Runzel Cord and Wire-Chicago

[Desert Phone Guy]

Does anyone know whatever happened to Runzel Cord and Wire?  Back in the 80's , I used to order cloth telephone cords from their 1950 catalog.   They were great and were made to factory specs.  I still have the old Catalog which provides dimensions and colors.

At one time seems like Bill Runzel was a member of ATCA for a short period of time, and he made a few cords....

Would have been amazing to see all the braiding equipment in operation.  The catalog has several photos of braiding and  the finishing shop.

Steve

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I just searched "Runzel Cord and Wire" and came up with this:

https://www.shattuc.com/our-history

From "Shattuc Cord Specialties, Our History":

"History of Shattuc and The Runzel Corporation

Emanating from the Runzel Cord & Wire Company, whose business philosophy was "making a good product and giving good service", Shattuc Cord Specialties continues that same business philosophy today. In the 1930's, the Runzel Cord & Wire Company was known for manufacturing the robust Western Electric cords that were known throughout the world for their use in the Telecommunications Industry. Today, those cords are highly sought after by vintage collectors of that technology to restore the vast array of telecommunications equipment of that era. In the modern day, Shattuc Cord Specialties has expanded our capabilities to new customers and providing new products, while still maintaining the highly-valued business that has contributed to its success.

Since 1991, Shattuc Cord Specialties Inc. has met customer's needs by manufacturing an immense array of custom braided products, and cable assemblies. Many of these products are proprietary, and are sold to both Value-Added and Original Equipment Manufacturers.

In 2011, to expand our customer base, we decided to venture in Pro Audio/Video and Broadcast markets. The addition of Pro A/V and Broadcast products has been a tremendous success. Shattuc also distributes bulk cable, will cut to customer specified lengths, and offers connectors, tools, and other synergistic items that complement the Pro A/V and Broadcast markets."


It looks like Runzel was bought out in 1991. It also looks like they were the ones who supplied WE with cloth cords. Hey, maybe Shattuc could start reproducing Western Electric cloth cords!

[TelePlay]

It looks like Runzel was bought out in 1991. It also looks like they were the ones who supplied WE with cloth cords. Hey, maybe Shattuc could start reproducing Western Electric cloth cords!

Good research, Christian.

I suspect the company has moved on in time no longer producing buggy whips but are making a great line of woven plastic cords and cables.

Makes me wonder what they did with the cloth/tinsel wire equipment, junked it or sold it to someone, maybe OPW?

And I'm sure they'd go back to making a few hundred yards of WE spec cloth cords for the limited market of today,  . . . (Aerosmith) song here . . .   Would be nice but I'd think the cost would be quite high.

At least now we know where the original cords came from, were made.

[Dennis Markham]

Oldphoneworks purchased their cord making machines from Otis LeVrier of House of Telephones in Texas.  I was fortunate enough to purchase some cords from Otis before he sold his business.   He has since passed.  (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15018.0)  Although never meeting him in person, he was a joy to talk with on the telephone.

Oldphoneworks web site tells about the purchase........Here:

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/about-us.html

Sorry if I went off-topic with my post.

~Dennis

[TelePlay]

No, Dennis, you didn't go off topic. I knew OPW had a spinning machine with pictures but could not find that link and was asking if they got their machine from as scrap from Runzel. Forgot about Otis. That answers that question. Thanks.

[poplar1]

I don't believe that Runzel made cords for Western Electric. Rather, they made cords that matched the specs of various manufacturers, including Western Electric. Runzel used their own part numbers, though. In the 1950 catalog, they showed their part numbers as well as the corresponding numbers assigned by the original manufacturers: Kellogg, Stromberg-Caraslon, Automatic Electric, Western Electric, and others.

[cihensley@aol.com]

Desert Phone Guy is correct. I remember Runzel  (I don't remember if the first name was Bill) selling cords at an ATCA, or TCI, phone show in the early 90s. As i remember the cords were for the plastic colored H-mount (302) sets. Jim Aita must have purchased a bunch of them, because he was selling them at shows for several years after Runzel disappeared.

Chuck

[Desert Phone Guy]

I tend to agree with Poplar1.  The same 1950 catalog I have does a cross reference chart, listing several manufacturer's cord numbers along with the Runzel equivalent.  The Runzel cords were of excellent quality, and they fit like a glove to the specific applications I used them for. 

Interesting aside is that in the photos of the cord finishing area almost all the employees were women.  I will try to post some photos later.

[TelePlay]

Looking for something else, I found this on the TCI site.

An eBook print quality copy of that Runzel 53 page Catalog is attached, the full quality document is at the above link.

The original document was 24 MBytes in size and gave me the infamous white screen, file is too large problem, so reduced the quality to attach it here.