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Amazing how much can be found in a dial card holder

Started by unbeldi, August 09, 2014, 06:34:30 PM

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unbeldi

I thought I'd share just how much can be found stashed inside a finger wheel's dial card frame.

This is a 4th quarter 1939 (IV 39) 5J dial that I found on an all-dates-matching 10-39 ivory metal 302 that someone had painted orange.

In addition to the service history by numbers, it even had a very nice ivory dial card mask !

1) LAKEWOOD 2697
2) SHadyside 7-4527 (typewritten on back side of card)
3) "Area 201" was apparently typed on the card later.
4) AREA CODE 201  747-4527 (a sticker distributed later when DDD was widely introduced)


PS: BTW, it is the oldest 5J dial recorded in Poplar1's parts dating catalog. Please contribute your finds too!



Dennis Markham

Glad someone here (you) got that phone.  I saw it as a Buy It Now and thought about pushing the button.  I wasn't sure enough about it so I thought I'd "sleep on it".  When I got up the next morning, or the next time I looked, it was gone, as I suspected it would be. The bottom looked like an older set.  I noticed the handset was seamless, probably brown Bakelite?  Also, with the stainless finger wheel it was worth the BIN price.  Congrats!

jsowers

Dennis--you snooze, you lose.  :)

I love unearthing stuff like that on a phone. If you're lucky you have several generations of numbers in there. I remember getting really excited looking at my aunt's circa 1960 aqua blue 500 that had been installed in her house since new. I thought sure I would find an original number card, but no, there was another number in there I don't remember her ever having and neither card was old.

Here's a listing of New Jersey exchanges from the 1951 Englewood DDD brochure and SHadyside 7 isn't in there. Maybe it was something else originally? There is already an SH7 too. So maybe it happened later? We may never know.

New Jersey Dialing Area

ALlendale-1      ENglewood (*)      MEtuchen-6      ROselle-4
ARmory-4         ESsex (*)          MIllburn-6      RUtherford (*)
BEllville-2      FAir-lawn (*)      MIllington-7    SAddle-river-1
BErgen (*)       FAnwood-2          MIlltown-8      SHerwood-2
BErnardsville-8  FEderal-9          MItchell (*)    SHort-hills-7
BIgelow (*)      FOrt-lee-8         MOnmouth-jct-7  SOmerville-8
BLoomfield-2     GLen-ridge (*)     MOntclair (*)   SOuth-amboy-1
BOnton-8         GRegory-3          MOrristown-4    SOuth-orange (*)
BOund-brook-9    HArrison-6         MOrsemere-6     SOuth-river-6
BUtler-9         HAsbrouck-hts-8    MOuntain-view-8 SUmmit-6
CAldwell-6       HAwthorne-7        MOunt-freedom-5 TEaneck (*)
CArteret (*)     HEmlock-6          MUlberry (*)    TElco-4
CHarter (*)      HEnderson (*)      NEshanic-4      TErhune-5
CHatham-4        HOboken (*)        NEwfoundland-9  TRinity-8 (Time Bureau)
CHestnut-5       HUbbard (*)        NUtley-2        UNion (*)
CLiffside-6      HUmboldt (*)       OAkland-8       UNionville-2
CLoster-5        JAmesburg-1        ORadell-8       VErona-8
CRagmere-8       JOurnal-square (*) ORange (*)      WAverly (*)
CRanford-6       KEarny (*)         PArk-ridge-6    WEather-6
DElaware (*)     KIlmer-5           PErth-amboy-4   WEst-milford-4
DIamond (*)      LAmbert (*)        PLainfield (*)  WEstfield-2
DOver-6          LEonia-4           POmpton-lakes-7 WEstwood-5
DUmont (*)       LInden (*)         PRescot (*)     WHippany-8
DUnellen-2       LIttle-falls-4     RAhway-7        WOodbridge-8
EAst-millstone-8 LIvingston-6       RAmsey-9        WYckoff-4
EDison-8         MAdison-6          RIdgewood-6
ELizabeth (*)    MArket (*)         ROckaway-9

                 (*) Name used for two or more central offices
Jonathan

unbeldi

Yes, I already checked those documents too.
LAkewood is likely the community by the Jersey Shore, close to Tom's River.

What is nice in this example, is that there is good likelyhood that the same owner moved from Lakewood to Shadyside, then got DDD service and kept their number into the 50s or 60s. I think those stickers were still issued in the 60s right?

poplar1

Lakewood is listed only once at the TEN website:


Letters Dialed    EXchange Name    City    State    Country
            
Numbers Dialed   Letters Dialed   EXchange Name   City   State   Country   More info   Contributed By   
5                                           L   Lakewood.       Long Branch   NJ   USA          1894 directory                                                                      Manual prefix   Hugh Hamilton <hamilton   
Comments and Memories
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

#5
Quote from: Dennis Markham on August 09, 2014, 09:14:36 PM
Glad someone here (you) got that phone.  I saw it as a Buy It Now and thought about pushing the button.  I wasn't sure enough about it so I thought I'd "sleep on it".  When I got up the next morning, or the next time I looked, it was gone, as I suspected it would be. The bottom looked like an older set.  I noticed the handset was seamless, probably brown Bakelite?  Also, with the stainless finger wheel it was worth the BIN price.  Congrats!

