Pictures of Automatic
Electric Telephones
The following are representative pictures
of Automatic Electric Telephones.
The Strowger company was formed in 1891,
founded by Almon
Strowger (inventor of the dial telephone and the Strowger Step by Step
telephone switching system). In 1901 the name was changed to Automatic
Electric. In 1957, General Telephone (later becoming GTE) purchased
Automatic Electric but kept the name. In 1989, AT&T and Automatic
Electric merged to form AGES. What was left of Automatic Electric is now
part of Lucent Technologies.
More complete versions of this list can be
found at Collectorville.com,
Vince's Cavalcade of
Phones, Ericofon.com
and Phoneco,
Inc.
Webmaster's Note: We do NOT own any of
these phones. We do NOT sell any of these phones. We find pictures on the Internet and show you what we find.
Please do NOT ask us where to purchase these phones (hint: try eBay!).
Automatic
Electric Model Number |
Years Made &
Notes |

1
or 11 |
1925 |

1A or 11A
|
1925 to 1938
1A - Uses an inductor 11A - Uses a unique receiver and does not have an inductor coil, requires external
subset |

2 or 12
|
1925 to 1933
2 - Uses an inductor
12 - Uses a inductive coil receiver unit and does not have an inductor coil |

3 or 13
|
1926 to 1934
Same wiring and setup as the 2
& 12
|
4, 14 or 17
|
1929 to 1930s.
4 - Common battery with inductor
14 - Common battery with inductive coil type receiver & no inductor
17 - Magneto operation
|

7 or 19
|
1930's
7 - Common battery
19 - Magneto operation - the inductors are different
|

8
|
1928
|



21
|
1920's - 1930's
|

34
|
1934-1938
|

35
|
1935-1937
|

40
|
1938-1956
|

43
|
1938-1950s
|

44
|
1938
|

47
|
1938
Three-Line phone
|

50
|
1938-1956
|


80
|
1954-1975
Very common deskphone, made to
compete with Western Electric model 500 phones.
Known colors: Black, White,
Seafoam, Blue, Red, Green, Pink, Yellow, Beige, Ivory, Gray
|



80E
|
1975-1986
Successor to the AE 80 series.
Both rotary and Touch Tone models were made.
|

83
|
1950's
|

88
|
Late 1950s
Speakerphone version of AE 80
series.
|

90
|
1956-1973
Very common wall phone companion
to AE 80 series.
Known colors: Black, Yellow,
Seafoam, Red, Beige, Ivory, Blue, Gray
|


182
|
1960 - ?
"Starlite" desk series
to compete with Western Electric "Princess" model
Made in both rotary and Touch Tone
models.
Known colors: Seafoam, Blue, Pink,
White, Beige, Black, Green, Blue, Aqua
|


183
|
1958-1983
"Spacemaker" series.
Successor to AE 83 series.
|


192
|
Late 1970s, early 1980s.
"Starlite" wall mount
series, replaced the AE 90 series. Both rotary and Touch Tone models
were made.
|

880
|
Late 1970s?
Speakerphone, replaced 88T series.
Both rotary and Touch Tone models were made.
Known colors: Black, Beige, Green,
Black, Ivory
|


980
|
Late 1970s to early 1980s?
"Styleline" series to
compete with Western Electric's "Trimline" series. Both
rotary and Touch Tone models were made.
|
|
|