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BERTHON
ADER
This historic telephone
was made in France around 1885 was one of the earliest used by the New
South Wales and Victorian state administrations and the railways.
These telephones (and others) were imported to be used on the existing telegraph lines in Australia. The use of telephones on these lines offered a ready means of communication and could be used by persons unskilled in the use of the telegraph. It was very desirable that officers who used them should have had an intelligent knowledge of their principles and mode of working as it was an instrument the use of which was certain to spread widely (if they only knew).
A description of these Berthon Ader telephones is written in a book called " Practical Telegraphy" written by H. W. Jenvey, M.I.E.E. published as the fourth edition in 1904. This book details the parts and working theory of this telephone, but there is too much to reproduce here. Some of the diagrams from the book appear below.
A feature of this telephone is the large combination handset (called a converser in the book) with a large diameter transmitter.
Copyright February 28 1999 Ken Bushell
