Telephone history: Telephone Service in Birmingham

[col h]

Werent Trimphones 'quietly' withdrawn by the GPO cos somebody eventually realised that the handsets were becoming radioactivedue to their proximity to the lumious dial ?

 

[Aidan]

Now I always thought that was a myth but wikipedia says:

The luminous dial contained the mildly radioactive element tritium, which caused some concern about safety. At one point during the 1990s the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell was fined £5,000 by Wantage Magistrates Court for accumulating radioactive waste, having collected several thousand Trimphone luminous dials in a skip. The Trimphone name is an acronym standing for Tone Ring Illuminator Model, referring to the then innovative electronic ringer ("warbling", as opposed to the traditional bell) and the illuminated dial.

https://www.britishtelephones.com/t712.htm expands:

There was also some concern about the luminescent dial which glowed green in the dark. This effect came from a small glass tube of tritium gas, which gave off beta radiation and made the dial fluoresce. Although the radioactivity was equivalent only to that given off by a wristwatch it was felt wise to withdraw this facility as public concern over radioactivity grew.

Another problem with the dial version of the Trimphone was its light weight, 0.8kg compared with 1.4kg for the 700-type and 2.6kg for the 300-type telephone. This led to the complaint that on slippery surfaces the telephone turned and slid whilst dialling. The fix for this was to wet the feet and the phone stuck to the table!

 

[col h]

About ten years ago I did some work at the UKAEA at Harwell, they have or had a display case filled with things like Radioactve corsets - yeah really - and Radioactive soda syphons, even fishing floats. Thats probably where I heard about it, they didnt mention that they had been fined though.

In the mid 80s, I can remember a scrapyard, off Lawley St I think, that had loads of scrap BT stuff but would never let you have Trimphones. Still got an analogue multimeter that came from there.

 

[Aidan]

Can't resist going fftopic: on this one:

Radium-based Tho-Radia beauty products c1935 :hoteyes:

Attain that healthy glow with a little Curie magic - still want to believe the marketing men?

 

[col h]

All foriegn to me, pictures are spooky though.

 

[Mohawk]

Now I always thought that was a myth but wikipedia says:

The luminous dial contained the mildly radioactive element tritium, which caused some concern about safety. At one point during the 1990s the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell was fined £5,000 by Wantage Magistrates Court for accumulating radioactive waste, having collected several thousand Trimphone luminous dials in a skip. The Trimphone name is an acronym standing for Tone Ring Illuminator Model, referring to the then innovative electronic ringer ("warbling", as opposed to the traditional bell) and the illuminated dial.

https://www.britishtelephones.com/t712.htm expands:

There was also some concern about the luminescent dial which glowed green in the dark. This effect came from a small glass tube of tritium gas, which gave off beta radiation and made the dial fluoresce. Although the radioactivity was equivalent only to that given off by a wristwatch it was felt wise to withdraw this facility as public concern over radioactivity grew.

Another problem with the dial version of the Trimphone was its light weight, 0.8kg compared with 1.4kg for the 700-type and 2.6kg for the 300-type telephone. This led to the complaint that on slippery surfaces the telephone turned and slid whilst dialling. The fix for this was to wet the feet and the phone stuck to the table!

Yes, Aiden, I forgot to mention that my experience with the trimphone included being exasperated by the constant tangling of the handset's cord! It seemed much more inclined to 'get knotted' than other phones; being so lightweight, that meant many a time when making or answering a call, the whole thing would come off the table. Can't recall if blu-tack was around then, but I know I often felt like nailing it down. I didn't know about the acronym, but I somehow can't help but be tempted to think they invented the acronym to go with the name, rather than the other way round!
Just as an aside, some years ago I thought someone around here still had a Trimphone as I kept hearing the 'warble'. I happened to mention this to a mate who's a keen birdwatcher and he said there's a species of bird around that makes that sound, its forebears having picked up the sound when the Trimphone was popular. I promise you, it wasn't April 1st!
Regards, Mohawk.

 

[Mohawk]

Hi all
See you are talking about the 70's trim phone, and the luminous dial well this thing was the bane of my life for a short period I was on 24hr call for ATS commercial section and they paid for the phone etc, that BURR BURR sound and the luminous dial at all times of the night still haunts me,
paul

I sympathise, Paul. I've been on 24hr call in my time and its no fun. I often wished no form of telephonic communication had been invented! Don't know if you were on maintenance, but if you haven't already done so, take a look at Aiden's first post on this thread and click on the picture of the man with the top hat: the text explains that the hat was used 'as a receptacle for tools!'
Regards, Mohawk.

 

[Aidan]

...
Just as an aside, some years ago I thought someone around here still had a Trimphone as I kept hearing the 'warble'. I happened to mention this to a mate who's a keen birdwatcher and he said there's a species of bird around that makes that sound, its forebears having picked up the sound when the Trimphone was popular. I promise you, it wasn't April 1st!
Regards, Mohawk.

