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solid receiver -- Couch house telephone
solid receiver -- Couch house telephone

solid receiver -- Couch house telephone

Datecirca 1905
Inventory Number8092b
ClassificationTelephone
Subject
    Maker S. H. Couch Company 1894 - 1985
    Cultural Region
      Place of Origin
        Dimensions3 × 6.1 × 6.1 cm (1 3/16 × 2 3/8 × 2 3/8 in.)
        box: 12.7 × 24.8 × 13.3 cm (5 × 9 3/4 × 5 1/4 in.)
        Material
          Accessoriestelephone wall unit
          DescriptionThis receiver is part of a brass wall-mounted house telephone made by the Boston-based company S.H. Couch, a maker of in-house or local closed circuit telephone systems. The telephone was intended to connect buildings and departments of Boston's City Hospital.

          The telephone receiver, known as a watchcase style due to its rounded, compact shape, has a painted brass cylindrical case with a molded hard-rubber earpiece on one end. The earpiece is dish-shaped, with a circular opening in the base of the dish. Part of a diaphragm may be seen through the opening.

          The top of the receiver has a brass eyehook for hanging the device; from the opposite side, a pair of electrical cords with wire bound ends emerges from the receiver and is merged into one covered cord that connects to the base unit.

          See 8092a for a description of the base unit.
          Signedsigned: Couch TRADEMARK
          Inscribedon back: SOLID PAT'D AUG. 14. 1900; each of 2 magnets: SOLID PAT'D
          Curatorial Remarks8092a and b are in the same blue-board tray.
          FunctionConversion of electrical impulses to sound for output by telephone
          ProvenancePrivate Donor, Cambridge, MA.
          Historical AttributesUsed at Boston City Hospital.
          Couch house telephone wall unit
          S. H. Couch Company
          Date: circa 1905
          Accessories: solid telephone receiver
          Object number: 8092a
          Couch wall telephone
          S. H. Couch Company
          Date: circa 1906
          Accessories: Black earpiece, wood wall mounting
          Object number: 1998-1-0098
          Couch automatic telephone
          S. H. Couch Company
          Date: dated 1906
          Object number: 8093a
          Bell Hunnings-Cone house telephone receiver
          Henry Hunnings
          Date: circa 1892
          Object number: 8089b
          hard rubber steel-brass receiver
          American
          Date: late 19th Century
          Object number: 8073
          headclamp receiver
          Theodore William Richards
          Date: circa 1883
          Object number: 8043
          Couch automatic telephone receiver
          S. H. Couch Company
          Date: dated 1906
          Object number: 8093b
          British watchcase receiver
          Telephone Company Ltd.
          Date: circa 1879
          Object number: 8070
          Bell hard rubber receiver/ transmitter
          National Bell Telephone Company
          Date: 1879
          Object number: 8011
          Bell Hunnings-Cone house telephone transmitter
          Henry Hunnings
          Date: circa 1892
          Object number: 8089a
          Köhler watchcase receiver
          Fritz Köhler
          Date: circa 1892
          Accessories: Ivory signaling rattle
          Object number: 8098a
          Köhler watchcase receiver
          Fritz Köhler
          Date: circa 1892
          Accessories: ivory signaling rattle
          Object number: 8098b