Wow, now here’s a beauty, an early (1955) Western Electric model 500 in moss green, a fairly popular color in its day. Restored by Jorge Amely, it’s ‘55 all the way, right down to the gray line and handset cords. The model 500 is still growing as a collectible phone, and these date-matching examples are only going to appreciate over time. More photographs of this phone, and many others faithfully restored by Jorge, can be found on Picasa.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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’m going to throw out something that I’ve found curious about handsets, particularly those of the bakelite variety. It seems that the screw-on receiver/transmitter caps often exhibit deterioration to a much greater degree than the other bakelite parts. It is also common for one screw-on cap to be worse than the other. Why? Those who have dealt with bakelite handsets know the sort of damage I’m talking about, a dull, rough finish that is more than cosmetic, as if corrosion of the plastic has taken place. Frequent handling, something all phones are subjected to, can certainly cause wear, but this type of damage isn’t the sort I would expect from handling. If frequent handling/rubbing during use was the culprit, wouldn’t it result in shiny areas rather than dull? Wouldn’t this texture be more prominent on the handset itself rather than the caps? Read the rest of this entry »
I just love bargains. Not the junk that’s “cheap for a reason”, but genuinely good prices on good stuff. I’ve already carried on in another post about how to find bargains on eBay, but I left out one thing: “Buy It Now”. The best bargains I’ve ever gotten on eBay have come from seeing a Buy It Now just moments after it listed. Such was the case with this dandy Stromberg-Carlson 1243. The Buy It Now was $10 and so was the shipping… sold! So what did my $20 get me? A pretty decent phone, actually. The alloy body is missing paint in the usual places, but the bakelite handset is free from damage (although the receiver cap is pretty pitted), the dial turns and returns as it should, and all the internals are present. I can’t comment on functionality yet, as I’ve yet to replace the well-worn line cord. Read the rest of this entry »
Automatic Electric’s Model 40 is a fine example of art-deco design, a desirable, if not particularly rare, telephone. A colored AE 40 however, is something special, particularly when it’s been restored to the level of excellence seen on this example. The phone itself is “Old Ivory” with gold trims, and has a most recent patent date of 1948. Before Jorge Amely began work on the phone its condition could best be described as fair, nothing more. Jorge, an electrical engineer, has been restoring vintage phones for less than two years, but you wouldn’t guess it by looking at his work. He places the blame for his phone addiction squarely on the shoulders of long-time friend Dennis Markham, another expert at telephone restoration. And make no mistake, in spite of his limited time with the hobby, Jorge deserves the title of expert. Immersing himself in his new passion, he joined Telephone Collectors International and has already completed a number of beautiful restorations, including a North Electric 7H6 and a number of WE model 500s. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday I opened up the second of my four North Electric phones, and was happy to see that its internal condition bore little resemblance to the first. You may recall that the inside of the first phone had a certain “rats nest” quality, and I was braced for a similar condition this time around. But in comparison to the dust and grime of the previous phone, this one was the very essence of cleanliness. But as it turned out, Galion #2 had some surprises of its own in store for me. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m proud to announce that, after a little cleaning and new cords, the first of my North Electric project phones has a dial tone, dials numbers reliably, and rings. Score!!! My paranoia over the possibility of their having frequency ringers was, thankfully, unfounded. A friend made the observation, “It makes me wonder how long it was silent and who heard it ring last.” Indeed. There’s still more work to be done, as the cleaning was mainly superficial and the ringer definitely needs an adjustment. Oh yea, and I’ve got to get that swell light to work. So far this is going entirely too easy… stay tuned!
I finally got up the nerve to “pop the hood” on one of the Galions, and get a load of that dirt… maybe a trip to the car wash is in order! Click on the image to see the larger version.
You know, eBay is a funny place. You search for, say, “bakelite telephone”, with no real intention of bidding. It is, after all, great fun just to see what’s out there, right? That’s how this got started. I spotted an auction for four (four) North Electric “Galion” telephones, and they weren’t seeing much action. Now I didn’t need four Galions, but gosh-darn-it, it would be a shame to let a bargain slip right through my fingers! Read the rest of this entry »
Besides my visit to a favorite local flea market this past weekend I also hit a previously unexplored venue, the Mid-Cities Antique Mall in Hurst, Texas. Antique malls aren’t generally noted for their bargain prices, but every now and then a good deal will surface. I picked up this early non-dial 302 (I believe this to be a model 302EW-3) for $20. Given its condition I don’t believe I would have bid that much for it on eBay, but not having to pay an additional $20 or so for shipping strongly influenced my decision to buy. As you probably know, these early examples have a zinc alloy housing, and this one is in desperate need of paint. I’m also a little nervous about the handset, as it has a bad case of the pitting that is often found on bakelite.
