Ericofon
Encyclopedia
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
Company and marketed throughout the second half of the 20th century. It was the first commercially marketed telephone design to incorporate the dial and handset into a single unit. Because of its styling, and influence on future telephone design, the Ericofon is considered one of the most significant industrial designs of the 20th century and is in the collection of Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
History
The Ericofon is a Swedish telephoneTelephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
handset created by Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
. It was designed in the late 1940s by a design team including Gösta Thames, Ralph Lysell and Hugo Blomberg. A specific feature of the telephone is that the two major components—the handset and the dial—are combined in a single unit. This one-piece design anticipated the evolution of the typical cordless phone and cell phone by several decades. The Ericofon is considered a landmark in plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
, and is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
. Serial production began in 1954. The earlier models were only sold to institutions, but in 1956 production for the open market begun in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
it is known as the cobra telephone, due to its similarity with the serpent.
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
would initially not allow the use of the Ericofon on the Bell System network in the USA.
Production of the Ericofon for the North American market took place at the North Electric facility in Galion, Ohio
Galion, Ohio
Settlers arrived in the area as early as 1817. The location was at the crossroads of a north-south road from Columbus to Portland , and the east-west route that later became the Lincoln Highway and subsequently the Harding Highway....
.
Design
The original phone was produced in two slightly different designs. The earliest version is slightly taller, with the earpiece at nearly a 90 degree angle to the base. A later version has a shorter handle, with the earpiece angled slightly downward. These are referred to as "new case" vs. "old case". The other difference is that the earlier case was molded in two pieces, while the later version was molded as a single piece. Both versions were initially produced in 18 colors. Ericofons were produced using the four-prong plug common in the USA at the time.A third version, the Model 700, was produced beginning in 1976 and is easily distinguished from earlier Ericofons by its squarish design, as well as changes to the handle and plug.
Colors
When it was introduced on the USA market, it was available in 18 different colors, but after subsequent transfer of the production to North Electric the number of colors was reduced to eight. A small number of clear and metallic finish phones were also produced for special promotions. The most popular and most produced colors were bright red and bright white. Other colors were various pastel shades of blue, green, and pink. The phone was never produced in black.Ericotone
Most of the Ericofons made had mechanical rotary dialRotary dial
The rotary dial is a device mounted on or in a telephone or switchboard that is designed to send electrical pulses, known as pulse dialing, corresponding to the number dialed. The early form of the rotary dial used lugs on a finger plate instead of holes. Almon Brown Strowger filed the first patent...
s, typical of all phones made in that era. While Ericofons produced by Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
used miniature buzzers as their ringers, North Electric introduced the electronic "Ericotone" ringer in its Ericofons. The Ericotone ringer used a simple, 1-transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
oscillator
Electronic oscillator
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave. They are widely used in innumerable electronic devices...
circuit to produce a distinctive "chirping" sound to serve as the phone's ringer. This was one of the earliest applications of a transistor in a telephone, as telephones with mechanical bell ringers and rotary dial
Rotary dial
The rotary dial is a device mounted on or in a telephone or switchboard that is designed to send electrical pulses, known as pulse dialing, corresponding to the number dialed. The early form of the rotary dial used lugs on a finger plate instead of holes. Almon Brown Strowger filed the first patent...
s did not need transistors.
Touch-tone
North Electric also introduced a touch-tone version of the Ericofon in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1967, but this variant was not produced in the numbers that the rotary dial
Rotary dial
The rotary dial is a device mounted on or in a telephone or switchboard that is designed to send electrical pulses, known as pulse dialing, corresponding to the number dialed. The early form of the rotary dial used lugs on a finger plate instead of holes. Almon Brown Strowger filed the first patent...
version was. The touch-tone version has also become rarer over time as a design flaw in the hookswitch mechanism can cause the phone to become unusable if it is set down too forcibly. North Electric ceased production of the Ericofon for North America in 1972.
Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
also introduced a push-button version of the Ericofon, the model 700, for the company's 100th anniversary in 1976. The model 700 had a squarer design but it was not touch-tone. Instead, its electronics generated electrical pulses as its buttons were pressed, simulating the pulses produced by a rotary dial. Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
also continued to produce rotary-dial Ericofons until about 1980.
