Edison subscriber set

Date1879

Inventory Number8023

ClassificationTelephone

Subject

Maker Thomas Alva Edison 1847 - 1931

User Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University founded 1884

Cultural Region

Place of Origin

Dimensions22.5 × 24.3 × 28.3 cm (8 7/8 × 9 9/16 × 11 1/8 in.)
transmitter: diam. 8 cm (3 1/8 in.)

Material

DescriptionA black, wall-mounted Edison telephone subscriber set made of wood and metal. The carbon-button transmitter is mounted on a height-adjustable steel arm on the left. An angled writing shelf is topped by a bell and coil of electrical wire and a steel switch hook to hang a receiver is on the right side of the case. The front of the telephone's backboard has two cylindrical metal binding posts with screw tops.

Inscriptions painted around the edge of the circular mouthpiece of the transmitter, "EDISONC CARBON TELEPHONE / PAT AP. 30TH 1878 PAT. AP. 29TH 1879"; stamped on back below shelf, "17"; on transmitter plate, “MODEL F32972"

Signedaround mouthpiece: EDISONSC [sic] CARBON TELEPHONE

Inscribedpainted on transmitter: EDISONC CARBON TELEPHONE / PAT AP. 30TH 1878 PAT. AP. 29TH 1879; stamped on back below shelf: 17; transmitter plate: MODEL F32972

Curatorial RemarksEdison's Menlo Park laboratory in New Jersey was in an area now known as Edison. Old display card: "Edison's Subscriber Set" Old tag: "Edison's Carbon Transmitter" Reverse: "first? original 8023c"

FunctionConversion of sound into electrical signals for transmission over a distance

ProvenanceJefferson Laboratory, Physics Department, Harvard University