Type 138

This ugly steel-cased desk phone was imported in 1948 to make up a post-War shortage of magneto sets. It was made by the Federal Telephone & Radio Corp of New York and was their Model FTR804. It was used mainly on private lines. It was finished in matte black crackle-finish paint that seemed to look dirty the minute it was taken out of the box. The handset proved to be the weak point ; the phones are often found with a 300 series handset fitted.

This model is sometimes listed in catalogues of APO phones as Tele 804. This is incorrect. The 804 was a long-line phone of the plastic 800 series.The instruction issued to introduce this phone refers to them only as the FTR804A.

A simple modification to the cradle could convert them to wall phones. This only made them look uglier.

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