US2283098A - Hand telephone - Google Patents

Description

May 12, 1942. I o. A. SHANNYI 2,283,098

HAND TELEPHONE Filed June 2 1959 Z97 u a g ro LINE L I v v I 2 l TO OTHERZ'UB-SET 50m:

INVENTOR 0.14. SHA/VN By Mum a. M

Arron/Ev Pa earedtlsiy 12.1942

' ii AND TELEPHONE v Oscar A. Shaun, Bayside, N. Y., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories,

York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 20, 1939, Serial No. 280,045

1 Claim. (Cl. 179-103) This invention relates to telephone apparatus and more particularly to hand telephones having a plurality of telephone instruments, such as a receiver and a transmitter, mounted upon a common handle.

In some cases, a plurality of telephone sets may be mounted in proximity in a room, or upon a single table, desk or the like and difliculty may be experienced by the subscriber or attendant in discerning which of the sets is being called at any particular time because the several sets may have ringers of the same tone, or differences in the tone of several ringers may notbe clearly apparent. In-other cases, for errample in a sick room, the loud ringing tone of the usual ringer may be undesirable.

One object of this invention is to produce a visual signal at a telephone set being called, the

signal being clearly visible from substantially The lamp may be connected to the ringing cir-- cult of the telephone set and utilized either as the sole calling signal or as a signal auxiliary to the ringer, When the lamp is energized, the entire handset handle, or the major portion thereof, glows and there is thus produced a clear signal visible at a distance and from all directions.

The foregoing and other features of this invention will be understood more clearly and fully from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a side view mainly in section of a hand telephone illustrative of one embodiment of this invention; and

Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram showing one manner of energizing the signal lamp.

Referring now to the drawing, the hand telephone shown in Fig. 1 comprises a handle ID of transparent or translucent materiaLsuch as polymerized methyl methacrylate suitably plasticized, having recesses at its end for accommodating a receiver H and a transmitter l2, which may be of standard construction. The receiver and transmitter are held in positionby caps l3 threaded to the handle. The handle may have embedded therein a pair of conductors l4 and is As shown clearlyin Fig. 1, the handle it is provided also with an elongated recess or bore Incorporated, New

l5 whichextends inwardly to or beyond the center of the handle. Mounted within the recess or bore l5 at the inner-end thereof is a signal lamp l6, which is insertable and removable through the recess or bore l5 and may be held in place by a translucent or transparent plug l1 fitted in the bore or recess. The signal lamp may comprise an enclosing vessel having therein an ionizable atmosphere and a pair of substantially hemispherical glow electrodes l8 connected to respective leading-in conductors l9. Although the signal lamp l6 shown is of the glow type, it will be understood, of course, that other types of lamps, for example filamentary, may be employed.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the receiver II and transmitter |2 are connected to three of the conductors-of the cord 30 and may be connected to the line terminals 20 and 2| in ways known in the art. One of the conductors I9 is connected to the conductor I l common to the transmitter and receiver and through one of the cord conductors 30 and a winding of the induction coil 22 to the line terminal 2|. The other conductor I9 is connected to the other line terminal 20 through one of the cord conductors 30 and a contact switch 23. The contact switch 23 may be the usual ringer controlling contact in the mounting of a telephone set, such as shown in Patent 2,096,046, granted October 19, 1937, to John J. Kuhn and George R. Lum, or an auxiliary contact. In either case, the contact switch is associated with the plunger of the mounting so that it opens when the hand telephone is removed from the mounting and closes when the hand telephone is placed on the mounting.

A ringer 24, having a condenser 25 in series therewith, is bridged across the terminals 20 and 2| as shown.

When a ringing current is supplied to the terminals 20 and 2| over the"telephone line, the ringer 24 will be actuated to produce an audible signal. Simultaneously, the lamp l6 will be energized and, inasmuch as the handle I0 is of transparent or translucent material, a clear visual signal visible from all angles and at a distance will be produced. The subscriber or attendant, then, may readily discern that the telephone set at which the handset is located, is being called and can easily distinguish this set from others which may be on the same table or desk as or in the vicinity of the set being called. When the handset at the telephone called is removed from the mounting, the contact switch I is opened and the energizing circuit likewise -is opened so that the lamp is extinguished.

It will be understood, of course, that the ringer 24 may be omitted from the set and the lamp l6 utilized as the sole signal to indicate that the telephone set is being called.. It-- will be understood also that various modifications may be spirit of this invention as defined in the ap pended claim. I

what is claimed is:

Telephone apparatus comprising a hand telephone including a handle of translucent matemade in the specific embodiment shown and described without departing from the scope and rial, said handle having therein an elongated bore extending from one end to the central portion thereof, the outer end of said bore being cord-extending into said handle through said:

open end of said bore and having its conductors connected to said lamp and said instruments.

OSCAR A. SHANN.

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