Recent production
The design is produced today by Wild and Wolf. It is produced in red and metallic silver touch-tone versions and can be bought from internet stores. This version has touch tone buttons and plugs into a normal land line socket with a cord.Bluetooth version
An electrical engineer and designer "sqnewton" (link below) commercializes original Ericofons that connect via BluetoothBluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
to any cellular phone. The designer created a tiny, microcontroller
Microcontroller
A microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a typically small amount of RAM...
based board that resides inside the Ericofon and enables special features, such as providing dial tone
Dial tone
A dial tone is a telephony signal used to indicate that the telephone exchange is working, has recognized an off-hook, and is ready to accept a call. The tone stops when the first numeral is dialed...
, dialing numbers using its rotary dial
Rotary dial
The rotary dial is a device mounted on or in a telephone or switchboard that is designed to send electrical pulses, known as pulse dialing, corresponding to the number dialed. The early form of the rotary dial used lugs on a finger plate instead of holes. Almon Brown Strowger filed the first patent...
, providing busy tone when the current call drops, receiving calls, mimicking the original Ericotone ringer, redial
Redial
In telecommunication, an automatic redial is a service feature that allows the user to dial, by depressing a single key or a few keys, the most recent telephone number dialed at that instrument....
, speed dial
Speed dial
Speed dial is a function available on many telephone systems allowing the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys. This function is particularly useful for phone users who dial certain numbers on a regular basis....
, voice recognition dial, direct inward dialing
Direct Inward Dialing
Direct inward dialing , also called direct dial-in in Europe and Oceania, is a feature offered by telephone companies for use with their customers' private branch exchange systems...
using dtmf tones to reach and select phone menus, text message notifications and other features, making this type of phone unique.
In the media
The Ericofon has been featured in several feature films and TV shows, mostly from the 60s and the 70s.- In the movie The World of Henry OrientThe World of Henry OrientThe World of Henry Orient is a 1964 American comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Nora Johnson. It was directed by George Roy Hill and stars Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tippy Walker, Merrie Spaeth, Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald, and Tom Bosley.Filming started in...
(1964), Peter SellersPeter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
uses an Ericofon in his bedroom. - An Ericofon is featured in the opening scene in In Like FlintIn Like FlintIn Like Flint is a 1967 film directed by Gordon Douglas, the sequel to the parody spy film Our Man Flint . It posits an international feminist conspiracy to depose the ruling American patriarchy with a feminist matriarchy. To achieve and establish it, they kidnap and replace the U.S. President,...
(1967). - In the movie Two For The Road (1967) shooting star architect Mark Wallace (Albert FinneyAlbert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
) receives a long distance call at a housewarming party on an Ericofon. - In the 1967 film Casino RoyaleCasino Royale (1967 film)Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
, Le Chiffre (Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
) receives a phone call from SMERSHSMERSHSMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
on an Ericofon. - An Ericofon can be seen on a table in a scene of the 1973 film Theatre of BloodTheatre of BloodTheatre of Blood is a horror film starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina Lionheart. The cast includes such distinguished actors as Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Joan Hickson, Robert...
. - Many Ericofons are used in the French adult comedy Young Casanova (1974).
- A yellow Ericofon is placed on a table in the living room in the 1980 movie Sunday LoversSunday LoversSunday Lovers is a 1980 internationally co-produced romantic comedy film directed by Bryan Forbes, Gene Wilder, Dino Risi and Edouard Molinaro. It starred Roger Moore, Gene Wilder, Priscilla Barnes, Lynn Redgrave, Denholm Elliott and Kathleen Quinlan...
(segment "Armando's Notebook"). - Dominique LavanantDominique LavanantDominique Lavanant in Morlaix, Finistère, is a César Award-winning French film and theatrical actress, famous for her comedy skills especially with posh and distinguished characters, like Rosalind Russell's; characters often defined by the adjective BCBG , bon chic bon genre, and which refers to a...
uses a red Ericofon in La boumLa boumLa boum is a 1980 French language motion picture comedy directed by Claude Pinoteau, and starring Claude Brasseur, Brigitte Fossey, and Sophie Marceau appearing in her film début. The movie was an international box-office hit. The music was written by Vladimir Cosma, with Richard Sanderson singing...
