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Good Gravy! Did I Just Buy A Phone Booth?

Started by Dave, March 25, 2014, 10:42:31 PM

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Dave

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a baby boomer and I watched Get Smart in the 1960s. I saw this phone booth on CL and HAD to have it. Yeah, I know. It isn't exactly the same phone booth, but it does have red signs and that's close enough.

I haven't brought it home yet. The picture is from the CL ad so I can't do much research on my own.
Would some of you smarter than me folks please tell me what I bought? If you can. Please.

twocvbloke

The font used for the signs looks almost identical to the font used for UK vehicle registration plates... ???

http://www.dafont.com/mandatory.font

WesternElectricBen

Very cool, and good luck!

I too, really enjoy getsmart, a hilarious show.

Ben

Jim Stettler

I think it is a cold weather booth. That is based on the bottom vents of the booth. I think warm weather booths are open @ the bottom.
JMHO,
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Scotophor

I don't see doors in the photo, did the seller say whether they are included?
Name: A.J.   Location: LAPNCAXG, EDgewood 6

G-Man

#5
Quote from: Dave on March 25, 2014, 10:42:31 PM
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a baby boomer and I watched Get Smart in the 1960s. I saw this phone booth on CL and HAD to have it. Yeah, I know. It isn't exactly the same phone booth, but it does have red signs and that's close enough.

I haven't brought it home yet. The picture is from the CL ad so I can't do much research on my own.
Would some of you smarter than me folks please tell me what I bought? If you can. Please.

Looks like a Benner-Nawman but could also be an Alcoa booth. Need to see additional details but either way further information may be found in catalogs in the TCI library.

Dave

Quote from: Scotophor on March 26, 2014, 04:08:07 AM
I don't see doors in the photo, did the seller say whether they are included?

Seller says (whatever that's worth) it never had doors. Something about keeping the bums from living in it during cold weather. That's one of the things I want to know about - a source for doors.

I'm also wondering if the phone can be mounted higher.

DavePEI

With our Northern Electric MD9021 booths here on PEI, as doors were damaged, they weren't replaced. First of all, it made it easier to keep the booth snow free in the winter, and secondly it reduced vandalism.

In fact, my MD9021 was the last of these on PEI with the doors and one of only 3 MD9021s left at all, and now is the last with or without doors. It was all part of the trend towards open booths. Perhaps also a way of keeping calls shorter because in nasty weather there was no shelter :)

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
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poplar1

This may be the later style ADA-compliant booth which didn't have a door. That would also explain the lower mounting for the phone. Both these features would make it wheelchair accessible.

However, if you should ever need a door, they are available:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9394.msg100622#msg100622
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

ESalter

It looks like an Alcoa made Airlight I style booth.  Equivalent to a KS 14611.  It was definitely built with doors and has definitely been modified at some point to have the phone mounted lower and the doors removed.  Notice in the other photos(except Dave H.'s NE booth) how the front sign panel is offset to one side just like yours.  Also notice how the right front vertical side panel is much wider than the other side.  That extra width is the difference between what the Bell System referred to as "Universal" and "Airlight" booths.  The Airlights are bigger inside.  Sadly, that wider side panel that was removed is what the doors mount to.  The ones Poplar1 mentioned are the correct type of doors, but you wouldn't have a way to mount them to the booth.

Hope that helps!

---Eric

Dave

Great info. Thanks, everyone. Being modified to ADA standards makes sense to me. I'd like to put a door back on it though. I'm wondering if that vertical panel that the doors mount to can be found as well?

paul-f

There's a good Bell Labs Record article from the announcement timeframe and several BSPs with relevant info in the TCI LIbrary.

A good way to find lots of references is to search for Aluminum Booth using the Google Site Search, available from the Search menu or here:

  http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/search-1/google-search
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

Dave

#12
Four years later, I finally got around to buying the tool to access the lights. I found eight pounds of dead insect carcasses, two 40 watt circline fluorescents and two ballasts. Why the expedition? The light didn't work after I plugged it in.

I jiggled the connectors on the bulbs - POOF! - light. The second one didn't come on right away, but now they're both functioning after sitting for who knows how long.

Pretty sure the booth was modified to be ADA compliant. When the panels that the phone mounts to were moved to lower the phone, those guys must have been using a really long lever to torque those screws down. I'm going to have to shave off the heads and drill and tap the holes. Looks like the same panels can be shifted to get the phone back up to the regular height.

I'm using it under the carport as a front porch light. I put it on a photoelectric timer. Running eighty watts of porch light seems a tad wasteful. I suppose I could disconnect one bulb, but nah, I don't want to do that. Anyone ever make a conversion to LED circle bulbs? Since the booth has already been modded, I don't feel the need to keep it "original". I'll keep the old parts, but I would like to take LED.

I'm going to make the phone a "doorbell". I just pulled the trigger on a Panasonic KX-T61610 and when the phone goes in I'll connect it as an extension. Won't that be fun!

Dave

p.s. I've modified this post 3 times in order to rotate the pictures, but no matter what I do I still get these 90 degree off pix. Sorry.


AE_Collector

Jiggling the connectors on the circle Line tubes was my go to repair on these! A sigh of relief when that worked cause Gawd help you if you had to try to figure out there the power (was supposed to) come from on some of these! If privately supplied was it on a timer or a daylight sensor? For outdoor booths I carried lists of the ones that I couldn't get to light during the day and if I happened to be out at night I would check again while driving by. That said,  I think I was the only guy around here who made any effort at all to have them lit properly.

Terry

.....

I fixed your pictures for you. Nice booth.