New Ebay Acquisitions!

[DavePEI]

Hi All:

Ebay has been good to me the past few days. First of all, I won an AE #8 desk phone, magneto with top mounted handset, and shortly afterwards, a 1909 Gray #11 Pay Station for mounting on a wooden magneto set.

Then, today my wife let the bomb drop - she has bought me an almost NOS  Lucent/Crousse-Hinds 2520B Explosion proof set! Ain't she wonderful!

Must have something to do with the renovation we are having done of our kitchen. We had agreed no gifts   This is something I have been looking for for a very long time, but felt I couldn't afford.

Dave

[Dan]

Love your "bomb" set. The shipping on those are always so high because they weigh so much. I wish I had one. I saw one about three years ago at a yard sale of all things, but I never got it because I didn't know what it was..... Another fish that got away story.

[DavePEI]

Love your "bomb" set. The shipping on those are always so high because they weigh so much. I wish I had one. I saw one about three years ago at a yard sale of all things, but I never got it because I didn't know what it was..... Another fish that got away story.

Hi Dan:

I know what you mean. She got this for a good price, I think, compared to others I have seen on eBay, just under $200 and the shipping to here is a shade over $100. Great Xmas present!

From the photo, it looks as though beyond finding a mounting surface to hold its weight, all it will need is some car wax to clean up the scratches to the left of the TT pad, and I will be all set.

The Gray will need some refinishing - behind the coin slots, some paint had peeled, and of course there are some paint mars elsewhere. But from the photos I have seen, the most important part, the lead coin channel appears to be in perfect shape. I will display it with one of my early 1900s magneto wall sets.

The AE is in good shape for its age. There are a couple of small spots were the paint has worn thin, but it may be good enough to just shine'n go!

Can't wait until they arrive!

Love to find a few more of all three in yard sales!

Dave

[liteamorn]

Nice phones Dan,

I have the same explosion proof phone(not in as good condition though). Mine was a bit of a pain to open. I had to tap the locking pin out from the rear of the mounting plate.

Nice to have a woman that not only understands our obsession but helps promote it as well . Nice finds!

[DavePEI]

Nice phones Dan,

I have the same explosion proof phone(not in as good condition though). Mine was a bit of a pain to open. I had to tap the locking pin out from the rear of the mounting plate.

Nice to have a woman that not only understands our obsession but helps promote it as well . Nice finds!

From the manual which I downloaded today, there should be an 8/32 setscrew which releases the pin:

"To remove the Explosive Atmosphere Wall Telephone set from service after disconnecting the line wires at the protector, remove the three mounting screws securing the cover and loosen the No. 8-32 Allen Setscrew until the locking pin pops out. The apparatus unit may now be screwed off the base. Care should be taken to avoid contamination of the threads with dirt or grit."

So had you noticed the setscrew, it probably would have popped right out. I'll bet that is why you had so much trouble getting the pin out!

http://support.avaya.com/css/P8/documents/100009026

Dave

[liteamorn]

Dave,
Nope, I found it . The phone was in a leaky unheated building for God knows how long. It survived an explosion and huge fire in 2003 and the "shanty" it was in had the windows blown out. It sat pretty much in the weather ever since. I finally got it apart and after freeing up the hook switch plunger , reversing the polarity on the main line feeds  the phone to works perfectly.

Right now the phone is in a box awaiting time to sand and paint the cover plate and whatever it is going to take to free up that locking pin (it hardly wants to move even when the phone is apart).

Good luck with yours! Let me know how you make out.

[DavePEI]

Well, here it is midnight, and I'm waiting for Santa!

Hope he come soon, I must soon go upstairs to thank my wife - she surprised me this year with the 2520B! [Update Xmas morning... I got a note from UPS Christmas am saying to expect delivery of the 2520 Dec 30.]

Another thing I won recently on eBay is a Western Electric 17B line tester, a wooden box with a magneto in it, a line/talk switch on the top, and with a watch-case receiver on the side, large mic on the front. These were used until WW2 on magneto lines.

Interesting unit, and I got it for $10 plus postage from Quebec.

These items won't start arriving for another week, but it will be like Christmas all over again, then!

Happy Holidays,

Dave

[AE_Collector]

Carefull you don't tick Santa off Dave. He might not head to the west coast if you do!

Merry Christmas to the east coast of Canada...

Terry

[DavePEI]

Carefull you don't tick Santa off Dave. He might not head to the west coast if you do!

Merry Christmas to the east coast of Canada...

Terry

Santa was in an awful state when he arrived here. He said that Rudolph had broken his nose, and that it was going to be terribly slow trip because they couldn't see their way. But he's going to try to get to all his destinations. Some of the toys may come without their Energizers, used during the trip to light their way. He said he is carrying more phones than usual this year in his sleigh!

