I N S I D E   THE  AUTOMATIC  ELECTRIC  DIAL  P A Y  TELEPHONE  ...
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A  »SUPER KEY«  opens the coin door  AND  the telephone:  For the
COIN DOOR the key has to placed in full into its slot.  For opening
the TELEPHONE-LID, the key has to pushed in half until turnable.

REMARK:  The brown coil-cord connects the rotary dial in the lid.

The open lid shows the coin shoots and the TWO GONGS - the left
one is a  SPIRAL  with deep sound,  the right a common  BELL  with
high sound.  A QUARTER (25 ¢) hits the spiral.  A NICKEL (5 ¢) hits
the bell.  A DIME (10 ¢)  hits the bell twice.  Wrong coins come
back in the  RETURN SLOT ...

      

... The missing COIN-BOX is made of brass sheets soldered together.

From  Historical Remarks ...
===================================================================
William Gray received a patent on Aug.13, 1889 for a coin operated
device to work the telephone.  Later in 1905 Gray developed a pay
station with coin identification that the operator could hear:
Coins inserted in slots fell upon gongs and bells and the distinct
sounds were transmitted with  Elisha Gray's  "Harmonic Telegraph"
device.  If (e.g.) a Quarter Coin was dropped into a SilverDollar
Slot,  NO RESONANCE  was recognized by the operator.  Therefore
every pay station had the instruction:

      +-----------------------------------------------------+
      |   DO NOT DEPOSIT COINS UNTIL OPERATOR ASKS FOR IT   |
      +-----------------------------------------------------+

Gray founded  the GRAY TELEPHONE AND PAY STATION CO. in Hartford,
Connecticut which held a monopoly on the pay station well into the
20th century.  1948 the company was aquired by  AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC.

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© C.HAMANN       http://public.BHT-Berlin.de/hamann        11/11/09