Classic Rotary Phones: Repair, Refurbish, Restore Vintage Telephones

I get ideas for posts from a number of different sources, but usually they just come from something I’ve been thinking about, maybe a project I’m working on at the time. This post however, came to me after reading an unusual article about the “beep-beep line” on Dennis Markham’s VintageRotaryPhones.com. Something I was previously unaware of, the post describes a quirk of the telephone network that used to permit something akin to party line chat capability. Initiated by calling ones own number, kids would talk over the busy signal to others who were likewise engaged… harmless childhood hijinks at their finest. (for a full description, read: The Beep-Beep Line) This apparently was very popular with those “in the know”, and wish we had been aware of it back then.
I may have missed out on the beep-beep line, but the story reminded me of my own childhood and a strange, secretive activity that was popular when I was in elementary school: calling “The Man in the Moon”.   More… »

I’ve made some additions to the Vintage Phone Advertisements area, including some very early Automatic Electric and Bell System ads. I’ve also posted more General Telephone ads from the ’50s, all featuring the artwork of Dom Lupo. But my favorite is the two-page spread shown above. This Western Electric ad covers the various choices to be considered when selecting a phone, with color, cord type, volume control and dial illumination all being offered. Why, there’s even an automatic answering set that can take messages when you’re not home!  Silly idea…

I thought I’d share this cartoon that was published in the September 1960 issue of The Telephone Bay Stater, and edition brimming with “stuff” about the newly released Princess Phone. You know, good Princess Phone humor is getting harder and harder to find…

Other than historians and old phone nuts, few people today know the outrageous heights that telephone poles once attained. Ninety foot poles with thirty crossarms are known to have been employed in New York in the 1880s, much to the detriment of the urban landscape. As many as three-hundred wires were carried on these monstrosities, the tightly clustered lines collapsing each winter under the burden of snow. The era of these many-tiered poles lasted only about ten years, as underground wires ultimately served to alleviate the skyward congestion. This photograph and its caption appeared in the trade magazine, Telephony.

Even “back in the day”, in this case 1947, telephones were being refurbished and put back into service. This ad appeared in the September issue of Telephony, and one can’t help but wonder much they got for those model 553s. They call them 1553s, but the picture looks like what I know as the model 553. Anyone know about this? In any event, they were very antiquated phones in ‘47!

Released in 1937, Western Electric’s model 302 was a significant evolutionary step, one that served subscribers loyally for nearly twenty years. They now enjoy a good deal of popularity among old phone enthusiasts, those who can appreciate their sound design, classic styling and historical significance. Now days the 302 is often called the “Lucy phone”, apparently named by those whose pre-1980 knowledge was obtained from TV reruns. Upon completion of the design Henry Dreyfuss and his team began work on a companion wall-mount version, the model 354. Its release was intended to follow closely on the heels of the 302’s introduction, but then World War II came into play. The shift to wartime production had the unfortunate consequence of delaying the 354’s release until 1946, only three years before Western Electric released their revolutionary new desk phone, the model 500.
The 354 used the same electrical/mechanical components as the 302 of the time, including the #6 dial, 101B induction coil, F1 handset, and B2 ringer. The first 302s had zinc alloy housings, but soon switched to thermoplastics for their construction, the material employed on all 354s. The model 554, a wall version of the 500, came out in 1956, so after roughly nine years of production the 354 rode off into the sunset.   More… »

From the October issue of Telephone Engineer comes these ads for Automatic Electric. I don’t know much about the trade journal, but it’s interesting that the cover calls it “Fortnightly Telephone Engineer”. Whew! Today, the word fortnightly would certainly have people scrambling for their dictionaries.   More… »

From the same issue of Telephony as the previous Kellogg ads comes this two-page spread by Stromberg-Carlson. There must have been surrealism in the air in ‘47, as both this ad and one by Leich made use of rather creepy imagery to deliver their messages. Sorry that the center crease and staples are so evident, but I prefer not to destroy a cool vintage magazine just to get a better scan.

I’ve been pouring over a 1947 issue of the trade publication, Telephony, and found some advertisements that are too good not to share. The issue in question, dated September 27, 1947, is a special USITA 50th anniversary issue, USITA standing for, United States Independent Telephone Association. Many of the ads specifically address the 50th anniversary and/or the USITA annual convention, to be held on Oct. 14-15-16 at Chicago’s Stevens Hotel. Included in the magazine are ads from Western Electric, Leich, Stromberg-Carlson, and many other smaller suppliers, but since I’ve been following a Kellogg theme, I wanted to start by posting two full-page advertisements for that manufacturer. Kellogg celebrating their 50th anniversary right along with the USITA, and promoted that fact in these two ads. No doubt fueled by the hoopla of the anniversary and convention, Kellogg posted what must have been expensive advertisements, given the extensive use of color. The blue and gold scheme is striking, but unfortunately it doesn’t come across at all well in the scans. The gold just looses something in the translation.   More… »

Finally it’s done. I’ve made four web pages to accommodate scans, thumbnail size, of each page of the Kellogg K-500 Handbook. The thumbnails can be left-clicked to reveal a large version. Quite large. I’ve compressed the size of the large images down to around 500k, depending on the image in question, but I realized that a few of the one-hundred or so scans missed the compression step. As a result, some of them (about thirty?) are more in the neighborhood of 1.5 meg in size! I’m going to get right at fixing that particular error, as well as “proof-reading” to assure that I’ve not skipped any pages. Keeping track of them was a bit of a challenge, but I finally figured out that they assigned numbers to pages that were blank. Don’t panic if you see skipped numbers. It just means that I didn’t bother to scan pages with no content!
I considered making a pdf version available for download, but the image quality would have had to be reduced too much for my tastes. Besides, it’s already been done, with a pdf of the book available at The Kellogg Telephone Page. (Part of the Telephone Archive, it’s a great site. Pay them a visit!) I’ll be fine tuning the pages over the next few days and will no doubt add more descriptions below the thumbnails, making it a little easier to find stuff. But all-in-all I think it’s looking pretty good. That’s all for now. Enjoy!

