This piece was added to our collection during a vacation to Ontario in 2023. While it’s always a surprise to find something with New Brunswick branding elsewhere in Canada we did purchase this from a fellow collector. The phone was missing the internal parts for the transmitter, but I had a different Kellogg candlestick that I was able to use parts from to make a complete device.
Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company was based in Chicago and sold to independent telephone companies. These independent companies would often have their branding engraved on the phone. We can see here that this phone was branded for the New Brunswick Telephone Company L’T’D. I took particular note of the excessive use of apostrophes in the contraction for Limited – now we just shorten it to LTD. The red transmitter cup is not something I would normally expect to see – I suspect it was added at a later date.
This type of set would require a subset. In New Brunswick these would have been local battery subsets pretty much everywhere, with the exception of Saint John and Saint Andrews, where common battery was installed early on. I acquired a subset to pair with this telephone but haven’t taken the time to wire it up yet.
This is a fairly standard subset with a ringer, magneto, and induction coil. Kellogg marketed this as their standard subset for a very long time. It could be configured with a ringer for four-party lines when required.
This subset could be configured for common battery or local battery – there is even a wiring diagram showing the connections required.
You can find this phone and subset in the Kellogg Catalogue #91 – it is listed as the F9 when sold with the candlestick and subset together. The telephone has a catalogue number of T-041. The subset has not been catalogued.
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