Design Line telephone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Design Line is a brand that AT&T has used on several of its telephones.

[edit] Pre-Divestiture Design Line

The Bell System began to offer specialty telephones that could be purchased or leased, called the Design Line series. The Design Line name did not refer to one particular telephone; Design Line was the collective name given to all of the specialty phones, such as the Candlestick phone, Country Junction phone, Mickey Mouse phone, etc. The phones were one of the few that could be purchased, and one of the few in which Western Electric did not produce the housings, with the exception of the Telstar and Celebrity, both made entirely by WE. Western Electric did supply the "guts" of the phones (ringer, receiver, etc.) and placed this disclaimer on all Design Line phones:

"The telephone housing is your property. To assure quality of service, all working parts, e.g., dial, cords, and electrical components remain the property and responsibility of the Bell Telephone Company." - Western Electric

Design Line phones are one of the few lines of phones produced by Western Electric that were more renowned for their looks than durability. Because the majority of the Design Line phone housings were not made by Western Electric, quality control standards were not the same on housings as they were on the "guts".

The arrangement in which Western Electric components were installed into Japanese-made housings ended around the time of divestiture. Character phones, such as the Mickey Mouse phone, were made in China using the Trimline handset, rather than just the receiver with dial in the base. These phones were still sold as a part of the Design Line series.

[edit] Post-Divestiture Design Line

In 1985, AT&T Technologies redesigned its consumer telephone products to be cheaper to build and be more competitive in the marketplace by adding electronic ringers and redial. In 1986, they moved telephone production out of the United States. After this time several new Design Line series telephones were marketed and discontinued. One example of a "Design Line" phone was model 140, marketed in the mid 90s. The phone was similar in size to the 2554 wall phone, but had unique features:

• Round Buttons
• Round Receiver/microphone
• Switchhook similar in shape to a slice of pie
• Desk or Wall use

The phone also required a base-to-handset cord which had a large portion non-coiled, as the plug to the base was located on the bottom of the phone, instead of facing out on the side.

In 2000, Lucent Technologies spun off its consumer telephone division, resulting in the Design Line being redesigned. The basic design was retained, except that the handset was "squared" more, and an "AT&T" badge was placed on the outside of the handset. The phone also replaced the Traditional 100 series (the 2500 and 2554 telephones) for consumer use, as Lucent kept the phones because of their high demand for business use after spinning off its consumer division.

Western Electric telephone models
Basic models: Magneto | Candlestick | 102 | 202 | 302 | 500 Special models: 5302 | Trimline | Princess | Design Line
See also: Bell System | GTE | Stromberg Carlson | ITT | Henry Dreyfuss