Three-Boxer Circa 1880
Charles Williams Jr.Charles Williams Jr.Charles Williams Jr. operated an electrical shop at 109 Court Street in Boston that became the birthplace of the telephone industry. Thomas Edison worked there in 1868-69, and Thomas Watson joined in 1872, where he met Alexander Graham Bell in 1874. Bell and Watson's pivotal telephone experiments took place in the shop's garret. In 1877, Williams began manufacturing the first commercial telephones for the Bell Telephone Company, including the famous Coffin Set. The first permanent residential telephone line connected his shop to his Somerville home. Williams sold the operation to Western Electric in 1882. · wood, American · Source: Tom Adams
About This Phone
This is an early 'three boxer' wood telephone, manufactured by Charles Williams, a contract manufacturer of telegraph equipment who helped Alexander Graham Bell produce his early phones. The upper box holds the magneto for signalling the operator, the lower box holds the (probably liquid) batteries, and the middle-box is the 'Blake transmitter,' the highest tech transmitter available at that time. Circa 1880.
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