Life, 1923-06-21 · page 2 of 36
Life — June 21, 1923 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **not a political cartoon or satirical content**—it's a **Western Electric advertisement** (No. 4 in a series on "raw materials"). The large central illustration shows a candlestick telephone with labeled components and callouts identifying materials used in its manufacture: aluminum, nickel, silk, iron, copper, rubber, wool, lead, tin, platinum, and zinc. Small surrounding illustrations depict the natural sources of these materials (mining operations, forests, etc.). The advertisement's message emphasizes Western Electric's manufacturing expertise, claiming 54 years of experience in telephone production. The phrase "What's in your telephone?" frames this as an educational demonstration of industrial sourcing and precision manufacturing rather than satire or social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Weekly by Life Publishing ison Avenue, New York, N. eription, Five Dollars, June 2 1, 1923 _ Entered as Se the tter June 8, 1883, at the Post Office at New York. 1879. U.S.A ited in Bethlehem, Pa, 0 B. VANDIE, Advertising Director nad Jand and the British Possessions What’s in your telephone This picture, taken ‘‘behind the scenes”, gives some idea of the com- plexity of your telephone. In the 201 parts which make up this instrument ‘are materials brought from every cor- ner of the earth. To select these materials and refine them, to produce from them the finely- wrought coils and contacts and dia- phragms, to assemble the many parts into a smooth-working and long-lasting telephone—all this calls for a manu- facturing skill of high order. Western Electric telephones are the product of fifty-four years’ manufac- turing experience, Western Electric Since 1869 Makers of Electrical Equipment No. 4 of a series on raw materials, In covering on receiver and extension cords, Magnet struc- ~.| ture, Terminal and base plate, -] clamp and screws, Coil wind- ings, (As brass) receiver terminals, screws, handle. Receiver . case; diaphragm cap. Inlinen pa- per in trans- mitter but- ton. Carbon granules in transmitter button, Transmitter so for nickel plating button, transmitter parts. Used in mouthpiece composition. Contact metal for contact points in springs. In covering on cord, In contact springs and all brass parts. ‘One of the outside finish constituents, Usedin solder = with tin. comicbooks.com