160
North Electric Co (1969)
(lemmy.nz)
Oh, they are phones... Scrolling fast can be confusing.
Modern phones for a modern woman.
It's a shame they don't come with vibrate mode.
They do when someone calls you. Until the 1980s, telephones commonly used an actual bell with a mechanical clapper.
Brrrrring!
You know at least one woman told her lover to call at a certain time and “let it ring until I answer.”
l thought they were bad dragons for a moment
A Bell Dragon
Ma Dragon
One of the larger ones
"Yell louder dear I'm almost there!"
yup
Those holes at the tip seem really hard to clean. Or maybe those are waterjets? Jokes aside, yes toys probably werent that common back then but it still looks pretty phallic shaped and I cant believe the designers didnt do this on purpose.
I mean... it has a flared base.
I'm almost guaranteeing these are marketed toward women, so yes, that was probably a source of great amusement for the designers.
it was acceptable in the 60s
I thought this was interesting, from Wikipedia:
As the Bell System did not permit the operation of third-party equipment on their network, the Ericofon could only be used by independent telephone companies in the United States. North Electric in Galion, Ohio, manufactured the Ericofon for the North American independent market.
Also known as the “cobra phone”
“The Dial in the Base ‘Comes to You!’”
Why?
A normal phone was split in two and the dial was on the main unit while the handset was cord attached and «with you», not on the desk
Right. But would you want to keep the dial with you? After you’ve started the call on a rotary phone, there’s no more dialing necessary
Perhaps you move the phone to the coffee table before you get comfy on the sofa, or you want to hang up and make a second call.
The world of tomorrow; truly, the future can only go up, from here.
Lemme tell you about the wonders of being reachable literally everywhere you go
And if you needed to dial while on the phone, then you would probably prefer it to be separate so you can see what you are dialing while still talking. I guess it means you wouldn't have to keep the base in an easily usable spot though.
At the time these were designed, dialing while on the phone, say to interface with a computer system, didn't exist.
because it's cooler that way
Looks interesting, but it's probably not comfortable to use
It was fine. Grew up with one in the 80's
I'm not sure. I'd prefer if the top part was thinner and more anatomic.
i guess
Flared base. Approved.
Read the grey as Persian orgy. Should go back to sleep
happens to the best of us
An old boss of mine collected them, and used one as part of his desk set. Apparently they were notoriously poorly made, and broke all the time even when new. You ended the call by setting it back down on your desk or table, which depressed a button.
damn
We had the Taj Mahal
is this still available?
On ebay for ~$100
dunno
Delightfully phallic
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2026
160 points (98.8% liked)
Vintage and Retro Ads, Promos, Fliers, Etc.
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