Dave

[twocvbloke]

I do find those Explosion Proof phones to be rather intriguing, the name suggests they'd survive explosions, but it's the opposite, they're designed to prevent explosion in areas where flammable gasses are floating about in the air, although the tale about the one in a shanty shack that suffered an explosion is testament to it's design...

But the shape and size is what gets me, for the same functionality as a regular desk phone, it's huge, at least it's meant for wall mounting though, wouldn't fancy carrying that about like it were a desk phone!!!

Here in the UK, I think they called the GPO equivalents "Intrinsically Safe", which just says nothing about it's design or function, but I think are for the same purpose, just named differently, plenty are listed on the British Telephones website...

[DavePEI]

Today, my 2520 explosion proof phone arrived, and my 17B line test set arrived Thursday a.m..

On both counts, I am very pleased. What I had thought to be a 17C test set turned out to be the earlier 17B set, in mint shape, and dating from about 1915. I have ordered a battery for it, a MN1203, 3LR12 4.5 volt Alkaline Battery - a prefect fit for it, and still used in Britain. The missing watch-case receiver has been replaced.

The 2520 kept the UPS truck on the snowy road -  once it dropped off the phone, it went into the ditch (just kidding) but the weight (close to 40 lbs) of the phone is pretty impressive. Toes, watch out! No problem opening it up. Simply loosen the hex screw, the plunger pin  popped out, and I could unscrew the phone from its base.

In a quick look, I didn't find a manufacture date on it. However, I suspect it is around 1997 as this would have been the period Lucent would have been distributing these.

I am in the process now of putting a layer of car wax on the heavy metal boat anchor to help it keep its shine:-)

Dave

[AE_Collector]

One more perk is that you won't have to worry quite so much about your museum blowing out to sea in some of the storms you get there.

Terry

[DavePEI]

One more perk is that you won't have to worry quite so much about your museum blowing out to sea in some of the storms you get there.

Terry

Well, as I already have a 500 lb ship's anchor on the property, I probably didn't need anther boat anchor to keep it moored, but Linda was happy today to see me so pleased!

What I wasn't happy about were more exhorbitant UPS clearance charges! Two parcels came today - almost $90 in addition to the already paid shipping. Out of that, only about $15 was for taxes going to the government the rest were clearance charges. Would have been $5 an item charges for clearance had they gone USPS/Canada Post.

Even more annoying, UPS drivers won't take cash - they require a credit card for payment! I hate UPS! Great if an item is going from one point to another within the same country, but if it has to cross borders, look out for extra charges.

Dave

[AE_Collector]

That is so annoying. I have never been burned by that to date but it is a regular occuarance. I guess you have to just smile and have another rum and eggnog. For anyone who has yet to have this pleasure when shipping an item from USA to Canada, do everything you can to have it shipped by USPS who hand off to Canada Post and then as Dave says, if you are unlucky and get burned for customs charges & brokerage fees, it is only a few dollars.

Pour me a Rum and Eggnog too Dave, next time your up that is.

Terry

[GG]

Re. wall-mounting of explosion-proof or intrinsically-safe telephones:

What I'd do is get a piece of 1" thick plywood and mount it centered on a wall stud using multiple screws.  Don't use "drywall" screws, they do not have sufficient shear strength, go to a decent hardware store and ask for screws for mounting heavy items to wall studs. 

Then you can mount the phone to the plywood, also using heavy duty screws. 

I wouldn't try to get plywood cut to a circle to match the size of the phone because it might be difficult to get it to line up correctly.  Rectangular and larger could work, or circular and smaller where an inexact alignment won't show. 

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There is a desk model of something like this; it uses a WE 5H or 6 dial and F1 handset, or alternately AE dial & 41 handset.  The cradle has two hinges at the rear, on the sides of the main housing.  One of these appeared in some kind of spy movie or TV program years ago; they can also be found in one or more AE catalogs. 

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On the rotary version of the round wallphone, the dial fingerwheel rotates an arm that projects through a tight gasket and operates a conventional dial mechanism in the interior of the set.  Touchtone with circular faceplate might have been a later version or a modification by a third-party company.

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The purpose of the large heavy housing and all the rubber gaskets and grommets to the exposed parts, was to prevent a spark from a switch contact (hookswitch or dial) from igniting an explosive atmosphere such as in a chemical plant or mine.  But in the event that explosive gases got inside the phone, the heavy housing would contain any explosion to the inside of the phone, wrecking it but preventing a larger explosion that could kill people.

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If you have to take one of these through an airport, I'd suggest using the term "intrinsically safe telephone" rather than any term with the word "explosive" in it, to avoid making anyone nervous:-)