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After ATEA was taken over by a British American holding in 1926, new technology was introduced to manufacture telephones. The artisan process to make telephones out of wood by a carpenter an wiring done by an electrician, was out of date in the mid 1920s. We learned from Automatic Electric how to design and manufacture phones in an industrial environment. And I presume that professional approach guided the company through the Depression years around 1930.
Metal was used as a basic material, and the brandnew type nr 24 dial was used by the company. Personally I really love the "art nouveau style" logo at the cradle, with his typical curves.
This phone was definitely manufactured before the end of 1931, when the company name 'the New Antwerp Telephone and Electrical Works', which remained unchanged after the 1926 take over, was adopted to "Automatique Electrique de Belgique".
The catalogue entry above is another example of the ATEA flexibility : phones can be delivered with or without a dial.
ATM Liverpool, ATEA's sister company around 1930, took over this phone and their installers nicknamed it "hambone", because of the handset shape. Geoff Mawdsley ; "My old friend (86 now!) who used to work for ATE in Liverpool used to fix these phones and the PAX systems they were on, in old mills just after the war. He calls the handset a "hambone" type because it looks like one. ATE used the case, dial and handset in about 1930 and installed english components inside. It was to fill a demand for a one-piece instrument"
I obtained this phone in 2011 from a collector who urgently needed space at the attic.
Last changed on 29/09/12 by Jan