The auction also had a "Make an offer" option ! :-)

Yes, the phone is a 10/39 almost throughout, the handset is brown Bakelite, made in September 39 ("99").  All dates, including transmitter and receiver match to 10/39 and the handset cord was II/39, except it is garbage, cut and torn in pieces.  It's the oldest painted color set we have on record here in the part dating game.


Base: black painted steel, 1939 style
feet: ok, screwed
Housing: H1, J43 (Oct 4, 1939), metal, black plungers, ivory original paint, orange over-paint
Handset: F1, brown Bakelite, no grooves, double screws, date: "99" (Sept. 1939), BELL SYSTEM MADE BY WESTERN ELECTRIC
RX: HA1, 10-10-39, screw-assembly
TX: F1, 10/39
Cord: torn, cut, H3C II 39
Dial: 5J, IV 39
plate: 150B, III 39, black letters, red numbers, (Z|operator|0), almost pristine
wheel: stainless steel, stainless steel card frame
dial card: black two-line: LAkewood 2697; on reverse side: SHadyside 7-4527 Area 201; Area Code 201, 747-4527
mounting gasket: missing
Ringer: B1A, 10/39, 40A, 40B gongs, shiny brass
IND 101A, IV 39
COND: 195A III 39 with "sleeve" holder


unbeldi

#6
Quote from: poplar1 on August 09, 2014, 09:47:56 PM
Lakewood is listed only once at the TEN website:


Letters Dialed    EXchange Name    City    State    Country
            
Numbers Dialed   Letters Dialed   EXchange Name   City   State   Country   More info   Contributed By   
5                                           L   Lakewood.       Long Branch   NJ   USA          1894 directory                                                                      Manual prefix   Hugh Hamilton <hamilton   
Comments and Memories


That's the one I am referring to. Long Branch is probably not right, but it's not very far away.  There is a second Lakewood in the TEN database, with the town name of Lakewood.

The TEN database is just totally broken, IMHO.

I found a Shadyside neighborhood not far from Rochelle Park, but that's a long shot.

Ok, after some searching...
The most likely place this phone was installed is indeed in the area between Lakewood, NJ and Red Bank, NJ.

I have to find out which of the 747 exchanges is the oldest.  Based on the hints from the dial cards, I suspect now that it was what is today 732-747, formerly 609-747, and before that probably 201-747.   Red Bank, Lakewood, Long Branch are all very close together.

I believe Red Bank may be the SHadyside exchange.

unbeldi

#7
ok, the TEN database solved it actually. Surprise!

74   SH   Shadyside   Red Bank   New Jersey   U.S.A.   I remember this one. My parents still have their number.   trafficlines   
74   SH   SHadyside   Red Bank   NJ   USA   from my collection   nlambert


732-747 is on Verizon's switch in Red Bank.

   State   Company   OCN   Rate Center   CLLI   Assign Date   Misc
732-747   NJ   VERIZON NEW JERSEY, INC.   9206   RED BANK   RDBKNJRBDS5   00/00/0000   Prefix Type: RBOC
Switch Name: RED BANK
Switch Type: WECO 5ESS (Digital)
LATA: northern NJ area (224)
Tandem: N/A

Red Bank is about 26 miles from Lakewood, NJ, just up the road along the Atlantic shore.  Nice beaches...

unbeldi

#8
The only problem I see is that the 1951 dialing list included SHort Hills-7 (747), as was mentioned earlier, and that would have been 201-747 in 1951.
Short Hills is close to Caldwell rate center, which is NPA 973 and has a 747 exchange, but only recently assigned.
Hmm.

poplar1

Red Bank to Lakewood--26 miles
Red Bank to Long Branch--6 miles
Just sayin'

Central office names are not necessarily the same as the geographical name.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

Quote from: poplar1 on August 09, 2014, 11:29:26 PM
Red Bank to Lakewood--26 miles
Red Bank to Long Branch--6 miles
Just sayin'

Central office names are not necessarily the same as the geographical name.

True.
One would have to go to the libraries there and see if they have phone books, or old newspapers to see what the local numbering plan was in the 1940s.   The Lakewood  exchange we are looking for was 2L-4N.

unbeldi

When were those number stickers issued?
The one in the picture with AREA CODE 201 and the number. It is a shiny laminate paper.
I know in the 50s they had little area code stickers that filled the space above a two-line mask or black/white card.

If these stickers were issued after 1958, then this could not have been Red Bank, because in 58 area code 201 was split and Red Bank became 609.

Scotophor

#12
More food for thought: "SHadyside" is in the list of recommended EXchange names from Notes on Nationwide Dialing, 1955. But of course, SHort Hills is not.
Name: A.J.   Location: LAPNCAXG, EDgewood 6

unbeldi

#13
Quote from: Scotophor on August 10, 2014, 02:14:15 AM
More food for thought: "Shadyside" is in the list of recommended EXchange names from Notes on Nationwide Dialing, 1955. But of course, SHort Hills is not.

Indeed, the SHadyside number could have been typed onto the card after 1955.  The area code addition "area 201" has a distinctly lighter impression yet.

I am beginning to think those stickers arrived much later, I haven't found a mention in 50s or 60s BSPs on Station Number Cards.

Doug Rose

#14
I found a nice haul inside my 306 this morning. An absolutely perfect Celluloid Please Answer Promptly dial card. It also had an old black dial card but a new sticker was over it and I didn't dare. plus I wanted to keep the original dial card with the phone.....Doug
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