I have no trouble believing that. The birds around here all sound like house and car alarms.....

 

[Thylacine]

Good morning, Aidan (you're up early!).

The Australian lyrebird, a renowned mimic, has been known to make chainsaw sounds!

This bit of the Wikipedia "lyrebird" entry is worth quoting in full (even if fftopic:

"A Lyrebird's Tale. During the early 1930s, a male lyrebird, called "James", formed a close bond with a human being, Mrs Wilkinson, after she had been offering food to him over a period of time. James would perform his courtship dance for her on one of his mounds which he had constructed in her backyard — and he would also put on his display for a wider audience, but only when Mrs Wilkinson was one of those present. On one such occasion, James's performance lasted for forty-three minutes, and included steps to a courtship dance accompanied by his own tune — and also included imitating perfectly the calls of an Australian Magpie, and a young magpie being fed by a parent-bird, an Eastern Whipbird, a Bellbird, a complete laughing-song of a Kookaburra, two Kookaburras laughing in unison, a Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo, a Gang-gang Cockatoo, an Eastern Rosella, a Pied Butcherbird, a Wattle-bird, a Grey Shrike-thrush, a Thornbill, a White-browed Scrubwren, a Striated Pardalote, a Starling, a Yellow Robin, a Golden Whistler, a flock of parrots whistling in flight, the Crimson Rosella, several other birds whose notes his audience were not able to identify, and the song of honey-eaters (tiny birds with tiny voices), that gather in numbers and "cheep" and twitter in a multitudinous sweet whispering. In order to mimic the honeyeaters' singing faithfully, James was obliged to subdue his powerful voice to the faintest pianissimo, but he contrived, nevertheless, to make each individual note of the soft chorus audibly distinct. Also included in James's performance was his perfect mimicry of the sounds made by a rock-crusher at work, a hydraulic ram, and the tooting of motor-horns."

 

[Aidan]

Good evening Thylacine (I can't work out whether you are 9 hours in front or 15 hours behind) - The lyre bird is a well known mimic but I think with this story perhaps the Bundaberg Bear has been prowling?

Now how did we end up here? Does anyone have some Telephony stories that they can share perchance?

 

[cookie273uk]

As A PABX engineer I was on "emergency call out" for a number of years and occassionally would be called to Bham Int airport, there was a building the other side of the main runway, I think it was the weather centre, could be wrong, any way to get there involved crossing the main runway, to do this I had to be escorted there and back by an Airport fire engine which I thought was amusing. This would have been in the 60's. Happy days Eric

 

[bobbyb]

We had a Budgie and he used to trill just like the phone and whoever was in would rush to answer the phone, that meant that sometimes the phone didn't get answered, it was annoying. Mother was the only one who could tell the difference.

 

[Aidan]

Found this in Wikipedia, while looking up some info about the Vale.
Castle Bromwich Post Office' was the first to have a telephone outside London so that Benjamin Disraeli could keep in touch with the government. He frequently visited Castle Bromwich Hall in the 1870s, possibly to court Lady Chesterfield and Lady Bradford. Later, Queen Mary made use of the telephone when visiting Lady Ida (Lady of the Queen’s Bed Chamber) at the Hall. The Post Office closed in 2004 and is now a hairdressing salon.

Well, as entertaining as it was hearing about Birds, Budgies & Bundaberg Bear-hugging of female Scandanavian Backpackers on Basic camping trips was (ohh, the alliteration) - I'd like to thank Eric for valiantly sharing his airport escort story.

On another thread I found a 1906 Telephone Directory entry for Sir Richard Tangye. His number is given as "P.O.Kingston 326".

It reminded me of Bobbyb's post about the PM using Castle Brom PO - It is something I have not come across before and wonder if anyone can explain the use of PO as exchanges (I imagine it means the Postmistress acting as the part-time switchboard Operator)? Clearly before customer self dialling.

 

[mikejee]

Below is a picture from the S. Mercury in 1972 of the Trunk telephone exchange in Birmingham in 1922
Mike

 

[bobbyb]

Well, as entertaining as it was hearing about Birds, Budgies & Bundaberg Bear-hugging of female Scandanavian Backpackers on Basic camping trips was (ohh, the alliteration) - I'd like to thank Eric for valiantly sharing his airport escort story.

On another thread I found a 1906 Telephone Directory entry for Sir Richard Tangye. His number is given as "P.O.Kingston 326".

It reminded me of Bobbyb's post about the PM using Castle Brom PO - It is something I have not come across before and wonder if anyone can explain the use of PO as exchanges (I imagine it means the Postmistress acting as the part-time switchboard Operator)? Clearly before customer self dialling.

