Candlestick telephone

The candlestick telephone is a style of telephone that was common from the late 1890s to the 1940s. A candlestick telephone is also often referred to as a desk stand, an upright, or a stick phone. Candlestick telephones featured a mouth piece (transmitter) mounted at the top of the stand, and a receiver (ear phone) that was held by the user to the ear during a call. When the telephone was not in use, the receiver rested in the fork of the switch hook protruding to the side of the stand, thereby disconnecting the audio circuit from the telephone network.

Candlestick telephones were designed in a great variety of styles with varying features.

Most recognizable, candlesticks featured a base with a vertical cylindrical neck extending upright for up to 10 inches (25 cm) in length. At the top of the stand was mounted a carbon microphone (transmitter) to speak into, and a switch hook extending sideways upon which an ear piece (receiver) was hung. In order to make or answer a telephone call, the user lifted the receiver off the switch hook, thereby activating an internal switch connecting the telephone to the telephone line.

Candlestick telephones required the nearby installation of a subscriber set (subset, ringer box), which housed the ringer to announce incoming calls and the electric circuitry (capacitor, induction coil, signaling generator, connection terminals) to connect the set to the telephone network.

When automatic telephone exchanges were introduced, the base of a candlestick also featured a rotary dial, used for signaling the telephone number of an intended call recipient.

Candlestick telephones were produced in various models by many manufacturers. The main producers of these telephones were Western Electric (a unit of AT&T), Automatic Electric Co. (later acquired by GTE), Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company, and Stromberg-Carlson.

The first tube shaft candlestick telephone was the Western Electric #20B Desk Phone patented in 1904.

In the 1920s and 1930s, telephone technology shifted to the design of more efficient desk top telephones that featured a handset with receiver and transmitter elements in one unit, make the use of a telephone more convenient. However, despite ceasing new production, many candlestick telephones remained in operation, maintained by the telephone companies, throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s.

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