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Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment |
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25th Feb 2023, 10:34 pm | #1 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Posts: 69
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Question about a possible phone number
I had a quick question relating to an ID tag I found recently on a piece of audio equipment I recently bought. The tag reads:
British Capehart Corporation Ltd 34 South Side London SW4 Macauley 3529 My question relates to the last line. Is this a phone number? I know that in years past a name was often used as part of the reference in a phone number. But am I correct in assuming that this is what this reference is. The ID plate dates from 1937 / 38. |
25th Feb 2023, 10:36 pm | #2 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Posts: 69
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Here is the photo
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25th Feb 2023, 10:44 pm | #3 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 2,587
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
MACaulay was the exchange for Nine Elms in London so yes it's a telephone number.
Alan |
25th Feb 2023, 10:50 pm | #4 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Posts: 69
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Perfect. Thank you.
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25th Feb 2023, 10:53 pm | #5 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 5,763
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Quote:
The full list of London 'director system' names in alpha name order circa 1966 is here: https://rhaworth.net/phreak/tenp_01.php More about the 'director system' here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_telephone_system (Post crossed with Alan's) Hope that helps.
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25th Feb 2023, 11:17 pm | #6 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,957
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
All London phone numbers were 4 digits and the shortened exchange name at one time, hence the famous Scotland Yard number of 'Whitehall 1212'. The exchange names were changed to 3 digit numeric codes as part of automation in the 60s.
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26th Feb 2023, 9:27 am | #7 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,129
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
In full the number would have been 01-622-3529. The modern equivalent would be 020-7622-3529.
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6th Mar 2023, 6:20 pm | #8 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: North Surrey, UK.
Posts: 66
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
MACaulay exchange building is in Stewarts Road, Wandsworth. The Strowger Director unit was brought into service on 1st September 1930.
The Capehart Corporation of Fort Wayne, Indiana was a high end audio equipment manufacturer. Possibly the item shown was an export item and the address a UK office. Unfortunately it seems that they went bust in 1939. |
6th Mar 2023, 6:53 pm | #9 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,257
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
It looks a pleasant address if it's this:
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk...d#.ZAYmvELVBPY I've checked a couple of Broadcaster Trade Annuals: in the 1935 volume the British Capehart Corpn. Ltd. is listed as at Winchester Works, Sumner Road, Peckham SE15, but in the 1937 one they're not listed at all. Paul |
6th Mar 2023, 11:10 pm | #10 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Flintshire, UK.
Posts: 707
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Quote:
The change was not associated with 'automation' as the first of the London Director exchanges to go automatic was HOLborn in 1927 and automation was well underway after WW2. By 1960 there were only a dozen out of the 226 exchanges of what were to become Director exchanges that were still manual. The three digit numeric codes were introduced as part of 'All Figure Numbering' (AFN) which started in 1966 and took several years to complete. The AFN codes slowly appeared as the changes had taken place during 1967/68 in the Subscriber Trunk Dialling codebooks. The problem was that London had long since run out of exchange names where the first three letters could be used as the exchange code. Hence the range of poets, musicians, admirals and other famous folk - BYRon, CUNningham, DICkens, ELGar, HOGarth NELson, IVAnhoe, KEAts, KIPling and many others. Hence the change to all fugure numbering – Thus WHItehall which translated originally as 01-944 changed to become 01-930 thus the well known WHI 1212 changed to become 930 1212. Ian J |
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6th Mar 2023, 11:28 pm | #11 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,723
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
My phone number PREstwich XXXX changed to 0161 773 XXXX ie no change at all!
In fact that phone number has been associated with this property long before I moved in, probably since the early 1950s if not before. I do know from newspaper adverts I've seen on archive sites, that during the war, my phone number belonged to a property abort 100 yards away.
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7th Mar 2023, 1:13 am | #12 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
When I first visited Shenfield in Essex in the early 1970's, I found that the public call box phones had no dial, and lifting the handset connected you to the operator. There was a red button on the wall for 999 calls. The local exchange was KESTREL.
Last edited by emeritus; 7th Mar 2023 at 1:16 am. Reason: typos |
7th Mar 2023, 10:36 am | #13 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Flintshire, UK.
Posts: 707
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Quote:
See attached for the Manchester 061 and Liverpool 051 sectors |
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7th Mar 2023, 11:43 am | #14 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Flintshire, UK.
Posts: 707
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Quote:
Hence 'Kestrel' mobile automatic exchange trailers were rolled in and when the lines were absorbed into Brentwood' on going 'auto' on 19th July 1973, Kestrel had over 1200 lines on it. I would suspect that the kiosk was actually on Brentwood but possibly to be moved onto Kestrel. The button in kiosks for 'Emergency' calls was only used on Central Battery signalling manual exchanges and would not work on an automatic exchange. |
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7th Mar 2023, 4:27 pm | #15 | ||
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Flintshire, UK.
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Quote:
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8th Mar 2023, 11:25 am | #16 | |
Tetrode
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Posts: 69
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
Quote:
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=198639 I know that in the States that Capehart were bought out by another company (Farnsworth I believe) in the early 1940's and I guess anyway that after 3rd September 1939 that exporting radiograms from the states to the UK would no longer have been possible. Last edited by Phonosandradios; 8th Mar 2023 at 11:32 am. |
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8th Mar 2023, 2:05 pm | #17 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: North Surrey, UK.
Posts: 66
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Re: Question about a possible phone number
The Capehart brand re-appeared after the war and was a major player in the domestic television boom of the 1950s in the US with the manufacturing plant still in Indiana
They were taken over by International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) after which their luxury and quality image was said to have declined. The Capehart name was later used in government electronics contracts, notably as a contract manufacturer of the Collins-designed R-390A receiver. Other manufacturing contracts for R-390As were awarded to the Clavier Corporation and Fowler Industries (the last in 1984), all allegedly actually the same company operating from the same New York premises. |