Memories (2): Strawberry wood

An old Swiss army phone, model 1932, integrated in a wooden box with a total weight of 9.5 kg ! For size comparison a modern home phone to the right, 110 grams. I found it a few years ago on a flea market and in that specific case I couldn’t resist.

Well, I am a bit too young to have used that model, but the succeeding model (year 1947) was still in use until 1998 (!) and I made my experiences with it in the eighties. Except a few minor changes, the model was still the same:
- 2x1.5 V batteries in the middle. What looks like a cork is indeed a cork. The zinc carbon batteries were stored dried and then activated by adding some water (and then re-closed with the cork)
- The two telephone cable attached to the left (La, Lb)
- Phone crank to the right
 
Two of my memories:
- The official manual had a short checklist how to control the correct functioning of the phone.  One of the points was to shake the packed phone and to listen if no parts were flying around ...
- One of my best friends left an instructor speechless, when he was asked which sort of wood was used for the phone case: “strawberry wood, glued crosswise !”   :-)