Re: "Butt" 'phone
Hello all.
I have finally managed to get to the box of Butt phones in my workshop.
Doing a count I have 18 butt phones and a dozen or more bag sets elsewhere in my workshop. Lots of other phones in the shed as well.
It looks as if I have an addiction to these phones. Is there a “Telephones Anonymous” section on this Forum?
Dave, I have 3 of the same butts that you have. 2 of them have the microphone cover so typical of the military phones and the 3rd one is of the original production run. I was told many years ago that the microphone cover was changed to the military style as there was breakage problems with the original. I can accept this as it would be tough on them getting thrown into a tool box regularly. Having used both styles myself I found the original cup type was better to use where there was a noisy background such as when working on a street pillar on a noisy road. Can cup the hand around the mouthpiece as well but not always easy when cable jointing.
The orange one is a Western Electric made in the USA. It came to Australia with a Tech working for an American company installing a PBX (private branch exchange) on an industrial site.
The red ones and the Yellow one are all Australian. Made in the PMG (Post Master Generals department) workshops in Melbourne. There are 4 marks of the red ones. The yellow one is a special used within a 2000 type step by step exchange and the red one below it was used in a crossbar ARM exchange.
The butt on the top left is made of diecast metal from the 1940s. The next diecast one is a butt phone for use on a CB (common battery) exchange and that is why it does not have a dial. Techs did not like these 2 butt phones as if you had the polarity wrong you would get a 48 volt belt if your lips touched the metal microphone cover. For this reason the butt phones such as the one Dave has were readily accepted.
The 2 blue butt phones on the right hand side are “Chesilvale” brand butts. The top one is a model 340 and the lower one is a model 361. Unlike the other butts, these require an internal 9 volt battery.
The yellow one on the bottom right hand side is my last acquisition after a 400klm round trip to an auction. It also requires a 9 volt battery. It works now after a simple repair. It is full of electronics.
I have not looked at this stuff for probably 20 years and had to dig deep into my shed to find them. I am fearful that Dave has rekindled my addiction to this stuff as evidenced by my little drive last week.
No sweat Dave. Just joking.
Cheers all.
Robert.
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