pay phone story

Payphone Story – Global History of Payphones and Phone Booths

001 North American Payphones
027 South African Payphones
030 European Payphones
044 British Payphones and Booths
- 044 BRITISH PAYPHONES
- BRITISH PHONE BOXES
061 Australasian Payphones
081 Japanese Payphones
HOME- PAYPHONESTORY
Site Map

South African Payphone- Dowson & Dobson Auto Wall 1965

Introduced in 1965, this integrated electronic coin telephone was based on Fritz Donkerbroek’s pioneering design and manufactured by Dowson & Dobson using TFA Denmark technology. Around 1972, the original 2½-cent slot became 5 cents and the coin return moved left. Later models accepted only 10c and 20c coins.

Name	Dowson & Dobson Auto Wall 1965
Date	c. 1965
Manufacturer	Dowson & Dobson (TFA, Denmark) South Africa, 1965

Information and images with special thanks to Mark Van Der Heever and Peter Van Almelo

Development of the Dowson & Dobson Auto Wall 1965

Dowson & Dobson (TFA Denmark) Mark II Coin Telephone (1965)

Introduced in 1965, the Dowson & Dobson Mark II was South Africa’s first widely adopted integrated electronic payphone, based on pioneering work by Post Office engineer Fritz Donkerbroek. Built under licence from Denmark’s Telefon Fabrik Automatik (TFA), it combined the telephone and electronic coin detector into a single robust unit. Following decimalisation, the original 2½-cent slot was replaced with a 5-cent slot around 1972, and the coin return moved to the left-hand side. Later versions accepted only 10c and 20c coins. This highly successful design served throughout South Africa for decades, becoming one of the country’s most recognisable public telephones.