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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Fuller Phone


mark holden

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I thought these pictures of a Fuller Phone may be of interest. All parts 1917 or 18 dated the morse cards were found inside the case.

regards

Mark


End view marked '360 RFA'

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Date on the case. 1918


Metal plates inside the lid one with the morse alphabet.

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Headphone and handset. Headset dated 1918 on both the earpiece and leather cover. Handset 1917 dated.


2


headset case and semaphore/morse cards


date on the body of the phone

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Nice photos, thanks for posting.

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Good one Mark.

I like these - although they can be surprisingly expensive. I assume that's because they exist in the overlap of the Venn diagram of Great War collectors; and telecomms and technology collectors too.

I had a pretty good one for years: yet was able to purchase an excellent case, with the rarely seen shoulder strap, for £30 from the States via eBay. My case went to a mate with a case-less phone and now we're both happy!

Cheers,

GT.

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Thanks GT,

I saw it yesterday at a fair and thought if I don't buy it I'll regret it. Telcommunication stuff is not normally my bag but the essential nature of the 'field telephone' in the Great War makes it more than just a bit of technical kit.

regards

Mark

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I thought these pictures of a Fuller Phone may be of interest. All parts 1917 or 18 dated the morse cards were found inside the case.

Mark,

Really nice photos, of some very interesting items.

Regards,

LF

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Thanks GT,

I saw it yesterday at a fair and thought if I don't buy it I'll regret it. Telcommunication stuff is not normally my bag but the essential nature of the 'field telephone' in the Great War makes it more than just a bit of technical kit.

regards

Mark

Absolutely - all the great disasters were comms failures as much as anything, and here they encapsulated in one leather case.
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Nice images thanks for posting. Interesting to see the phonetic alphabet plate; the version of the alphabet shown is the same that given as being adopted 'for all forces' in 1938 by this article Phonetic Alphabets in the British Service which indicates that prior to that a number of variations had been employed. Being on an official bit of kit, possibly this indicates official adoption by the army of this version long before 1938? (incidentally, the same site has a copy of The Fullerphone, Its Action and Use, March 1917 available for download (Click), although registration or membership is, apparently, required).

The cards are also interesting in that they appear to be an enhanced version of - or at least very similar to - a type the IWM holds in its collection which were made by 'George Waterson & Sons Ltd, Wholesale Stationers (Edinburgh and London)' and sold as 'Semaphore Signalling in a Week' (by Lt Col W J Younger, 4th Royal Scots) Click but those only have the semaphore positions. Presumably the 'FIGURE 1.' given on the card shown relates to a no longer present - as with their box (?) - master index sheet or card.

Sorry, but I have to ask, does the phonetic alphabet on the cards tie up with that given on the inscribed plate, one of the others from the Phonetic Alphabets in British Service article above, or yet another variant?

NigelS

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is not actually a Fuller Phone, its a Field Phone D MkIII. there is a bit more information on them in this phone collectors site http--www.telephonecollecting.org-Newsletter-May14.pdf

Regards

Ross

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