In 1878, the carbon microphone was invented by David Edward Hughes.  Hughes's microphone was the early model for the various carbon microphones now in use. It relies on the property that the resistance of a carbon rod will vary as it is vibrated by sound.

This apparatus was manufactured to be used for physics experiments in schools and universities.

The Blake transmitter was the first successful telephone transmitter (microphone). It was invented by Francis Blake in 1878 and used a carbon and platinum resistance element.  It was later improved by Berliner and remained the standard for many years.

Ericsson "Eiffel Tower" Telephone
ca. 1892

SIT "Trefle" Telephone
ca. 1890's

Nickel plated, tapered shaft, aka "oil can" desk set. This rare set is known as the oil can because of the way it looks upside down. It is equipped with the ornate, well marked faceplate and the very hard to find "brass bottomed" receiver.  Tapered shaft upright desk sets were the second form of "shaped" candlesticks.

Non-dial Candlestick
Stromberg Carlson
1908

This upright desk telephone was Stromberg Carlson's first straight shaft candlestick telephone.

Chicago Genuine Straight Shaft Non-Dial Oil-Can Candlestick
Chicago Telephone Supply Company
1915

Gray Telephone Pay Station
ca. 1911

Model 102 Round Base
Western Electric
1924

The Western Electric model 102 was the bell system's first handset telephone. This desk set is equipped with the early seamless "spit-cup" E1 handset.

Model 202 Oval base
Western Electric
1930

The Western Electric model 202 was the bell system's second handset telephone. This desk set is equipped with the early seamless "spit-cup" E1 handset.

 Potbelly upright desk sets were the first form of candlesticks.

 This is the first dial telephone. The inventor, Almon Strowger, was an undertaker in Kansas City in the late 1800’s. The wife of his only competitor worked the switchboard at the local telephone exchange. Whenever a caller asked to be put through to Strowger, she would instead deliberately put the call through to her husband, his competitor.  After spending years complaining to his local telephone company, Strowger found a way to solve this problem by developing the first automated telephone switch out of electromagnets and hat pins. Strowger filed his patent application on March 12, 1889, and it was issued on March 10,1891 as patent No. 447,918.  Strowger formed his company 'Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange' in October 1891. On November 3, 1892, the first Strowger exchange was opened for public service in LaPorte, IN,  with about seventy-five subscribers.

 When his system made its debut, Almon Strowger bragged that his exchanges were "girl-less, cuss-less, out-of-order-less, and wait-less."¹

Straight-Shaft Dial Candlestick
Automatic Electric
1921

The first rotary dial upright desk set used by the independent telephone companies.

Transcontinental Call Telephone
1915

The plaque on the telephone reads: “This instrument used by Maj. Henry L. Higginson at Boston, Mass. To open the Transcontinental telephone line with Thomas A. Watson at San Francisco, Cal. Monday evening January 25, 1915. Transmitter cutout & signal buttons added”

      Higginson, a civil war hero and founder of the Boston Symphony, had long been a financial backer of American Bell (which became American Telephone and Telegraph in 1900) by way of his connection with the financial house of Lee, Higginson & Co.
      AT&T staged several calling ceremonies in 1915. The first call was initiated by Thomas Watson, Alexander Graham Bell's former assistant,  at the opening of the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.  Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and co-founder of AT&T, led a group of dignitaries in New York.  AT&T President Theodore Vail spoke from Jekyll Island, Ga. And U.S. President Woodrow Wilson spoke from the White House.
     At one point during the call, someone asked Professor Bell if he would repeat the first words he ever said over the telephone. He obliged, picking up the phone and repeating “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.” To which Watson, in San Francisco, replied, “It would take me a week now.”

The transcontinental telephone line linked the Atlantic seaboard with the West Coast (and is often referred to as the New York-San Francisco line). This was the first line to use DeForest's audion--an early vacuum tube. Thus, it is often regarded as a key event in the history of modern electronics.

Unidentified French Desk Telephone
ca. 1910

Societe Industrielle des Telephones desk telephone
(French)
ca. 1919

SIT Grammont Desk Telephone
(French)
ca. 1910

Thompson Houston Desk Telephone
(French)
ca. 1910

Model 302
Northern Electric Mfg. Co.
1945

Round Base Rotary Dial Monophone
Automated Electric
1934

This model, dubbed the "Shirley Temple" phone by collectors, is the first handset telephone used by the independent telephone companies.

Stromberg Carlson 2-line Magneto Telephone
With "Adjustaphone" scissor attachment made by
Chicago Writing Machine Co,
1903