The Old Telephone Company,  Essex, England
Established in 1986
Exclusively old telephones and parts for over 20 years

  Ring back memories with Home Page    an old bakelite telephone

 
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WHAT IS 'BAKELITE' AND 'EBONITE'?

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Bakelite (Pronounced bakerlight) is the trade name for the first commercially successful, thermo set plastic. It was patented on the 14th of June 1907 in Ghent in Belgium by Leo Baekeland and named after him. It is a polymer of phenol and formaldehyde with a filler, usually of sawdust. It was used in the manufacture of many telephone cases and internal parts.
Baekeland then emigrated to America to develop his invention there.
By an extraordinary co-incidence, James Swinburne, a Scottish engineer,  applied for a similar patent the following day.
 Baekeland and Swinburne swiftly buried their differences, opening factories in The USA and England. Swinburne's Damard Lacquer Company was eventually renamed Bakelite Ltd in 1927 with Swinburne as its chairman.
It seems a strange twist of fate, that the future of Bakelite, a substance fundamental to many telephones, should be decided by patent applications placed one day apart. It echoes the original patent applications for the telephone placed by Bell and Gray on the same day*.

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Ebonite is a vulcanised hard rubber compound predating bakelite. It was used as an insulator or an insulating covering for early telephone parts.
It is most commonly seen as the covering on Bell receivers. It is naturally deep black in colour and can be polished to a high standard. The surface readily degrades on contact with the atmosphere, and the action of light, to a brown semi-matt finish.


*This paragraph has simplified the Bell and Gray patent application procedures.

 

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I prefer payment by all the usual Credit/Debit Cards.

If you wish to place an order, or have an enquiry, please read all of this section before trying to contact me.

I much prefer it you to call me (Gavin Payne) by telephone if you wish to place an order, or have an enquiry. I can be reached during normal office hours seven days a week. Calls in the evening are not appreciated and could make me very grumpy. The number is 01245 400601, or if calling from outside the United Kingdom (44)1245 400601.

Emails to gp@theoldtelephone.co.uk . Due to the high levels of spam mail I receive, the spam filter is at maximum followed by automatic email deletion. Some genuine emails are being detected as spam and deleted. If you do not receive an answer to an email in a day or so, please call me on the telephone number above.

By post to The Old Telephone Company, Battlesbridge Antiques Centre,
 Battlesbridge, Essex SS11 7RE.

If you have a telephone in your possession that you want to know more about, or have repaired or converted, please have it right next to you when you call. It is not sufficient just to have a note of any markings or to rely on memory. It may be useful to have a selection of small flat bladed screwdrivers to hand.

The Old Telephone Company respects your privacy, and will not divulge any information about you to a third party.
Copyright © 1998 to 2008 by The Old Telephone Company
Last modified: August 02, 2008

E&OE