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I was looking out for a WWI field
telephone when I visited the Somme in 2001 but the best I could
do was this German Telephone battery box which I bought at the
museum at Albert.
The museum sells artefacts but these
are getting scarcer and of poorer quality each year.
The inside lip of the lid is
inscribed "F.Mauthe
Gmbh, Schalmingen" or something
like this. If anyone can verify this wording or has any information
I would be interested to hear it.
Info received end of Feb 2025
from Graham Clayton:
The manufacturer you are
looking for is Friedrich Mauthe, Gmbh, Schwenningen. Friedrich
Mauthe started out as a supplier for watchmakers' tools. In 1860
he founded his own company, in 1876 his sons Christiaan and Jacob
joined the company. Established in 1886 a factory for clock springs,
and in 1899 founded the factory for clock cases. By 1900 there
were 1000 workers.
Here are some views:-
On the top of the lid there
were a couple of labels helping with its operation. The terminals
connected to the telephone lines laid between trenches
and the loudspeaker presumably
for morse reception connected to the complicated array of sockets
on the end. A second wooden box with the rest for the handset
connects to this one.
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