I do remember living in a Village called Little Cherrington in the middle of Warwickshire, you had to go through the local operator, based at the Post Office, this was 1963 and one time I made a call Home and the operator had to route me through Sheffield and other places North of Castle Bromwich, just to reassure my Parents I was OK, at night she routed all calls through Shipston on Stour, then along came STD.

 

[Aidan]

Mohawk - amazingly small world isn't it? There is a fair bit of genealogical info shared on that thread about the Tangye family which may be of interest

BobbyB - fantastic experience, and now you mention it the last operator switched calls was as late as 1976 in Skye (although the subject is a hot debate item). Your long manual rerouting by the kind lady makes me think that's OK until she had an "off" night + that same approach is taken even now at BT's Worldwide Network Management Centre at Oswestry (according to this website, I says looking around shiftly).

No ok it slipped out but the men in black are cool with it as it is on the BT Archive site along with a short vid https://imagelibrary.btplc.com/asse...t?id=2515&index=0&total=5&view=viewSearchItem

 

[Aidan]

I cannot say I have mastered it quite yet but have been playing around with the 19th Century Newspaper collections accessed free from home via my wonderful Library card. There is not a great selection currently digitised (sadly not Aris’s Birmingham Gazette yet), but the Birmingham Daily Post is there so I decided to see what I could find in “Year Zero” ie 1879

I tried various search terms, some more successful than others. For example I first tried to find Piercy of course but no luck apart from a few of his father’s estate agency adverts. Yet the good news is – he is there (suspense….). The learning point is that with old docs the autoreader/search function can & does fail – so you have to try, try again with different search terms. Also it means that I will miss a lot so need your help and ingenuity in tracking down articles...

I have found quite a lot which I will post in sequential order. I don’t have the patience to attempt to transcribe these, so if you can’t see them via the forum then best tip is to download them and magnify them with any viewer you have on your PC. But I will put a summary under each ref.

First post to set the scene:

• 18790317 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Monday, March 17, 1879 – first mention of the Telephone, Colonel Gourand, Edison’s London rep, shows it off in Lombard St London

• 18790908a The Times, Monday, Sep 08, 1879 Issue 29667
o pg09 col E – An interesting one for futurologists. Imagines the take off of the Telephone where “No message will be too important to be intrusted with it, and none too trifling not to be not worth sending from any house where the dignity of being a “station” has been attained”. Notes that there are currently 10 lines in England and that soon other cities such as Birmingham will be clamouring for it.
o pg12 col A --- Telephone communication established on these shores on Saturday 6th Sep 1879. Lots of detail on the instrument particularly the transmitter. Lists each of the 10 lines connected to the central switchboard in Lombard Street. Demo lead by Engineer Mr E.H.Johnson and Company Manager Mr Arnold White. Successful but some doubt as to whether it will have many customers in our cities as much as USA but may be useful for outlying towns

• 18790909 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Tuesday, September 9, 1879 – more demos this time at Queen Victoria St London with connection to The Times Office. Mr E.H.Johnson Chief Engineer

• 18790915 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Monday, September 15, 1879 – Edison Telephone Company of London Ltd, 11 Queen Victoria Street EC (Arnold White – Manager) advertise that they are ready to receive subscribers in the Birmingham area, on the system fully described in The Times on 8th Sep. No applications for Agency will be considered unless recommended by a leading Banker. The exchange will be under local management.

 

[Aidan]

..now for the Birmingham detail

• 18790918 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Thursday, September 18, 1879 – Great descriptive piece entitled “Proposed Telephone Exchange in Birmingham” It is to be a branch of the London Telephone Company and an office has already been taken in the Exchange Buildings (fortuitous name), New Street.. Communication already established between there and the New Street shop of locksmiths Chubb and Son. Direct overhead line – no switchboard needed until they get a few more customers! Next customer will be engineering firm of Piercy & Co on Broad Street which will test the limits further. Manager of Birmingham Office is Mr Ormiston with Telegraphic Engineer Mr A.H.W.Radcliffe.

• 18790920 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Saturday, September 20, 1879 --- Midland Exchange, Exchange Buildings, New St – Exchange is being established, full particulars in a few days, enquires to Mr Piercy Engine Works Broad St or Mr George H Chubb 104 New St (they had obviously won the franchise)

• 18790924 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Wednesday, September 24, 1879 – rerun of last advert

• 18790927 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Saturday, September 27, 1879 – rerun of last advert

• 18791004 Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Saturday, October 4, 1879 – Announcing the two directors of the Midland Telephone Exchange Company that will be associated with the London Telephone company are George H. Chubb & Henry J.T. Piercy


to be continued...

