{{Short description, Small writing desk for a telephone 1906 Commonwealth Ericsson wall telephone

The telephone desk is the smallest kind of fixed

desk A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture with a flat table (furniture), table-style work surface used in a school, office, home or the like for academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading (activity), reading, writing, or using ...

. Its traditional role is to provide a working surface barely large enough to write notes while speaking on the

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

, and in some cases to support the telephone or hold telephone books. In early generations of telephones the phone apparatus itself had a small desk built in. This was most common in wall mounted telephones of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The illustrations show front and side views of such an antique wall phone with a small slanted desk surface fitted with two ridges to keep paper and pencil from falling to the floor. The telephone desk has usually been a domestic piece of furniture. In an

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

a telephone would normally be placed on any form of desk, as close as possible to its users. Many 20th century telephone booths or call boxes had a tiny built-in desk surface for the convenience of customers. Vandalism and a higher concern for costs has led to the gradual elimination of these minuscule desk surfaces.

References

* Mr Chips 101 plans. Page 158: "wall telephone office".
Early office museum.

Desks Telephony equipment

See also

References