WWI 1917 Field Telephone Ringer Problems

[hatrick]

I have two WWI 1917 field phones that I want to use for reenacting and I have been working on them for a while and I finally got both handsets to work properly but now it seems like the hand crank ringers are very weak.  At times they seem nice and loud but now then are very weak and don't seem to be working like they should. And at times they only seem to want to ring on one phone but not the other.  Very strange intermittent, changing problems with the two ringers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

[LarryInMichigan]

Are the cranks difficult to turn at times?  If so, I would suspect a short somewhere.

Larry

[hatrick]

Both cranks turn freely and at times have even worked ok. 

Thanks,
Eric

[HowardPgh]

Check and clean the contacts at the back of the magnetos.
Howard

[G-Man]

What is the brand and model number* of the instruments?

What is the length and type of wire (WD-1TT?) when these problems crop-up?

Possibly weak magneto magnets.

*Western Electric or Kellogg Model 1917?

[hatrick]

They are are Kellogg Model 1917 phones which use Western Electric parts.

As for connecting the two phones together, I am using a 20' piece of speaker wire (about 14-16 gauge).

I think the magnets are ok since they seemed to work ok when I had them initially hooked up to my WWII EE-8 phone a while back.

Eric

[G-Man]

They are are Kellogg Model 1917 phones which use Western Electric parts.

As for connecting the two phones together, I am using a 20' piece of speaker wire (about 14-16 gauge).

I think the magnets are ok since they seemed to work ok when I had them initially hooked up to my WWII EE-8 phone a while back.

Eric

Definitely not weak magnets then. Howard's suggestion regarding the contacts is probably your best course of action.

Interesting that your Kellogg is using WECo parts. I have a couple of dozen WWI Kellogg and WECo field telephones and all of them use only parts from their own manufacturer,    

[hatrick]

G-Man,

I'll have to re-check the manufacturers and parts as I am trying to remember from the top of my head to see if they are mixed or if my memory is mixed..

I'll try cleaning the contacts on the back of the magnetos and see it that helps.  I know some of the wires, being those old almost thread type wires seem a bit fragile so hopefully there isn't a problem with the wiring.

Any interest in selling one of your WWI field phones?? I could use a third one if I can find one at a good price.

Thanks,
Eric

[Doug Rose]

I was always under the impression the Kellogg and Western Electric were bitter rivals.  I would be surprised that the would be willing to use each others parts. If the parts are mixed, maybe it was done after market by the military with available parts. Just a guess......Welcome to the Forum....Doug

[hatrick]

Now I remember... both phone boxes are Western Electric with one handset being marked Kellogg and the other handset being unmarked.

Eric

[hatrick]

On another note with these phones... the first set I got was the one with the Kellogg handset and that phone seemed to work perfectly with my WWII field phones (ringer and handset).  A friend of mine gave me the second phone which was missing the handset. I picked up a correct handset and oddly enough it had 4 wires coming from the handset instead of the three that the Kellogg handset had (the wire looks original to the handset).  Three wires seems correct as there are three connectors (R/Y/G) on the phone body so I was left wondering how to hook up the 4 wire handset to the 3 input phone.  I think I may have figured it out by simply testing the 4th wire to the three hookups until I seemed to get it to work ok.  Is this ok or is there a better way to attache the 4 wire handset to the 3 inputs and could this be part of the ringer issue.

Thanks,
Eric

[dsk]

Using 4 wires instead of 3 is actually a matter of moving the split between the Receiver, and transmitter from one to another end of the cord.
Using a small battery you will quickly identify the 2 wires going to the receiver. (the only 2 wires making sound in the receiver.) Pick on of them and connect to the receiver terminal (screw).
The other one goes to common together with one of the others, the last one goes to the transmitter terminal, and everything is OK.

dsk

PS
pictures...please!

DS

[hatrick]

DSK,

Thanks for the info on wiring the 4 wire handset.  I think I may have already done what you recommend but I would like to confirm this since I am kind of new to this and I want to make sure I did it correctly.

I did use my voltmeter and I identified the two wires coming from handset receiver and I also identified the two wires coming from the handset transmitter/microphone.  I connected the two wires from the handset transmitter/microphone to two of the three terminals on the phone body (I think they were Y & R - I'll check tonight).  I connected one of the wires from the handset receiver to the third terminal (G).  The fourth wire from the handset which is the second wire from the receiver, I piggybacked onto the R terminal with the existing wire from the handset transmitter/microphone.  It seemed to send and receive properly with the only negative being that you couldn't hear yourself talking when you were transmitting.

I'll post some pictures tonight when I get home.

Thanks,
Eric

[HowardPgh]

Are these EE5 fieldphones?
Would they have been made to a common specification like the EE8 fieldphones which were made by several manufacturers, but still look alike on the inside. TS9 handsets for EE8s do differ according to manufacturer.
I had a W.E, EE5 and it had a metahandset with a button on the side, i didn't have the case for it.  Hatrick, I would like to see a picture of your phone.
Howard

[hatrick]

They are actually EE-3 field phones otherwise called 1917 Camp telephones (Models A or B).

Eric