Systeme Gower telephone
Datecirca 1880
Inventory Number8032
ClassificationTelephone
Subject
Maker
Frederick Gower
c. 1880
Supplier
General Post Office
1660 - 1969
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions(not including tube): 13.7 × 16.1 × 7.8 cm (5 3/8 × 6 5/16 × 3 1/16 in.)
box: 12.7 × 30.5 × 27.3 cm (5 × 12 × 10 3/4 in.)
box: 12.7 × 30.5 × 27.3 cm (5 × 12 × 10 3/4 in.)
Material
DescriptionA Systeme Gower telephone, created by Frederick A. Gower, who in 1879 established his own telephone exchange in Paris. He perished while crossing the English Channel in a balloon in 1885. This model was used by the British Post Office. Gower's telephones were also used in France, and later in Spain and Portugal.
Gower's device consists of a short brass cylindrical case, which contains a diaphragm and semicircular magnet. The mouthpiece consists of a flexible acoustic tube, made of a spring encased in heavy paper and green cloth. The tube is connected at one end to the center of the brass cylinder, and has a turned wood mouthpiece/earpiece at the other end.
The circular brass case has a pair of binding posts on one side and a pair of eyehooks attached one on each side.
The mouthpiece on the tube is used for both speaking and listening. The telephone is always "on," and someone wishing to make a call would blow into the tube, sending a signal to a switchman at Gower central station to connect the call.
Signed on case top, "TÉLÉPHONE GOWER PARIS"; case is stamped on bottom, "A 283"
Gower's device consists of a short brass cylindrical case, which contains a diaphragm and semicircular magnet. The mouthpiece consists of a flexible acoustic tube, made of a spring encased in heavy paper and green cloth. The tube is connected at one end to the center of the brass cylinder, and has a turned wood mouthpiece/earpiece at the other end.
The circular brass case has a pair of binding posts on one side and a pair of eyehooks attached one on each side.
The mouthpiece on the tube is used for both speaking and listening. The telephone is always "on," and someone wishing to make a call would blow into the tube, sending a signal to a switchman at Gower central station to connect the call.
Signed on case top, "TÉLÉPHONE GOWER PARIS"; case is stamped on bottom, "A 283"
Signedsigned on case top: TÉLÉPHONE GOWER PARIS
Inscribedsigned on case top: TÉLÉPHONE GOWER PARIS;
case bottom stamped: A 283
FunctionConversion of sound into electrical signals for transmission over a distance and conversion of electrical signals into sound for output
ProvenanceJefferson Laboratory, Physics Department, Harvard University
Historical AttributesUsed by British Post Office
Rudolph Koenig
Date: circa 1863
Accessories: repeater (item 8000b)
Object number: 8000a
Société Générale des Téléphones
Date: 1880
Object number: 8029
Societé du Telephone Edison
Date: 1879-1880
Object number: 8020
S. H. Couch Company
Date: circa 1905
Accessories: solid telephone receiver
Object number: 8092a
Société Générale des Téléphones
Date: circa 1884
Accessories: switchboard call drop (8035b)
Object number: 8035a
Robert G. Brown
Date: circa 1884
Accessories: exchange jacknife switch (8035a)
Object number: 8035b
