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AE50 dial card cover?

Started by dumb_old_guy, August 19, 2015, 08:25:21 PM

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dumb_old_guy

Hi, all.
Newbie here. I have an Automatic Electric model 50 wall phone that I want to restore soon. It is missing its dial card--if that is the right term. The center of the dial is just open to the metal attachment gizmo.
I can print out a retro dial card, but was there a plastic cover over it like on the WE500 sets, or was it just an inked metal plate? I can't tell from the pictures I have seen online. If there is a clear plastic cover, are they available, or do I have to try to fabricate something?
Thanks!

cheers
Rob

HarrySmith

Short answer, Yes. There is a card retainer & cover that should be on it, The AE dial cards & cover have a lot of little cuts on them, not easy to cut by hand. Do you have a retainer? Maybe a picture would help? There are 3 different AE fingerwheels.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

tptech302

Hi Rob,

Is it possible for you to post a picture so we have a better idea of the dial and what parts may be missing?

Josh

dumb_old_guy

Thanks guys. Yeah, I will post a picture.

cheers
Rob

NorthernElectric

Quote from: HarrySmith on August 19, 2015, 08:33:54 PMThe AE dial cards & cover have a lot of little cuts on them, not easy to cut by hand.

I made my own dial card and cover for my AE40.  I didn't bother with all of the fiddly cutting; just 2 little notches on each to line them up.  Maybe one of the elongated cutouts would have made it a bit easier to slide the locking lever into place, but it wasn't much trouble.  For the cover, I have been saving anything I get in that horrible clear plastic heat sealed packaging.  To cut it out, I just use the dial card as a template once I have printed and cut it.

Cliff

NorthernElectric

#5
I made my dial card by vectorizing a scanned blank dialcard in Inkscape.  A vector drawing is basically a file containing information that describes line, polygon, and text objects rather than a pixel by pixel representation contained in 'bit mapped' images such as a jpg.  Vector objects are easily manipluated in a vector drawing program.  I put a text box in the center blank area to type my number in.  This can be edited in Inkscape or possibly any other vector drawing program that supports the SVG file format.  The 1st attachment is a zip containing the SVG file, followed by a jpg.  I put 'Automatic Electric' in the text box for this upload; it can be easily replaced with your number.

Cliff

unbeldi

#6
The correct number card for AE depends on the year of installation of the phone.
Your examples, the vector graph and the EVergreen card, are the two-line version that was used between 1950 and 1955. Before that since ca. 1935, they used a version of this design with only a one-line printing window, and after 1955, when area codes became wide-spread, the window height was increased to three text lines.

Finally, perhaps with the move to Northlake (1957), but definitely by late 1958, they removed the black solid areas and produced the D-530182-A number card, as shown here.  I am not sure anymore when they started producing this, actually, probably between 1955 and 1957.

This one was for use on the Forth Wayne, Indiana exchange Kenmore.  Fort Wayne still used a one-letter and four digits (1L-4N) numbering plan at that time until 1963, when they converted to all-number calling. Party lines used 5 digits instead of 4.

jsowers

The only AE number cards I remember from childhood in the 60s were the ones you've shown, with no alphabetic exchange and the ANC phone number printed in there. However, I got this AE50 in 2002 with a different looking blank GIbson card on it, and I don't think the seller knew enough about phones to ever change it. Do you think it's original? I've never taken it off to look underneath.
Jonathan

dumb_old_guy

Thanks guys! Good info.
jsowers, I was thinking about using that same hand slashing plastic you speak of. I have used it for a number of things like this in the past. I gotta run make dinner, but I'll check back and read the posts more thoroughly.

Here is what I have:



cheers
Rob

unbeldi

#9
Quote from: jsowers on August 20, 2015, 06:08:41 PM
The only AE number cards I remember from childhood in the 60s were the ones you've shown, with no alphabetic exchange and the ANC phone number printed in there. However, I got this AE50 in 2002 with a different looking blank GIbson card on it, and I don't think the seller knew enough about phones to ever change it. Do you think it's original? I've never taken it off to look underneath.


I think it depends on where it came from.

The cards we discussed sofar are only the AE manufacturer cards used in GTE territory. There is a practice for those.  But AE/GTE sold a lot of equipment to other independents too, and it would seem logical that they may have printed there own card styles.

My Kenmore card appears to be originally printed this way with the exchange, not later with a stamp. Fort Wayne was GTE territory and there is still today a GTE switch in that exchange.  The card looks actually as if the phone was never installed, but I can't remember that I ever took the card off. The phone is in terrific condition too.

Do you know the area where the GIbson card came from?  The TENP database lists quite many exchanges with that name across the country.  I have seen that style of card elsewhere, so I don't see why it wouldn't be original.


GTE practice:  473-820-100

unbeldi

Quote from: dumb_old_guy on August 20, 2015, 07:54:14 PM
Thanks guys! Good info.
jsowers, I was thinking about using that same hand slashing plastic you speak of. I have used it for a number of things like this in the past. I gotta run make dinner, but I'll check back and read the posts more thoroughly.

Here is what I have:


cheers
Rob

You are missing a commonly missing assembly, the whole dial card holder.

They are a pain to remove and to put back on and can easily be damaged in the process if you don't know how they work.

Here is a page from that GTE practice with a parts breakdown.

HarrySmith

Is it just me? I do not se a picture in Rob's post. There is a small blue line that I clicked on which opens an empty window. What is going in here? I never had a problem before viewing pictures here.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

dumb_old_guy

Darn, I am missing all that? Thanks for the info!

Here is a direct upload to this site instead of a photobucket link.


jsowers

Quote from: unbeldi on August 20, 2015, 07:56:16 PM
Do you know the area where the GIbson card came from?  The TENP database lists quite many exchanges with that name across the country.  I have seen that style of card elsewhere, so I don't see why it wouldn't be original.

Thanks for the info. I'm sorry, but I don't remember where it came from. I do remember the seller's handle, only because it's the funniest seller name I've ever encountered. Her eBay handle was Mslarryoldfart. Kind of a zing to her husband. A search of eBay members yields nothing by that name, so she must've changed it or stopped selling in the last 13 years. Maybe Larry got wind of it?  ;)
Jonathan

dumb_old_guy