“What the Heck IS This Thing #11

Can you guess what this object is — and what it does?  

Hint:  The answer is at the bottom of this webpage.

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SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE ANSWER …

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ANSWER to the “What the Heck IS This Thing #11?” Game:

This is vintage CANDLESTICK-STYLE TELEPHONE .

The candlestick telephone is a style of telephone that was common from the late 1890s to the 1940s.  A candlestick telephone is also often referred to as a desk stand, an upright, or a stick phone

Candlestick telephones featured a mouth piece (transmitter) mounted at the top of the stand, and a receiver (ear phone) that was held by the user to the ear during a call.

Image from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlestick_telephone
Image from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlestick_telephone.

When the telephone was not in use, the receiver rested in the fork of the switch hook protruding to the side of the stand, thereby disconnecting the audio circuit from the telephone network. 

If a phone was “off the hook,” the line was busy and could not receive another call.  Candlestick telephones required the nearby installation of a ringer bell box, which housed the ringer bell to announce incoming calls, and the electric circuitry (capacitor, induction coil, signaling generator, connection terminals) to connect the set to the telephone network.

This candlestick style telephone does not have a dial.  How then to place a call?  By lifting the phone of the hook, you would be connected to the local telephone company switchboard, and would ask for your call to be manually connected by the operator, via cables, to the person they wished to call. 

When switchboards began to be replaced by automatic telephone exchanges, the base of a candlestick also featured a rotary dial, used for signaling the telephone number of an intended call recipient.

Visit the Lovettsville Museum and see more of our What the Heck mystery objects.  We are located next to Lovettsville Town Hall at 4 East Pennsylvania Avenue.  Open Saturdays 1:00-4:00.