Skeletal apparatus (telephone)

Ericsson “Taxen” (“Dachshund”) telephone from 1892

Ericsson skeleton apparatus for Tsar Nicholas II

The so-called skeletal apparatus of Swedish phone manufacturer LM Ericsson from 1892 was the first phone bench top of the world with handset . The phone is 30 cm high, 28 cm wide, 14 cm deep and weighs 5 kg; it was produced in over two million copies until the 1930s. In Sweden, the phone is also called "the dachshund" (taxen) because of its shape.

history

Logo around 1894

Desk telephones were already available at the end of the 1870s, for example a French model from the Gallais brand in 1879 . Ericsson brought the predecessor of the "Dachshund" onto the market in 1884. The phone was compact; all technical parts were clearly visible assembled in one unit. As with the later “Dachshund”, the double-curved induction magnets , which also functioned as a base, and the nickel-plated hand crank were typical ; all details were richly decorated and the base was provided with gold-colored ornaments. This phone still had a loose handset and a built-in microphone .

In 1892 came the next step in the development, with which the telephone received a handset that was in a hook switch (telephone fork ). Handsets were already used by telephone operators in exchanges , but now a telephone receiver has been used for the first time in the world on a desk phone. The phone immediately became a national and international success. As a stylized drawing, the device was incorporated into Ericsson's first registered trademark in 1894 .

Ericsson's skeletal apparatus was nicknamed because of its typical appearance. Besides the name “dachshund”, which it received in Sweden, it was called “sewing machine” in Denmark , “Eiffel Tower” in the USA and Norway , “the skeleton type” in Great Britain , “il ragno” (spider) in Italy and “ Skeletal Apparatus ”in Germany. Ericsson produced a special edition for the Russian Tsar Nicholas II . The model (in an edition of ten devices) had gold and ivory details, the braided cable was in the Russian national colors of white, blue and red.