Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company 1911 - 1932

occupation:
Manufacturer
Nationality:
British
born in:
Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom

The Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company (ATM) was a telephone exchange manufacturer established in Liverpool in 1911 by British Insulated Cables. The company was established to manufacture the Strowger telephone exchange system under licence from the Automatic Electric Company of Chicago to serve the Post Office. They were the first maker of automatic exchanges in the UK, setting up the first experimental public automatic telephone exchange in the UK at Epsom in 1912.

In 1923, the Post Office signed a contract with four manufacturers, including ATM, to supply automatic exchange equipment.

In 1932, the name of the company was changed to Automatic Electric Company to represent the wide range of electric products that the company was manufacturing. In 1936, the company's name was changed again to Automatic Telephone and Electric Company. They eventually merged with The Plessey Company Ltd and Ericsson Telephones Ltd in 1961 to form Plessey Telecommunications Group (now Plessey Communications Ltd).