After some years of research on the internet I have the feeling telephones are quite good documented but the belonging plugs, jacks and outlets are a bit neglected. Especially when it comes to dates and what was when and with what. I searched this forum too and found nothing special dedicated to just plugs etc. only inbetween other topics. So I thought making a threat only for this topic would make sense. Everyone is invided to contribute his knowledge and please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on something or translate to wrong terms.
I will start with German ones as those are the ones I have most. Added some pictures too from the internet. To be continued.
Germany
Anschlussdosenanlage ZB (central battery)50, introduced in the 1930's until the 1960's, Walzenstecker (plug) ADoS ZB 27 and ,,Ado ZB 50" (alte Bezeichnung/old term: W 34). Colors black and ivory, earlier ones made from bakelite, newer hard plastik. Plugs older types left and newer right. Example of plug with kink protection. Both versions for mounting on the wall and flush mounted.
Something extraordinary, Drahtfunk, means radio and telephone share the same line, special wall outlet.
more...
Germany
Good thread! It will be very helpful in the future.
USA
283B plug brown
There was an older 4 prong jack with a metal shell.One source claimed 1929. There is a 2 prong version also. Some companies used 1/4 inch long both long and short pattern
collecting some posts distributed all over the forum:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1804.0
Re: Modular Adapters and 4 Prong Plugs/Jacks for Spade Cords
« Reply #75 on: May 21, 2014, 06:14:37 PM »
by unbeldi
Quote
Here is a time line I have been maintaining for the type 283 four-prong plugs.
==Time line of the 283-type plug==
*1931: 283A plug introduced for 202 AST telephones with 684A subsets. It was a four contact plug that had indentations which served as a grip when pulling the plug from a jack. To facilitate the connection of cord conductors, color designations are stamped adjacent to the terminals of these new types of plugs.
*1932 February: BSP C36.201 formally describes plugs and jacks for portable telephones. Available colors of 283A: black (-3) and old brass (-6).
*1934: A BLR article discusses the development of connectors for portable telephones (BLR 12(7), July 1934, p.343).
*1935: Catalog No. 9: 283A plugs were furnished with 202 desk sets upon order with a D4T type cord of corresponding color. Standard issue color was D4T-9 and 283A-3 plug.
*1935-1939: transition from 283A to 283B plug. The 283B plug has an external rim, mid-surface, around the plug, rather then indentations, to provide friction for pulling it from a socket.
*1939: Catalog No. 10 shows 283B plugs in colors ivory (-4), old brass (-6), and brown (-9).
*1950: Catalog No.11: ivory (-4), old-brass (-6), and brown (-9) colors available. Used with cords D2E, D3AM, D3AP, D4W, D4AJ.
*1950s: 283B plug is modified to have the pins molded into the plastic, rather than secured with a nut.
*1957: The Graybar catalog 12-T shows 283B plugs in ivory (-4) and brown (-9) only. Still has old-style grip lines (no 'ears').
*late 50s: The mid-surface rim is changed to 'ears' on two sides to provide grips, and the cord exit is open (U-shaped) to avoid having to thread the cord through the exit hole, thus the cover simply slides onto the base plate.
*1962: A 1966 New York Telephone supply catalog lists 283B-42 (beige), -50 (ivory), and -54 (brown) colors, as of 5/62 (page date). colors -50 and -54 supersede -4 and -9, respectively.
*1967: Available colors: black (-3), Green (-51), Yellow (-56), White (-58), Pink (-59), Lt. Beige (-60), Lt. Gray (-61), Aqua Blue (-62), and Turquoise (-64). Usage is documented with D3BP, D4BK, D3BU, D4BP cords. (BSP 461-630-105 Issue 1, February 1967). The 505A type plug is described and available for the same function. It has better features, including screw-less connection of spade terminals, and a cord fastener. The 505A may have appeared in 1965, acc. to collector reports.
*1969: The 283B plug is listed MD (BSP 461-630-105 Issue 2, February 1969).
*Later BSPs still mention the 283B (MD), if only in a list without discussion.
*1983 (but probably even earlier): The 505A plug is listed MD (BSP 461-630-100 Issue 12).
Re: Modular Adapters and 4 Prong Plugs/Jacks for Spade Cords
« Reply #74 on: May 21, 2014, 02:36:42 PM »
by poplar1
Quote
No doubt the 404A jack and 283A plug appeared c. 1931 along with 684As and 202s.
From TCI library:
1934 article in the Bell Labs Record about 4-prong plugs and jacks:
http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/document-repository/doc_details/11289-34jul-blr-p343-jacks-and-plugs-for-portable-telephones -- ( dead link )
34jul BLR P343 Jacks and Plugs for Portable Telephones (http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/catalogs-manuals-educational-docs-by-company/western-electric-bell-system/publications-and-educational-documents-by-date/blr/11289-34jul-blr-p343-jacks-and-plugs-for-portable-telephones?highlight=WyJqYWNrcyIsInBsdWdzIiwiZm9yIiwicG9ydGFibGUiLCJ0ZWxlcGhvbmVzIiwiZm9yIHBvcnRhYmxlIiwiZm9yIHBvcnRhYmxlIHRlbGVwaG9uZXMiLCJwb3J0YWJsZSB0ZWxlcGhvbmVzIl0)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BSP C36.201 Issue 1 Feb.1932==Jacks and Plugs for Inside Locations:
http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/document-repository/doc_details/4597-c36-201-i1-feb32-jacks-plugs-inside-loc -- ( dead link )
C36.201 I1 Feb32 Jacks Plugs Inside Loc (http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/bsp-bell-system-practices-by-doc/bsp-categories-by-early-letter-code-by-doc/c-series-station-installation-and-maintenance/c33-c38-dials-transmitters-receivers-cords/4597-c36-201-i1-feb32-jacks-plugs-inside-loc?highlight=WyJqYWNrcyIsInBsdWdzIiwiaW5zaWRlIiwibG9jIiwiamFja3MgcGx1Z3MiLCJqYWNrcyBwbHVncyBpbnNpZGUiLCJwbHVncyBpbnNpZGUiLCJwbHVncyBpbnNpZGUgbG9jIiwiaW5zaWRlIGxvYyJd)
Includes 403A flush mounted and 404A surface mounted jacks
Both links don't work anymore after reorganisation tci library, here are the pdf files:
This is a good Idea, just to make a list with pictures and dates for each country/region/geographical area.
