| Name | Sydney Workshops AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC TYPE |
| Date | c. 1930 |
| Manufacturer | PMG Sydney Workshops |
| Usage | Booths, indoor locations. Very early proto-type |
Development of the Sydney Workshops AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC payphone
| AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC TYPE: An early Sydney workshop type introduced for use around Sydney in the late 192O’s was the distinctively Automatic Electric instrument (Fig.13) This public telephone was designed by local engineers to overcome the operational shortcomings of earlier manual types and take advantage of the improved facilities offered by the newly provided automatic exchanges. Some of the advantages listed for the introduction of this type:- a) Prevented use of bent or misshapen coins (washers). b) Allowed coin to be inserted prior to connection and connection was automatically made by pressing a button marked ‘service’. c) The instrument had provision for coin return which earlier instruments lacked. This type was however, quickly abandoned probably due to heavy maintenance, and perhaps, because the concept was too advanced for the existing exchange network of the time. The mechanism was different to that already described and because it was little more than an experiment will not be described here. Note the penny coin head which was also widely used on other one penny coin collectors. |
Leave a Reply