 

[Thylacine]

The other day I came across Carl Chinn's Best of Old Brum (Evening Mail special publication 26 October 1998), in which (pp 34-35) exiled Brummie Patrick Downey recalls his early life. Patrick was born at 142 Crompton Road, Handsworth, in March 1939. He graduated in 1956 from Handsworth Technical School (Goldshill Road), and joined Post Office Telephones as a technical trainee at Telephone House (Newhall Street). Patrick was later assigned to Perry Barr telephone exchange (Willmore Road), but had "itchy feet" and in 1958 emigrated to New York. This was at the suggestion of his older brother Mike, who had crossed the Atlantic in 1953. In 1998, Patrick Downey was living at Naples, Florida. The article is accompanied by a picture of young Patrick attending to some telephone equipment (sorry, folks, I don't have a scanner).

Some of the readers of this thread might remember telephone technician Patrick Downey.

 

[DavidGrain]

I have only just been directed to this thread and have not yet read through it. However some comments I would make.

On page one of the thread which is as far as I have got reading at present. I recognise all of the four types of telephone shown at the bottom of page 1 of this thread. The last time I saw a telephone with separate earphone from the candle stick microphone actually in use was in the old Rackhams store (before the present 1960s House of Frazer building). The second picture at the bottom of page 1 was the type in use for both GPO and internal phones when I started work. The third photo was what was called a "modern" phone, and the first to be supplied in different colours, was the phone I had in my first flat after I left my parents' home. You had to pay an extra £1 for a modern phone even if you chose a black one. When I had my first flat the phone was on a party line which I shared with my next door neighbour and every so often the numbers would get crossed over so that I got his calls and he got mine. To make a call when you had a party line you had to pick up the phone to listen to see if your party was using it, then if it was free to press the call exchange button before dialling. On my phone, if you pressed the button you used to hear BBC Radio 4 so my guess is that somewhere a telephone wire was picking up the signal. The final picture was of a trim phone which did not last very long and I am told it would drive your budgies mad.

The Ffestiniog Railway in Porthmadog has what is believed to be the largest surviving Stowger exchange in the country and are looking for volunteers to maintain it.

 

[Aidan]

David - welcome to the thread indeed. Thank you for sharing your memories of the different phones - particularly for explaining the practicalities of the Shared line system. Irritating as it was I think it might make a fun come-back to get neighbours communicating with each other!

I think I can safely say that I have cleaned my last uniselector bank some time ago and will let others experience the pleasure!

 

[Aidan]

The London BT Tower will open to the public next month for the first time in almost thirty years as part of an architecture festival. The 19 September open day is billed by BT as "absolutely a one-off". Registration opens today see https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/16/bt_tower for more.

It is 620ft high but it only takes 20sec to the 34th floor (if the lifts are working - 22mph is faster than it sounds vertically!) and the views can be superb. The revolving restaurant takes 22mins to complete a circle.

 

[DavidGrain]

I shall be out of the country that day so I shall not be going to the one day opening of the BT Tower in London.

I did go up the tower sometime in the 1960s but that was in the days when its existence was an official secret so it was not shown on any maps. As a teenager my first holiday without my parents was a week in London and I navigated my way round central London with an LT bus map from which I worked out where the tower was because there was a bus route which terminated in a back street for no apparent reason and I guessed correctly that it ran to what was then called The Post Office Tower.

 

[Aidan]

Well done David on both counts! I always think it mildly amusing when places don't appear on the map like those giant golfball radomes you see around the country.

I don't believe the top of Birmingham's tower ever revolved - bit of a chiz really....

 

[DavidGrain]

My aunt was very proud of her son-in-law who worked for BT. She said he had a high up job and worked at the BT Tower in Birmingham. She could not understand why I laughed.

 

[Aidan]

<laughs out loud>

 

[DavidGrain]

When The GPO in Blackpool was made a listed building the person writing out the spec included the eight red phone boxes in the listing and nobody noticed so now the phone boxes are listed buildings. Nice one!

See street view

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&...noid=HcGoxWsqbNgjbIb3bdxPbw&cbp=12,94.64,,0,5

 

[Aidan]

Nice one indeed. Symmetrical and in keeping. One could wish for K6s but we can't have everything. Just wish people used them for telephonic communication rather than Conveniences....

 

[DavidGrain]

In June I was in Denmark and visited a private house when I saw this telephone in the hall. Took a quick photo but really did not have time to study it.

View attachment 55496

I just assumed that it was an old phone which had been updated to work with modern telephone exchanges but now studying it from the photo I realise that it could not work today. I know I was out in the country but I cannot imagine that one would today turn a handle to ring the bell at the exchange. Mind you my mobile did not allow me to make calls although Vodafone say there is nothing wrong with their Danish agents systems.

 

[Aidan]

I would imagine it was kept as a piece of Treen or perhaps because it resembles Homer (to my jaded eyes anyway)...