large 100 litre box of valves all in packets all 7 and 9 pin noval.
Getting to the bottom of the box and there was a leather bag.
Opened it up and it is a trench phone made in 1918 quite good condition. Leather bag was made in 1917.
Type 'D' Mk3*.
It looks to be well used so it could very well have been in action.
Complete except the microphone insert is missing. Carbon granule type so I will have to keep an eye out for one. Much thinner than the classic post office type. The buzzer and everything else works.
As the title says 'How About That.'

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by QQVO6/40

As the title says 'How About That.'

Wow! A lucky find indeed! There's some guff about WWI telephones here, if you haven't seen it already, and you might recognise the handset.

https://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/wwiphones.html

[Reelman]

What a great find!
Are the two 1.5V cells original or did you put them in yourself?
If it was “in action” I wonder if it was in the Dardanelles? My grandfather was a survivor of that particular military operation and was very lucky to return in one piece, many of his regiment did not.

Peter

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

Wow! A lucky find indeed! There's some guff about WWI telephones here, if you haven't seen it already, and you might recognise the handset.

https://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/wwiphones.html

I had a couple of those fifty odd years ago. They are very similar to the GPO/British Post Office's Lineman's ' Telephone No 44' or the auto version the 'Telephone 44B' the linemans telephone when I joined the GPO. See the Tele 44/44B here Handset looks virtually the same. The GPO handset was known as a 'Telephone 36' but looking in the 'Vocabulary of Engineering Stores' from back in the 1940's, it doesn't list the description of the 'transmitter inset' for the Tele 36 , only the receiver components. Lots of Tele 44/44B's were sold at the BT Museum auction some years ago so are not that rare and do pop up on eBay from time to time.

Happy days with God's Poor Orphans!

[QQVO6/40]

G'day everyone.
Hello Russell. Thanks for that link. I had a look at the pics there. Very good photos in that link. One of the pics showed a microphone insert and from the research I have done it looks to be the type of insert I am looking for. Also in another pic it shows a telephone exchange area and looking carefully at the pic I can see a number of phones the same as the one I have. Other projects will slow down any work on this project for a while as I scored a lot of stuff from this deceased estate. (Roughly 6 pallets.) Long story there but not for this thread. LOL.
Hello Peter. the batteries in there were in it when I found it. I have not removed them as yet. They are not that old. Probably 1960s? Guess? Somewhere on it I found a mark 'D broad arrow D' which would indicate that it was in Australian hands. Here referred to as 'Dad n Dave'. (Department of Defense.)
This phone is the later model of Type 'D MkIII' with a star * which meant that the outer metal case was not joined internally to the earth. History tells that they used single wire earth return phone wiring in the trenches. Bad news was that the NME could listen in to our side of the conversations by just placing a couple of conductive stakes in the ground and connecting a high impedance earphone between them. Bear in mind some of the opposing trenches were only metres apart. A later development was the Fullerphone which greatly lessened this hazard.
Hello Pellseinydd. Thank you for your reply. Going by what you are saying there may be a chance of getting a microphone insert for this phone as the ones you quoted are similar.

One thing I was thinking was that these phones might not be all that common here because of the buzzer signaling. Operators would have to be wearing the earphone to be able to hear somebody calling them. Not much good on rural properties here as there is no magneto / bell facility such as the WWII phones which were popular here on rural properties.

The leatherwork was a bit lighter in colour when I found it. I have drowned it in proprietary leather preservative to stop the leather from cracking any more. It will now spend a few more days in the sun to gently warm it and soak up any excess.

Overall for me a good find and quite a surprise.

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by QQVO6/40

G'day everyone.
<SNIP>
This phone is the later model of Type 'D MkIII' with a star * which meant that the outer metal case was not joined internally to the earth. History tells that they used single wire earth return phone wiring in the trenches. Bad news was that the NME could listen in to our side of the conversations by just placing a couple of conductive stakes in the ground and connecting a high impedance earphone between them. Bear in mind some of the opposing trenches were only metres apart. A later development was the Fullerphone which greatly lessened this hazard.
Hello Pellseinydd. Thank you for your reply. Going by what you are saying there may be a chance of getting a microphone insert for this phone as the ones you quoted are similar.

One thing I was thinking was that these phones might not be all that common here because of the buzzer signaling. Operators would have to be wearing the earphone to be able to hear somebody calling them. Not much good on rural properties here as there is no magneto / bell facility such as the WWII phones which were popular here on rural properties.

The leatherwork was a bit lighter in colour when I found it. I have drowned it in proprietary leather preservative to stop the leather from cracking any more. It will now spend a few more days in the sun to gently warm it and soak up any excess.

Overall for me a good find and quite a surprise.

Just been doing a bit of 'digging' (not in the trenches!) , I thought I'd got the Army manual which covered the D MkIII and it has come to light. It is the 'Instruction in Army Telegraphy and Telephony, Volume 1, Instruments' published in 1916 - wow! Didn't realise I'd been 'playing telephones' for so long. I was a young signals officer many many years ago - we worn boots and spurs and carried a big sword in those days and my CO was none other than the Earl Kitchener of Khartoum - not many still living who can say 'I served under Kitchener' .

The 'manual' could be purchased by Officers, NCO's and Men who wanted their own copy for the grand price of 1 shilling and 4 pence (just over 6.5 'new pence'!)!.

The variants of the Tele D and other army telephones are described in detail with the circuit diagrams. Most seem to have been Ericssons products as their name, unusually, is mentioned in the manual including details of the transmitter 'capsule' used in the handset of the D Mk III .

I've also got 'Field Telephones for Army Use' 4th edition pub 1916 which describes the telephones then in use and the Tele D Mk III is described in an appendix. lt was a written by a Capt E.J. Stevens, a former instructor at the School of Signalling at Aldershot and wasn't a Government/Army publication but published by Crosby, Lockwood & Son - cost me One Shilling and 6 pence (7.5 pence in new money) ! Original price was two shillings and six pence (12.5p in modern money)

Ian J

[QQVO6/40]

Fascinating stuff when you get into it.
Thanks Ian for that info.
They seem quite inexpensive by today's standards but at the time it was quite a cost to think about.
The microphone insert given in figure 3 will be the one I will chase at a later date.
We will just keep it a secret that the small contact in the centre of the rear is made of platinum. If you don't tell anyone ,I won't either.
Cheers.
robert.