Related Object Info
Systeme Ader telephone console
A telephone system console, made by Louis-Clément Breguet for the Ader company. The case has a cherry wood frame with steel and brass pins and connectors. The flat back panel has four brass binding posts, two of which are for connection with a battery and the other two are designed to connect to an alarm bell, which could be positioned anywhere nearby.
A wooden shelf is attached to the back panel and angled from the front. The top of the shelf has an opening covered by a thin, rectangular spruce wood panel. The panel rests on a thin rubber ring which allows it to vibrate. Mounted beneath the panel, which acts as a diaphragm, is a series of carbon rods; the combination forms a wood-block microphone. The case has a switch hook on each side, with a provision for two receivers.
Ader applied for a French patent for his system in 1880, and a for a United States patent in 1883.
A brass plate on the top of the shelf is inscribed, "brass plate above diaphragm: SOCIÉTE GLE DES TELEPHONES SYSTÈME ADER Bté S.G.D.G. 5501 [maker's mark]"; a brass plate on the front edge of the shelf is inscribed, "BREGUET FI."