, a 1980 French movie starring Sophie MarceauSophie MarceauSophie Marceau is a French actress director, screenwriter, and author. She has appeared in 38 films. As a teenager, Marceau achieved popularity with her debut films La boum and La boum 2 , receiving a César Award for Most Promising Actress...
. - The character of Myra Gale Brown (played by Winona RyderWinona RyderWinona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
) uses an Ericofon in a few scenes of Great Balls Of Fire!Great Balls of Fire! (film)Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...
(1989). - The Ericofon was also featured in the 1997 movie Men In BlackMen in Black (film)Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film was based on the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature effects...
, where it was the deskphone for each workstation in the Headquarters. - A character in the 1999 film But I'm A CheerleaderBut I'm a CheerleaderBut I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 satirical romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, an apparently happy heterosexual high school cheerleader...
is seen using a green Ericofon. - In the French TV movie L'affaire Ben BarkaMehdi Ben BarkaMehdi Ben Barka was a Moroccan politician, head of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces and secretary of the Tricontinental Conference...
(2007), a white Ericofon is used in an office of the Paris-Orly Airport. The action takes place in 1965.
- An Ericofon appears prominently in The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
episode "Third from the SunThird from the Sun"Third from the Sun" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It is based on a short story of the same name by Richard Matheson.-Synopsis:...
," first broadcast January 8, 1960. - The Ericofon appears briefly in the headquarters of the enemy in the first episode ("Eleven Days to Zero") of the TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
(1964). - In the 1969-1972 television series, The Courtship of Eddie's FatherThe Courtship of Eddie's FatherThe Courtship of Eddie's Father is an American television sitcom based on the 1963 movie of the same name, which was based on the book written by Mark Toby...
, the Corbett household featured an Ericofon. - In "Live Bait", the eighteenth episode of the third season of Mission: ImpossibleMission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, the phone is shown many times as the desk phone of Helmut Kellermann (Anthony ZerbeAnthony ZerbeAnthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...
), the episode's main antagonist. In the preceding episode, "Doomsday", Jim Phelps (Peter GravesPeter GravesPeter Graves may refer to:* Peter Graves , American actor* Peter Graves, 8th Baron Graves , English actor and peer* Peter Graves , English cricketer...
) uses a white Ericofon. - A red Ericofon is used in a top-security U.S. tracking station in the 1972 episode "The Ninety-Second War: Part II" of the TV series Hawaii Five-OHawaii Five-OHawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
. - The character Teddy Forzman in the TV show The Adventures Of Pete & PeteThe Adventures of Pete & PeteThe Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...
(1993-96) uses an Ericofon in the third-season episode "The Trouble With Teddy." - A modified Ericofon appeared as a prop alien telephone in the first-season episode "I, E.T.I, E.T."I, E.T." is the second episode from the first season of the television series Farscape, written by Sally Lapiduss and directed by Pino Amenta...
" of the TV series FarscapeFarscapeFarscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series filmed in Australia and produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment...
(1999-2003).
See also
- TrimphoneTrimphoneThe Trimphone is a model of telephone designed in the 1960s in the UK. It was positioned as a more fashionable alternative to the standard telephones available from the GPO, the predecessor to British Telecom...
- another telephone from a similar era - TrimlineTrimline telephoneThe Western Electric Trimline telephone is a variety of telephone set designed by Donald Genaro of Henry Dreyfuss Associates for the Bell System . It was built by the Bell System's manufacturing arm, Western Electric. The idea behind the Trimline telephone was to create an alternative telephone...
- AT&TAT&TAT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's answer to the Ericofon, the TrimlineTrimline telephoneThe Western Electric Trimline telephone is a variety of telephone set designed by Donald Genaro of Henry Dreyfuss Associates for the Bell System . It was built by the Bell System's manufacturing arm, Western Electric. The idea behind the Trimline telephone was to create an alternative telephone...
phone incorporated a dial into the handset, but still had a separate cradle containing the ringer. - GrilloGrillo telephoneThe Grillo telephone was designed in 1965 by Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper. The telephone was manufactured in Italy by Società Italiana Telecomunicazioni Siemens...
- Another innovate telephone, from Italy. Its design anticipated the cellular "flip-phone."
External links
- http://www.ericofon.com/
- Ericofon at the Museum of Modern Art
- http://www.sqnewton.com/