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
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South African Payphone- GRAY COINBOX 1950

Introduced around 1950, this post-war refinement of the earlier Siemens Public Call Office featured an improved Neophone telephone and separate grey metal coin box mounted on a painted timber backboard. Installed in outdoor kiosks throughout South Africa, it remained in widespread use until integrated all-in-one public telephones replaced separate coin boxes during the 1960s.

Name	GRAY COINBOX
Date	c. 1950. This model dates from about 1950 and was housed in an outdoor telephone booth. It was typically supplied in tandem with a 200 series Ericsson wall Neophone.
Manufacturer	Siemens, London

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

Development of the Siemens PUBLIC CALL OFFICE 1950

PUBLIC CALL OFFICE
Manufacturer: Siemens Brothers, London, 1930
Introduced around 1950, this post-war refinement of the earlier Siemens Public Call Office featured an improved Neophone telephone and separate grey metal coin box mounted on a painted timber backboard. Installed in outdoor kiosks throughout South Africa, it remained in widespread use until integrated all-in-one public telephones replaced separate coin boxes during the 1960s.