OLD
TELEPHONES, by Andrew Emmerson.
Shire
Publications, 2000: ISBN 0-85263-781-0. 52 pages,
50 b/w photos, paperback, £2.95.
Andrew
Emmerson's handy book Old Telephones has been
reprinted by Shire Publications and now comes in
a stiff, laminated cover. There are some minor
updates to the contacts list but otherwise the
text and pictures are unchanged. This is still
the cheapest introduction to the hobby and can be
ordered through any bookshop for £2.95 (it's
also available on the Web from amazon.co.uk).
THE INVENTOR
OF STEREO: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ALAN DOWER
BLUMLEIN, by Robert Charles Alexander.
Focal
Press, 1999: ISBN 0-240-51577-3. 640 pages, 80
b/w photos, hardback, £29.99.
For
many, many years the world has waited for a
proper biography of Blumlein and at last it has
appeared. It is not, however, the book that many
people may recall was announced some years back
by a charlatan who succeeded in 'borrowing'
valuable materials from the Blumlein family and
others-and then never published anything. These
materials he took to the grave, depriving other
biographers of making use of them.
Never
mind. This all-new book by Robert Alexander is an
admirable substitute and almost certainly a far
superior product. In these 640 pages I can see
nothing that has been omitted and we have the
full story of Blumlein's employment on telephony
at STC and his work on audio, television and
radar matters. His work at EMI on high-definition
television is particularly well documented, with
details of all the patents he secured. One or two
readers have pointed out some minor slips but the
comprehensive treatment makes up for this.
The
book is superbly illustrated with diagrams and
photographs and readers seeking further
information can find this on a special website
(www.gedas.co.uk/blumlein) on which documents too
long to include in the book have been stored.
AE
SWITCHING
SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, edited by Fraidoon
Mazda.
Published
by Focal Press, 1996, UK price £15.99. ISBN
0-240-51456-4, 290 pages, paperback.
If you
have a cherished copy of Atkinson's Telephony and
long for a modern book that could explain today's
telephone technology in similar detail, you will
probably have a long wait. Books that explain
clearly how the telephone network functions have
never been thick on the ground, probably on
account of the vast time it takes to document
such a broad and detailed subject in a way that
is both adequate and also accessible to the
average reader.
All
the same there is now a book that comes close to
this ideal and the one I recommend is this one,
edited by Fraidoon Mazda , a technical manager at
Northern Telecom and author of eight textbooks.
Mazda has assembled a team of fourteen
contributors from leading manufacturers and
operators such as Nortel, Ericsson, Rockwell and
BT to produce a slim paperback that is a model of
clarity. In just under 300 pages his team cover
subjects that most people would wish to know.
Basic principles are given for switching and
signalling systems, before launching into
descriptions of the workings of telephones,
public exchanges, PABXs, centrex, call
management, voice processing and electronic data
interchange.
The
book was published four years ago, which may
explain apparently dated references to Mercury
Communications and TXE4 exchanges; in any case
this extra helping of history is no detraction
for us. Surprisingly, though, there is no mention
of System X, Britain's most widely deployed
switch, although System 12 (which BT rejected) is
covered extensively. Fortunately the principles
used by all modern switch are broadly similar (it
is obviously impossible to include in-depth
details of every type of exchange) and the book
is an economical means of picking up some
valuable technical knowledge. A good book and
good value in this day and age. Finally, if you
attended the last THG meeting at the Science
Museum in London and the name Mazda looks
familiar, yes, there is a connection-Fraidoon is
father to 'our' Xerxes.
AE
The BRITISH
TELEPHONE IDENTIFIER by Rob Grant is a
word-processor and photocopier-produced book,
presented in a smart plastic binder. It contains
approaching 150 pages of illustrations and
detailed notes on just about every telephone used
in this country since the turn of the century
right into the 1980s. The production is almost as
thick as a telephone directory and is
indispensable for the serious collector. Price
£10 post-paid from Rob Grant, Dudley House, 42
Portland Road, Leicester, LE2 3AB; cheques and
postal orders payable to R. Grant.
Two
other very useful books are: PHONE
BOXES by Neil Johannessen and PHONE
CARDS by Yves Arden. Brief but
comprehensive and well illustrated paperbacks in
the Shire Albums series, modestly priced at
£2.25. Shire Publications, Cromwell House,
Church Street, Princes Risborough, Bucks., HP17
9AJ.
VINTAGE
TELEPHONES OF THE WORLD by Peter Povey and
Reg Earl. Originally
published in 1988, the book was long out of print
but it is now republished. An excellent book and
a 'veritable bible of telephony'. Hardback, 200
pages, 263 illustrations. Available again at a
price far below the cost of the first edition -
£20 plus £1.50 post and packing. Telephone
Lines Ltd, 304 High Street, Cheltenham, GL50 3JF.
Telephone (01242) 583699, fax (01242) 690033.
OLD TIME
TELEPHONES! TECHNOLOGY, RESTORATION AND REPAIR
by Ralph O. Meyer. Published by
Tab Books (division of McGraw-Hill) at £16.95.
ISBN 0-07-041818-7. Paperback, 290 pages, many
illustrations and diagrams.
You'll
probably have to order this book through W.H.
Smith or a good bookseller but I promise you it's
a good book. It's not often that I find nothing
but praise for a book but this one is hard to
beat. The title says it all and the book covers
both classic and current telephones, providing
schematics and hard-to-find technical data.
Oh
yes, it is an American book so it covers American
telephones rather than British ones but the
information is totally valid to British readers.
Many pages describe magneto wall phones and
candlestick instruments which are identical or
virtually identical to those used over here. Even
the American 200 type and 500 type phones are
conceptually identical to our 200 and 700 types.
Coverage is from 1878 to the Princess phone era
(late 1960s/early 1970s), and minor manufacturers
such as Kellogg and Stromberg Carlson are not
ignored.
The
photos have been taken specially for the book and
are nice and clear. There are plenty of
interesting and unusual phones, such as the
ten-button touch-tone phones (from the time when
the * or # buttons were not provided) as well as
bellsets arranged for harmonic ringing.
Circuit
diagrams are provided and the author has gone to
great lengths to explain inductor, booster and
anti-sidetone circuits. Basic telephone
technology and audio theory are not ignored
either. The briefest section is on restoration
techniques but the rest of the text more than
makes up for this.
This
book is a treasure, yet it's not expensive. If
you call yourself a telephone collector you'll
regret not having a copy.
OUT OF PRINT
BOOKS
Older
textbooks on telephony and telegraphy are a
valuable source of circuit diagrams and
information in general. Two books both called
TELEPHONY and published by Pitman are worth
having. Both books are in two volumes; the
pre-war edition was by Herbert and Procter,
whereas the post-war revision was by Atkinson.
Poole's TELEPHONE HANDBOOK (also published by
Pitman) is also useful. The standard work on
telegraphy is Herbert's TELEGRAPHY (Pitman).
