The following is a post from April which I’m bumping up to the front page. Previously, I had just cut and pasted a reader’s question. Now that there are answers (see comments), I must get the word out. Apparently, there are some lost souls wandering the earth in search of Victorian speaking tube parts. They won’t rest until they get their hands on them.
A reader sent the following email. I haven’t got a clue. Anyone?
“My wife and I have a Victorian house that was built in 1895 and for the past two years we’ve been in the process of rehabbing it. During the course of demo in the kitchen we found the remnants of the old speaking tube system that ran from the kitchen up to the 2nd floor hall. The tubes were intact but the mouthpiece openings had been patched over and the mouthpieces were nowhere to be found.
I have looked far and wide trying to locate some replacement mouthpieces and have come up empty-handed. We were wondering if you know of any companies and/or salvage yards that might possess parts for our system? Your help would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve included a pic of what I believe was originally installed in my house. The mouth piece has no electric parts. It operates by means of using the thumb to rotate the lever (in order to move the disc out of the way) and then blowing into the tube. The other end also has a disc that acts as a whistle to alert the person on the other end that someone wishes to speak on the “intercom”. I think that the mouthpieces were made out of nickel-plated brass and/or porcelain.”
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Very cool! Hmmm. Has he tried to contact some of the antique telephone collector organizations? I bet they would totally know where to source it from. Here’s one group (there are several)…
http://atcaonline.com/
Comment by renovation therapy — April 10, 2008 @ 7:44 am
Wow. This is the first time in our search for information about the elusive speaking tubes that any internet searches have revealed anything close to what we were looking for. We purchased a home in Ohio built 1901. We too have the speaking tube system depicted in the print ad attached to your inquiry. However, we have an actual speaking tube - pictured in the ad. It’s exactly like the one pictured and we think its made of nickel plated tin. It is in perfect working condition, however, we have only one and are therefore on the search ourselves for a mate. We are looking into having someone make one for us. Let us know if you are interested and if we find someone to make it, we’ll let you know. If you happen to find a source, please let me know as well.
Thanks,
JMOster
Comment by Jody Oster — April 22, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
I am looking for 2 tube2 also. I called House of Antique Hardware and they suggested two sites but no luck so far. I wonder if someone could build them. The original equipment is still in our walls (the house was built in 1913) but when my parents did some re-modeling the tubes got lost. I am restoring some of the original push button switches and and want to put the tubes back in place also. So please let me know of any sources.
Thanks,
nmichaud
Comment by nadja michaud — April 24, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
Did you see this?
Comment by RH — April 24, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
Glad to see others like us! We have a 1904 Victorian in Oklahoma and there is a speaking tube from the kitchen to the master bedroom. We also need some more of the mouthpiece units. Ours is exactly like the one in the ad. Please let us know if you find anyone who has them or can reproduce them! Thanks again, Kive
Comment by Kive Kerr — April 27, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
So, it looks like others are looking for the mouth pieces. I will be meeting with a jewelry maker to see if she can reproduce the original for a reasonable sum. If you need to replace a section of the lockseam tube, we found that shower curtain rod fits perfectly if you bell out the end a bit. It’s cheap too. Good luck. Will let you know on the reproduction possibility.
Comment by Jody Oster — May 5, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Thanks, Jody. Please do let us know how it goes!
Comment by RH — May 6, 2008 @ 7:18 am
Met with the jeweler today and she is interested in giving it a go. The easiest/cheapest way to make reproductions is out of brass sheet and/or standard brass tubing and we will need to find the whistle mechanism (as opposed to making it). There is a lot of hand work involved, soldering etc. The lever and spring should be available or easily fabricated. I think the whistle mechanism is similar to what is on the whistling tea kettles and perhaps this is available in bulk but i don’t know for sure. I plan on taking the prototype/original and making some exploded,detailed prints but this could be expensive and the original is tin, I think nickel plated. The original is also lockseamed, meaning it was made out of flat stock, soldered lengthwise as opposed to standard tubing. I am told that nobody makes stuff out of tin anymore and there is a place here in Ohio that will nickel plate brass. If I could reproduce the original out of brass or nickel plated brass, what do you folks think is a fair price? Modern tube vs. soldered flat stock??? I’m thinking that I will have one made either way but it would get increasingly cheaper as the number goes up. Should we bring back the speaking tube? Give me some feedback.
Comment by Jody Oster — May 9, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
Yes. More and more people are restoring old homes. I just ordered some old-fashioned push-button light switches and the matching wall plates, so speaking tubes comes next. I would be interested in buying two tubes. Someone suggested to me that ship suppliers might have these also. Apparently they were used on ships before telephones and electronics. Let us know when and if you get some prides. I am in Indianapolis.
Comment by nadja michaud — May 13, 2008 @ 5:47 pm
I would be interested in 4 to 6 of the tubes at least. Please let me know and we’ll go from there. Thanks, Kive
Comment by kive kerr — May 18, 2008 @ 8:34 pm