Colvin Wooden Potbelly

This very rare Colvin wooden potbelly was one of the earliest upright desk stands. The Interior Telephone Company manufactured and sold the only non-infringing carbon transmitter available to the public. The transmitter used no induction coil and employed no carbon button. Because this telephone was introduced just as Bell's original telephone patents were expiring, it was designed carefully "to avoid infringing existing patents". Please see the Colvin telephone pictured in the original sales catalog from the late 1890s. And two scans from a different 1894 Colvin catalog.