BRIEF HISTORY OF L. M. ERICSSON Lars Magnus Ericsson began his association with telephones in his youth as an instrument maker. He worked for a firm which made telegraph equipment for Swedish firm Telegraf verket. In 1876 he opened his own company and in 1878 began producing his own telephone equipment. His phones were not technically innovative, as most of the necessary inventions had already been made in the USA. Through the repair work done by his firm for Telegraf verket and the Swedish Railways, though, he was familiar with the telephones of both the Bell group and Siemens Halske.   He was able to improve these designs to produce a higher quality instrument.   These were used by the new telephone companies such as Rikstelefon to provide a lower cost service than the Bell Group could offer. He had no patent or royalty problems, as Bell had not bothered to patent their invention in Scandinavia. His training as an instrument maker is reflected in the high standard of finish and the ornate design which makes Ericsson phones of this period so attractive to collectors. “1920s Federal metal horn phone, common in public places such as railway platforms. ”