Story Time

Telephone Design over the Years

• 1882 — 01: Western Electric Blake Three-Box Wall Telephone: Early wooden wall-mounted cabinet requiring a hand-crank generator.
• 1904 — 02: Western Electric No. 20B Non-Dial Candlestick: An upright desk model where you picked up the earpiece separately from the base.
• 1907 — 03: Western Electric No. 317 Oak Wall Candlestick: A compact wooden wall box with an exposed bell ringer and a hanging receiver.
• 1919 — 04: Western Electric No. 51AL Dial Candlestick: Introduced rotary dialing directly to the classic candlestick base.
• 1927 — 05: Western Electric Model 102: An early integrated desk set combining the handset and base into a single unit.
• 1930 — 06: Western Electric Model 202: A refined desktop rotary telephone with an improved micro-telephone base.
• 1937 — 07: Western Electric Model 302: The iconic heavy metal desktop rotary phone (frequently called the “Lucy phone”) designed by Henry Dreyfuss.
• 1949 — 08: Western Electric Model 500: The classic mid-century rotary desk telephone standard in American homes for decades.
• 1956 — 09: Western Electric Model 554 Wall Phone: The wall-mounted adaptation of the durable Model 500 rotary design.
• 1959 — 10: Western Electric Princess Phone: A smaller, lighter, illuminated rotary phone marketed toward bedrooms and young people.
• 1963 — 11: Western Electric Model 1500 Touch-Tone: The rollout of push-button signaling replacing the rotary dial.
• 1965 — 12: Western Electric Trimline Phone: A sleek, lightweight handset with the dial pad built right into the handle.
• 1968 — 13: Western Electric Model 2500: The standard touch-tone desk phone featuring the * and # keys.
• 1974 — 14: Bell System Sculptura Phone: A futuristic, curved shell-shaped specialty phone.
• 1986 — 15: Deluxe Football Phone: Novelty novelty-shaped sports phone popular in den and rec rooms.
• 1987 — 16: Panasonic KX-T3000 Cordless: An early consumer cordless handset with a base station.
• 1989 — 17: Conair Clear Phone: A transparent novelty housing showing the internal circuit boards.
• 1991 — 18: VTech Tropez 900DX Cordless: An analog 900 MHz cordless phone with a bulky green base.
• 2002 — 19: VTech VT5831 5.8 GHz Cordless: Higher-frequency digital cordless phone reducing static interference.
• 2010 — 20: AT&T TL92270 Connect to Cell: A modern cordless system capable of pairing with mobile cell phones via Bluetooth.