Other Wallsets and Intercoms

Ericssons also manufactured a range of compact wallsets. This section contains a mixture of models. Like the desk sets, the small wall sets were designed to use a separate battery box if necessary. Construction was up to Ericsson’s normal high quality, although the range contains a number of British “budget” models which show some economies in fittings like the switchhook.

The small steel cased sets were intended for tropical use like their big brothers. They do not appear to have been used officially in Australia, but were offered for private sale here.

The intercoms usually have a simpler style of transmitter, switchhook, etc. Some of them are shown here, as they do turn up occasionally. The Beeston factory in Britain generated a large number of designs. Many of these were special-purpose phones for Britain’s expanding rail and colliery systems, and these were also exported widely to the British colonies. Since there is little to indicate this use, they look much like ordinary intercoms. A complete coverage of the British phones is available on Bob Freshwater’s “The Telephone File”, or from his website.

Many non-Ericsson intercoms were produced in the United States using Ericsson parts, and these turn up fairly often at auction. They are quite understandably mis-identified as Ericsson because the transmitter is the only branded part on the phone. See the section on “United States Ericsson” for some examples.

Both intercoms and standard wall phones underwent modification to convert them to a bakelite handset when this became available. Those phones which were built to take the bakelite handset will have usually an appropriately modified cradle or switchhook, but collectors will find that a lot of the original phones have simply been refitted with a bakelite handset with a hanging loop screwed into the back of the receiver. This was then hung from the original unmodified switchhook.

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