Here in Norway we got the 3 prong plug around 1930-something, the RJ48 came in about 1982 with an odd pinout, standarized to the 2 center pins for POTS when ISDN came for full, and we still use that. But now when people just gets their ATA in the mail RJ11-12 are pretty common.
dsk
Quote from: Haf on March 16, 2018, 07:08:03 PM
by unbeldi
Quote
From TCI library:
1934 article in the Bell Labs Record about 4-prong plugs and jacks:
http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/document-repository/doc_details/11289-34jul-blr-p343-jacks-and-plugs-for-portable-telephones
I heard about these jacks over 20 years ago and always wondered exactly what they looked like. They came up in a conversation at the Maitland show and the guy next to me started digging in his "show" box and found some to show me. They were not for sale.. He had brown and Ivory plugs and a wall jack and a base jack.
I think there is a BSP devoted to jacks and plugs.
Jim S.
Quote from: Jim S. on March 17, 2018, 11:13:35 AM
I heard about these jacks over 20 years ago and always wondered exactly what they looked like. They came up in a conversation at the Maitland show and the guy next to me started digging in his "show" box and found some to show me. They were not for sale.. He had brown and Ivory plugs and a wall jack and a base jack.
I think there is a BSP devoted to jacks and plugs.
Jim S.
The oldest plug I have and have ever seen is the one I pictured. I have an ivory one too. No jack so far. Working on that.
The BSP is one of my attached pdf files in that post.
Haf
Norway
I am not able to find any norms, or dates for Norwegian telephone sockets, but it seems like when the bakelite telephone was introduced in 1932 the plug and socket started to be used. Traditionally it had been used fixed wiring, but now it was easy, and not so expensive. I have been in apartments where the 1934 telephone still was there with fixed wiring.
The socket was made for 3 pins plugs, and had a built in switch opening when the plug was removed.
In the first years it was used for serial ringers, later it came a 400k resistor there mainly to measure if the customer had put up to many jacks without paying the annual fee for each. Later they discovered that this should be in all the time to keep the line and bad splices "wet". This small current was keeping bad splices from corroding and making noise on the line. Today this is forgotten again.
The first ones was made in bakelite, in the 50ies they came in plastic and even in white. in 1967 even in grey and the pins on the plug was changed from cylindrical to blades.
The numbering of the pinout could hve changed during the years, but if we put the jack oriented with 2 close on top you will have Ring Tip and at the bottom Ground/external ringer. The colors used was usually red for ring, and blue or white for tip depending on type of wire. Indoors it was commonly used a flat white wire with 2 parallel single core wires. nailed to the wall by driving a nail in the middle. Norway has traditions for having all wiring on the wall, not in tubes, mains and all other.
Norway
A little later (1934?) the 6 pin system was introduced in Norway for magneto telephones, and these remained the standard until the last magneto exchange was closed in the 1990'ies.
Here the pinout was 1-2 line 3-4 battery 5-6 external ringer.
dsk
Norway
In Norway before the jacks became usual it was several others used, here are some pictures I have found.
The flat wide one was used at the railroads.
The last one was a marine system from a catalog dated 1946 (ref telemuseum, Norway)
dsk
Norway
I can also remember some adapters and strange systems used during the introduction of telefax and modems in Norway. I guess these actually came from Germany, but I am not sure.
They used jacks like these.
dsk
Norway
The actual norm from about 1982 was the 8 pin plug, usually known as RJ45
The 2 center pins are used for a single telephone line, and those unskilled people who put it up did not care about polarity even when they should. pin 3 or pin 8 could be used for ground/earth depending on the standard used.
Color codes Red (ring) Blue Tip.
dsk,
Germany (only system from 1963 on) and Norway like dsk stated:
very good, you found the successor for the German ADo ZB 50/W35, the Anschlussdosenanlage 94 introduced in 1963 until 1987. Jacks ADo 945 (later ADo 4 and ADo 8) and plug ADoS 945
I'm 69 & as a kid & an adult, all our phone in California (Cupertino area) our phones were hard wired until modular phones came out.
USA
389 A jack and 273 A plug
Here is an example of an 1930's 389 A and 273 A three contacts jack and plug, metal housing with indentations on the plug. Imagine the modern gray cord to be a cloth covered three conductor cord going to a 534 A sidetone subset .
I just missed another of those plugs due to the stupid ebay restrictions for outside US bidders, even with an US shipping address.
The original picture taken from the 1934 BLR mentioned earlier here. Thank your for contributing to the TCI Library, Chuck Hensley.
Haf
Interesting, resembles the 1/4" jack we uses to have on headphones in the US.