Viaduct Wall Switchboard Phone

Viaduct ManufacturingViaduct Manufacturing1883–1900Founded in 1883 in Elkridge, Maryland, taking over the business of Davis & Watts, a Baltimore telegraph and electrical instrument maker active since at least 1875. The company name came from a brick viaduct built next to their plant to carry the B&O Railroad tracks — almost certainly the landmark Thomas Viaduct spanning the Patapsco River. Advertising that they made "everything electrical," Viaduct specialized in telephones, magneto bells, and telegraph equipment. Their paddle-style wall telephones of the 1890s used an ingenious arm mechanism designed to circumvent Bell's switchhook patents. · wood, switchboard, American · Source: Tom Adams
Viaduct Wall Switchboard Phone

About This Phone

This Viaduct wall switchboard looks to have six 'drops' (the silver plates on the lower box), meaning it had a six line switching capacity. The Viaduct Manufacturing Company was based in Elk Ridge, Maryland, and the company name came from the brick viaduct that had to be built next to the company's plant to support the B&O railroad tracks.