Design Line, also known as Deco-Tel, is a brand name that AT&T has used for several of its specialty telephone designs to fulfill the demand by customers for more variety in telephone models.
Pre-divestiture models
In the early 1970s, well before the Bell System divestiture, customers in increasing numbers chose to install and use telephones not manufactured by Western Electric, AT&T's wholly owned subsidiary. To fulfill the demand, the Bell System decided to offer a series of specialty telephones that could be purchased or leased. The series was called the Design Line telephones. The name did not refer to one particular telephone type; rather Design Line was the collective name given to all the specialty phones, including the Candlestick phone, Country Junction phone, Mickey Mouse phone and others. The phones were among the few that could be purchased in the early 1970s.
Western Electric broke tradition, by obtaining housings for some of the sets from other manufacturers or local contractors in Indianapolis. In all cases, Western Electric supplied the internal electrical components of the phones, such as ringer, receiver, transmitter, and induction coils. Early Design Line sets displayed this disclaimer: "The telephone housing is your property. To assure quality of service, all working parts, e.g., dial, cords, and electrical components remain the property and responsibility of the Bell Telephone Company."
As a consequence, Bell customers still had to pay a monthly lease fee in order to rent the phone's internal components, which remained the property and responsibility of the local Bell provider. Design Line phones are among the few lines of phones produced by Western Electric that were more renowned for looks than durability. Because the majority of the Design Line phone housings were not made by Western Electric, Bell System standards were less stringent for exterior housings than for the phone's internals.
Beginning in around 1980, the Bell System allowed customers to own the entire phone, including internal components. Sets were marked with "CS" to indicate the phone was entirely customer owned.
Some Design Line sets had the option of rotary or touch-tone dialing others were only available with one or the other. The Design Line telephones available from the Bell Telephone Company around 1980 include:
Antique Gold (French style cradlephone with ornate gold colored figures) (rotary only) Mediterranean (Spanish style cradlephone with wrought iron insignia and black/gold trim) (rotary only) Early American (Colonial style cradelphone with American Eagle insignia) (rotary only) Candlestick (resembles early telephones, available in black, ivory, stars and stripes and wood grained) (rotary only) Chestphone (telephone hidden in wooden chest available in carved simulated walnut with beige handset or black vinyl with walnut trim and a black handset) (rotary and touch-tone) Stowaway (telephone hidden in wooden box available in contemporary walnut with silver trim or Mediterranean styled oak with gold trim also a rolltop model was available) (rotary and touch-tone) Exeter (contemporary telephone available in brown or white with interchangeable face plates) (rotary and touch-tone) Sculptura (commonly referred to as the "doughnut" telephone due to its round shape, available in brown, white and yellow) (rotary and touch-tone) Telstar (futuristic telephone constructed of smoked acrylic and brushed chrome with a black base) (rotary and touch-tone) Noteworthy (wall telephone available with a chalk or cork board, featured Trimline handset, available in brown, rust orange, white and yellow) (rotary and touch-tone) Celebrity (elegant telephone designed for use in a bedroom, available in ivory with gold trim or light blue with silver trim) (originally rotary only, touch-tone made available later) Coquette (French style telephone with gold colored trim and a filigree brass plate that could be engraved for personalization) (rotary only) The Mickey Mouse Telephone (rotary and touch-tone) The Snoopy and Woodstock Telephone (rotary and touch-tone) The Winnie the-Pooh Telephone (rotary and touch-tone) Country Junction (resembles early oak wall telephones with antique nickel finished metal trim) (rotary only) The Americana Edition Wall Telephone (a modern reproduction of Western Electric's 1892 oak magneto wall set) (rotary only)
Other Design Line telephones available in the 1970s and early 1980s include: