News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Western Electric 302 Gong Clamp

Started by Fabius, July 21, 2015, 10:55:03 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Fabius

I bought a WECO 302 off of Craigslist for $10. The housing is cracked but I figured the parts and the S-4-45 dated 5H dial was worth it. The ringer bells had this clamp on them. Is this an Western Electric item?

The base and components are dated S-6-45. Obviously the 45 is 1945 but what does the S-6 and S-4 stand for? Thanks.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

unbeldi

#1
Yes, these gong clamps can be found on WECo ringers occasionally.  I have found them even in older subsets.  Formally they are known in BSPs as the 100B Gong Attachment.
The B-type ringer maintenance BSPs show them.

S-6-45  is the letter S prefixed to the standard assembly date of 302s, 6-45 (June 45) in your example.

WEco pre-fixed and post-fixed the dates for various features, but we apparently still don't know what the S– or –I letters mean.

–A indicates that the telephone uses an aluminum base plate. In these sets, the ringer had to be adjusted specially to compensate for the effect of this on the ringer electromagnets.

unbeldi

ok, here are some relevant BSPs:

BSP C31.204 i1 5404--Ringers and Loud Ringing Bells;Maintenance
BSP C31.205 i3 5406--Numbered Type Ringers;Maintenance
BSP C31.208 i1 5406--B-Type Ringers;Maintenance

Dan/Panther

Maybe used for office, to keep noise down.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

poplar1

Can you show the front of the dial? I'm trying to find out when they changed to the short finger stops. I believe it was sometime between 6-44 and 10-45.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Fabius

Quote from: poplar1 on July 21, 2015, 04:49:29 PM
Can you show the front of the dial? I'm trying to find out when they changed to the short finger stops. I believe it was sometime between 6-44 and 10-45.

Will do. I'll post pictures when I get home. The number plate is dated IV 44 and I think the finger stop is the long one but I'm not sure.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Fabius

Quote from: poplar1 on July 21, 2015, 04:49:29 PM
Can you show the front of the dial? I'm trying to find out when they changed to the short finger stops. I believe it was sometime between 6-44 and 10-45.

Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

poplar1

Thanks, Tom. Don't see many 5H dials dated 1943, 1944 or 1945.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

#8
Is that an S before the date on the dial too?

Usually, the other pre/post-fixes with the date are only shown on the base plate, ringer, and induction coil, IIRC.
I do seem to recall that I may have seen the S on another dial, but I can't be sure.

I also seem to get the impression that the S– was only used for a short period around the end of the war. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?   The –A suffix was used only between ca. 1946 and 1949 for those Al bases.

unbeldi

So, by my vision at the moment, I seem to judge that this was indeed the "long" version of the finger stop.

Fabius

Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Fabius

Quote from: unbeldi on July 21, 2015, 12:16:00 PM
WEco pre-fixed and post-fixed the dates for various features, but we apparently still don't know what the S– or –I letters mean.


Maybe the S is for steel or standard.?
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

unbeldi

Quote from: Fabius on July 22, 2015, 11:55:20 AM
Quote from: unbeldi on July 21, 2015, 12:16:00 PM
WEco pre-fixed and post-fixed the dates for various features, but we apparently still don't know what the S– or –I letters mean.


Maybe the S is for steel or standard.?

Thanks.
The fact that it's on the dial too leads me to suspect that this designation probably didn't indicate a material difference in a base component like the –A version for which the ringer, and perhaps even the induction coil, had different magnetic properties because of the lack of steel next to the components.