The GPO originally called this the "Telephone, Table, C.B. Intermediate, with Generator", but circa 1911 was renamed as the Telephone No. 8.

They were used in conjunction with a single extension telephone, giving switching capabilities and intercommunication.

Calls can be secret or non-secret, dependent on the position of two sets of links.

In the side of the body is an intermediate switch (Key No. 277).

It is similar to the Telephone No. 6 but fitted with a handset.

This telephone was designed by the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company (BTMC) of Antwerp and supplied in the UK by the Western Electric Company of London.

A similar model, by the Western Electric Company, with no extension facility was produced for the Portuguese Telephone Authority (circa 1902).

Early table telephones were connected to the internal wiring with a Rosette or a Strip, Flexible Cord Connection.  Click here for more information.

Circuit diagram - N108.

The picture is dated 1905 and the telephone was found in the 1906, 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913 and 1915  Rate Books.  An advert from 1902 also shows this telephone.

Telephone includes (1906, 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914):-
1 x Micro Telephone (1906) or Telephone No. 38 (1911 onwards).
1 x Cord No. 411.
1 x Cord No. 1202.
1 x Intermediate switch.
1 x Block, Flexible Cord connection, 12-Terminal.

Also supplied separately for use with this phone is the Bells, Magneto 2/2 which includes:-
2 x Bells Magneto.
1 x Retardation Coil.
1 x Condenser 0.5uf.
1 x Condenser 2uf.
1 x Condenser 10uf.
1 x Induction Coil.

Western Electric
"Eiffel Tower"

When the Bell company moved into Europe they were confronted with a range of local phones that made the American phones look quite old-fashioned.  In particular, they had to compete with Ericsson's new AC100 "Skeletal" phone, which had a handset instead of the separate transmitter and receiver.  This phone was their response.

They were nicknamed the "Eiffel Tower" as the four feet resembled the Eifel Towers legs.

Initially they were built by the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company at their new factory in Antwerp, and later built in Britain at Western Electric's new factory at Woolwich. My example is one of these British phones.  Many were sold into Britain and the British colonies. British thinking at the time was that if you sold it in Britain, you had better build it there as well.  Many other countries had similar nationalistic feelings.

Australian colonial administrations also bought these phones.

The bells were mounted underneath in the Ericsson style. Most of these are found with Ericsson handsets fitted.  The Western Electric transmitters don't seem to have been too reliable.  The telephone to the right, however, still has the original "deluxe" handset which is moulded with elaborate scrollwork.

You can also see in the photo the brightly coloured decals in red and gold - the phone was rather brightly finished.

The phone was not sold in the U.S.A.  Western Electric soon replaced it in Europe with the "tin box" style of phone which enclosed the workings and required less finishing . In the U.S. they preferred the candlestick phones.  As a result, the phone is not particularly common. There are conflicting model numbers for it.

BTMC bought a factory at Woolwich near London. Following retooling the factory opened in 1898 under the new Western Electric name. The Eiffel Tower was featured prominently in their catalogs and advertising. It was generally unchanged from the BTMC model, although it had the new stronger cradle.  The phone was probably assembled from imported BTMC parts for some time, and sold as model 5715.  General Electric and (after 1910) Peel-Conner were also building parts for Western Electric. The price dropped to four pounds thirteen shillings, or four pounds fourteen and sixpence for the bridging (party line) model with a condenser.  Following another transmitter upgrade to a revised form of the solid back transmitter, the model number was changed again to 40047 and the price went up to five pounds.  The date of this change is uncertain, but it was probably around 1914 when supplies from the Antwerp factory were interrupted by World War 1.

British Western Electric supplied many of the colonial administrations such as Australia. In Australia many phones were stamped with Government markings such as C crown G in an oval for the new Commonwealth Government, or GR for Government Railways.  These phones were mostly inherited from the previous colonial governments, and the new Australian Post Office did not continue purchases. They preferred the Ericsson Skeletal as the standard desk phone, and the candlestick styles.

As well as Britain and its colonies, the phone is seen in Spain and South America.

The above information was supplied by Bob Estreich.

Advert from 1902