Re-Wiring Telephone

[tsihugou]

Hello all,

I have nearly no knowledge of telephones and this forum has helped me to fix a Northern Electric 302 before so I am hoping that you can help me with this one. First of all which model is it and how old is it? I am guessing the 1930s? The white wires have been cut so how can I make it work again? Can I find the necessary wires on oldphoneworks and if so which ones do I have to buy?
Thanks!

[Contempra]

good job and welcome to the forum  tsihugou

[Phonesrfun]

The wooden magneto subset won't be able to be used on a regular phone line without some modifications that you might not want to delve into.  The phone itself looks to be a Western Electric manual (no dial) D1 mount with an F1 handset.  If it were connected to an antisidetone subset such as a 684, the phone would be a 202. 

[LarryInMichigan]

If you remove the bottom cover of the phone, you will probably be able to find a date stamp inside the shell.  The phone was probably made some time during the 1930s.

Larry

[Kenton K]

Hello and welcome!

The subset box there is used only for local battery service, where you would supply power to the telephone with your own batteries. This type  does not work with modern exchanges, which use common battery, where the telco supplies all the power you need. So, unfortunately, you cannot use that subset wood box to make the telephone work on modern lines. (without seriously altering the box).

Luckily, their is nothing wrong with the phone, and it can be used with the simple addition of a common battery subset ringer box. Those should not be to expensive. With a new subset, the phone can be hooked up and work with modern lines. If you search the forums, there are tutorial for making subsets with spare parts.

I also noticed that it is a manual type, or no dial. If all hooked up, you will be able to receive calls, but without a dial, you will not be able to make calls.

You can also use the wood magneto subset and make a local battery home intercom.

Hope this helps!
Ken

[unbeldi]

I like to show and demonstrate a phone like this the way it was intended, namely on a magneto signaling individual line or party line with other phones of the same kind. I think that is more interesting than destroying the original purpose and rewiring it for modern needs.

[unbeldi]

Looking at the pictures in more detail it appears the subscriber set may be a Northern Electric 415H.
This is a local-battery unit for magneto service, meaning AC signaling only.

Here is a wiring diagram for that set, curtesy of the TCI library.

You should probably verify the wiring in the actual unit against this diagram before doing anything else.

I really would build a private party line for this so you ring other telephones with the generator, or swap it for a different subset, 534, 634, 684.

Is it a D1 for sure? or another D-type?