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Now the Story Can be Told - 1949 WECo 500 Set

Started by Dan/Panther, March 20, 2010, 11:08:11 PM

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Dan/Panther

After cleaning and lubricating the dial, The sound is quite unique.
I can only describe it as similar to second generation (702B) Princess dial in smoothness and quietness. The sound it makes can best be described as a very expensive movie projector. That rapid, precision, whir sound. Very quiet but discernible.
I don't know what the flaws were in the design, but it seems a good one got away. I have 45 phones on display in my man cave, and not one even comes close to the sound this one makes.
I have a microphone for my computer, I will dig it out, and try to capture the sound.

D/P

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

Jim Stettler

Quote from: Dan/Panther on April 03, 2010, 03:56:16 PM
After cleaning and lubricating the dial, The sound is quite unique.
I can only describe it as similar to second generation (702B) Princess dial in smoothness and quietness. The sound it makes can best be described as a very expensive movie projector. That rapid, precision, whir sound. Very quiet but discernible.
I don't know what the flaws were in the design, but it seems a good one got away. I have 45 phones on display in my man cave, and not one even comes close to the sound this one makes.
I have a microphone for my computer, I will dig it out, and try to capture the sound.

D/P
D/P,

I suspect your dial was the best deisign, However cost per set was also a concern. The production model was probably the cheapest -vs-quality design that they could make.

I suspect all components on your set are superior to the production replacements.
JMO,
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

bingster

Dan, the dial card in the photo you posted is a standard card.  There were three different size blank areas that were standard, and that one is the largest of the three, intended for three lines of text (exchange/number/extension).  There's one on the number card archive:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/numbercards/assets/wb_we_blank_or_form/300dpi/wb_blank_black_background_big_middle.jpg
= DARRIN =



Phonesrfun

Quote from: Jim S. on April 03, 2010, 03:32:07 PM

Bill,
I personally like the Q/A about color sets.
Jim

Yes, if I remember correctly, it was kind of "Let's not go there", after someone asked "You aren't really going to have a colered base with a black handset are you"??"

I can't remember the exact question, but yes,  it appears that any discussion about color was not even remotely anticipated by them.
-Bill G

Phonesrfun

Dan:

What are the colors on the dial wires?  My monitor makes it hard to get an exact reading.

Production dials (as we all know) were:

Pulse = Blue and Green
Shunt= White and White

-Bill G

Jim Stettler

Bill,

There was also a surprised "where did you hear  that." I wish they would tell us. reply.
It made me chuckle,
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

gpo706

Superb job on that fingerwheel D/P, and you claim little lathe-ing knowledge, so modest!

Its all coming together, mighty fine looking.

I like the idea for the first call, no doubt the lucky recipient would remark how much better the sound quality is than the set they might receive it on!
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Phonesrfun

The first call....  Dan, do you know anyone named Watson?


<sound from the crackly receiver>

"Watson, come here!  I need you."

The rest, they say, is history
-Bill G

Jim Stettler

Bill,

The historic recreation was made on wax cylinder is available as a digital file on line some where. I used to have it bookmarked on one of my old computers.

Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Jim Stettler

Quote from: Jim S. on April 03, 2010, 06:08:19 PM
Bill,

The historic recreation was made on wax cylinder is available as a digital file on line some where. I used to have it bookmarked on one of my old computers.

Jim
I think the hisrtoric recreation was made for the first transcontential call. It is heavily documented. Bell is sitting at a vanity.

Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Dan/Panther

Bill;
I feel somewhat embarrassed at the moment.
Pulse and shunt I know what they are, but not which wires are which.
To the EQ, are a Red Wire, then a White wire, They go to the terminals marked R, and W.
The other two wires are (Red and Brown Stripped), goes to terminal T, then what I call (brown) goes to terminal F.
The colors could be different, but not so different as to be confused with Blue and green.  the colors in the photo are fairly close on my computer.
Terminal W on the EQ, could be seen as yellopw wire, but the other is obviously Red. The wire going to Terminal T is obviously Red and Brown.
There is a blue and green wires coming out of the EQ, and going to the line switch. Then coming out of the line switch into the Network are a Blue and  a Green wire. Maybe this set is just wired a little differently.

Maybe after the EQ was eliminated the Green and Blue wire from the Line switch came directly out of the dial.

D/P

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

McHeath

Nice work on the fingerwheel, no way I could have created that.  About the only difference I note between it and the original is that the holes seem closer to the edge on the original, which is perhaps why the broke off.  However that's a minor quibble, your new fingerwheel captures the look and feel of the original, you even rounded off the inside of the holes it seems.  And those little rectangular holes for the number card assembly are excellently done!

So with this addition you have restored the chassis to ship shape.  Betting that you would be able to sell it for a good deal more than you paid for it. 

The dial is certainly unique, and it even uses what appears to be a nylon gear, ahead of it's time there.  Any idea if it works? 

Dan/Panther

#447
McHeath;

I haven't yet metered the dial. I can do the in awhile and let you know.
Laying one wheel on top of the other they are matched as far a hole spacing is concerned. It even appears that the holes are smaller on the one I made but both are on at .500". When I saw the photo I had to go back and double check. The I remembered that the new wheel is 1/16" larger diameter. It's at 3", the original is at 2-15/16". It's amazing that .030 of an inch is that noticeable to the eye.

D/P

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

Phonesrfun

Here is a photo of the inside end of my handset cord on my 1951 500 that uses the equalizer.

4 wires; Red, white, white, and black.

Red, white, and white are all 2-1/8" from the end of the jacket to the tips of the spades.
Black is 4-1/2" from the end of the jacket to the tip of the spade.

The dial is wired this way:

One shunt wire is to R on the network
Other shunt wire is to GN on the network
One pulse wire is to F on the network
Other pulse is to RR on the network.

I will download a picture of your dial and I will identify on it which wires are the shunt and which are the pulse,  That will be easy to identify.

Stay tuned....
-Bill G

paul-f

D/P:

Your dial photos are great.  One obvious question is: Why is a gear visible from the front?

Production 7A dials have a flat plate, no doubt to help act as a dust shield to keep junk out of the gears.  Not to mention it must be more expensive to make that box around the gear.

It seems likely that it is a viewing port for use during the experimental stage to allow them to put a strobe light on the gear to measure speed and regulation.

Looking at your photo 000_2772 (2).jpg, the contacts on the right are pulse contacts and the pair on the left are shunt contacts.  If you rotate the dial, you should see the pulse contacts vibrate for each digit.  You can see a finger on the plastic gear on the right that should activate the contacts.

When I get a chance, I'll post photos of my 1949 7A dial with the back dust cover removed so we can look for layout differences.  (Still looking for the rest of the set!)
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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