Something I found particularly interesting about the phone are the “instructions.” Over the number card is a sticker (reinforced by yellowed cellophane tape) that says, 
“Local Calls 25¢ Ea.,” and written on a large sticker below the fingerwheel is, “Local Calls 25¢ Ea., Switchboard Hrs. 8:AM to 10:30PM.” All this is hand-written in ballpoint, you understand. Part of me looks past this rough exterior and sees what could be, but I can’t help but wonder if I should leave it alone. This phone was used for decades, and has a history that is written all over it, however crudely. This is a topic I’ve touched on before: should the years be erased or preserved? My personal view is leaning more often towards repair rather than restoration, but I suspect that what this well-worn 302 might deserve is detailing. Somewhere in that murky area between simple repair work (fixing) and restoration (making as new) lies detailing. Yep, that’s going to be the ticket.
There’s more than one way to clean vintage telephones, and most everyone develops their own technique over time. Beginners however, are often at a loss as to how to proceed, so to I’ve enlisted the help of Dennis Markham (VintageRotaryPhones.com), who generously consented to a Q&A on the subject:
Beyond resolving any functionality issues, I’m sure that cleaning is your first priority when restoring a vintage phone. How far do you typically “tear down” a phone for this process?
For purposes of this discussion I will describe my method as it relates to the Western Electric model 500, but it is pretty much the same for any phone I clean.
I begin by tearing down the phone completely. I separate the phone into three parts, the plastic, the internal parts (including screws, washers, nuts, etc) and the cords. Following that I break down the internal parts into another three areas, the ringer assembly, the dial and the network block. I use large plastic bowls to keep the parts separated.
The only parts left standing are the switch hook stack, the feet (which are riveted in place) and the dial governor. On the model 302 the feet are removed for cleaning.
Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday I was in a discussion about all the information that can be drawn from the various types of website statistics programs. Most “webmasters” (I hate that term) are familiar with one or more of these statistical generators, Webalizer being one of the more popular. These programs, typically run/updated daily, show the number of visitors and “hits”, as well as where the visitors came from. The volume of data they compile is staggering. Much of it isn’t of interest to the average guy that operates a modest personal site, but one part that I personally attach great importance to is the “search strings”… the words and phrases that people typed into their search engine of choice (usually Google) that ultimately sent them to my site. I’ve studied these search phrases for years on my other websites, and it has helped me to groom the content of the sites to more accurately address the things that my visitors seek. ClassicRotaryPhones.com is new, but has been quickly indexed by Google. What do you suppose people are looking for when Google sends them to this site? It’s invariably something along the lines of “my phone won’t ring”. As you may have read in a previous post, I’ve recently dealt with that issue myself. Perhaps this is a good time to address the subject in greater detail… Read the rest of this entry »
Well, we’ve replaced the cords, gotten the ringer to work, adjusted it to perfection (frighteningly loud), and have used it as a primary phone in the Stevens’ household for the past couple of weeks, a test that it passed with flying colors. It still looks a bit more “rugged” than I’d like, so lets see about cleaning and polishing, shall we? While y’all weren’t looking, I took it upon myself to clean up the inside of the phone just a little. No, I didn’t do the whole “fully disassembled and ultrasonically cleaned” thing… that’s wacky. Now hold on there, Mister Ultrasonic, what I mean is that it’s wacky for me. Lest we forget, I’m still a card-carrying rookie, and where telephones are concerned, have never attempted anything more technical than a couple of prank calls. I’m not after an immaculate restoration. This project is all about functional, reliable and presentable. Functional, reliable and presentable… sort of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? By golly, that could be the battle-cry of a new movement… “Down with FR (fully restored), long-live FRP!!!” Or not.
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I’m going to begin by stating clearly, I’m “thinking out loud” here. I’ve seen a shift in priorities regarding certain antiques and collectibles, and had to jot it down while it’s fresh. (That’s the fun thing about blogging… it’s “stream of consciousness” journalism!) 
Speaking in generalities for a moment (about all sorts of antiques and vintage collectibles), I’m seeing a shift away from full-blown restoration. The new trend is one that, to use a medical term, is “minimally invasive”. Let me make an analogy to the vintage automobile world. (I love analogies) You’re liable to be familiar with the Barrett-Jackson classic car auctions, with all those immaculately restored automobiles bringing record prices. But in the past few years they’ve had company, as many non-restored vehicles, survivors, have gotten their share of attention. A survivor is, generally speaking, a car that hasn’t been brought back to “like new” condition, but is instead a low-mileage, gently used vehicle that, while not perfect, is extremely nice… and not tampered with. Not long ago a “survivor” was prized because they could be easily restored, but today they’re a popular genre unto themselves. Is this going to happen with vintage telephones? I just wonder if flawless restorations will eventually be perceived as rather sterile, lacking the honest look that comes from years of service. Read the rest of this entry »