I’d sure like to know more about this photograph. This band is obviously the entertainment for some sort of Telephone Pioneers of America get-together. As you can see, the banner indicates the function to held by the Long Island Empire Chapter, Northern Council. The band leader appears to be Jimmy-somebody (I can almost read it, The Jimmy Smith Orchestra?), and that’s about all I can get from the front of the photo. But, the back provides more information. It is stamped:

REPRODUCTION BUREAU STUDIO
ACCTG. DEPT. N. Y. TEL. CO.
140 WEST ST., N. Y. C.
DATE - OCT 13 1954    FILE No. 7647 # 4

That doesn’t tell us too much, but at least we know the date of the event… or is it the date the photo was printed? Either way, it’s clear that the gathering, whatever it was, took place in the ’50s. Anyone familiar with this event? Maybe the band? Feel free to peruse the larger version or the much larger version!

I’ve started a project, one that could take a long while to complete. Or not. But in case it does turn into an ordeal, I figured I’d put out a “teaser”, a preview of sorts. I’m in the process of scanning the pages of a Kellogg K-500 Handbook, a small spiral-bound book of around 100 pages. While this is pure conjecture, its small size (7″x4″) makes me think it was made specifically for use in the field, something that could easily be carried in a pocket or toolbox. If that’s the case, it would make its condition all the more remarkable, as it suffers from little more than some yellowing of the pages. It dates from 1958, the second year of Kellogg using their Western Electric look-alike body, a shell that made their phones virtually identical to their model 500. I never worked in the telecommunications industry, and books like this could be common, but I find it extraordinary that so much information could be packed into so small a book. It’s loaded with instructions for troubleshooting and installation, as well as exploded views of the various components. Particularly impressive is the collection of wiring diagrams, three-page foldouts representing every variation of the K-500. The fact that the wiring diagrams aren’t torn makes me think that this particular manual was never used, as some of them would certainly have pulled away from the spiral binding at some point.   More… »

Here’s another shot of the Telephone Pioneers shindig. (Wow, just think, the term “shindig” hadn’t even been coined when this convention took place!) It looks like they cleared out the chairs once business was concluded and proceeded to do a little mingling. Why, I’ll bet later on they even started shakin’ their tootsies. (now that’s an expression they were familiar with!) As before, I’ve included a larger version and the legendary much larger version.
For those who aren’t familiar with the TPA, let me fill you in on this organization. The Telephone Pioneers of America was conceived in 1910 by Henry W. Pope, Charles R. Truex and Thomas Doolittle, who thought that long-time telephone workers should foster a sense of fraternity, whether active or retired from the job. AT&T president Theodore N. Vail was behind the idea, and everyone associated with early telephony was contacted regarding membership. By the end of 1911 their ranks had grown to almost 450. Bear in mind that this was during a time when long-time practitioners of telephony had been active practically from its invention. In fact, the first charter member was Alexander Graham Bell himself.   More… »

I came across this photograph, and several others, that seem to show various gatherings held under the banner of the Telephone Pioneers of America. No documentation came with the photo that gives the location or subject, but I believe it to show a national convention, probably in N.Y.C. in the 1950s. (The podium appears to be marked, Radisson) The photo is presented here in a larger version, and also in a much larger version, which could be useful if you hope to spot someone in particular. Lots of interesting details can be seen, including a “Mr. Telephone” with a Telephone Pioneers of America logo. It will be interesting to see if anyone can determine the particulars of this gathering, or perhaps can identify some of the conventioneers.

Throughout the 20th century the benchmark in telephone manufacturing was Western Electric, the production arm of the mighty Bell System. Given that Bell would not sell phones to companies outside of their umbrella, the independents had to find other sources for their hardware, sources capable of making a product comparable to that provided to Bell subscribers. That may seem a tall order, but companies like Kellogg, Stromberg-Carlson and Automatic Electric had roots in the earliest days of telephony, and were up to the task. Designing dependable telephones was paramount, but styling became an increasingly important aspect. With each innovative new phone released by W.E. the independent companies would respond with a similar offering to make available to their subscribers. Their phones had to perform and have “the look”. The technical and artistic skills of Western Electric’s Henry Dreyfuss kept the pressure on, creating timeless designs that were both aesthetically and ergonomically sound. One example is the popular Princess Phone, a tremendous success that inspired the Automatic Electric Type 182 “Starlite”, the Stromberg-Carlson model 1600 “Petite”, Kellogg’s “Cinderella” and Northern Electric’s “Contessa”. While each of these copycat phones had their own interesting attributes (the oddly-styled Starlite is a personal favorite), none matched the tasteful appearance of the original. So why the history lesson? Because I want to point out a significant exception to the rule, a non-Bell telephone that was vastly superior to the Western Electric model it emulated, Automatic Electric’s Type 183 Space-Maker.   More… »