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Any Leich Bakelite experts here?

Started by Stephen Furley, August 20, 2011, 03:39:03 PM

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Stephen Furley

Old phone works have two different Bakelite telephone shells on their site, this one:

http://tinyurl.com/3nmxvc2

and this one:

http://tinyurl.com/3bj4wm2

They are obviously for very different telephones.  The first one is the pyramid shaped one and is said to be for models 62 and 90, and there is a picture of each of these on the page.

The second one is more like the later Leich 105, or even a 500, in shape, but like the 105 has the 'claws' for use a wall or desk model.  This one is described as 'Leich bakelite shell 90', but if one of the pyramid ones was a 90 then presumably this one can't also be.  Does anybody know the correct model numbers for these 'phones?  The reason I ask is that I've never had a Leich telephone before, but there are now two on their way to me, one pyramid shape and one 'claw' one, and I want to know what models they are that I'm getting.

Wallphone

Stephen, Leich could make many different models out of two housings but for the basics - On the first shell that you described as a pyramid they made a desk phone that was a model 62, this one didn't have a ringer in it. Then they took the same phone and mounted a small ringer shell to the bottom and this was a model 90. They also took the same housing and mounted it on a magneto that looked like a beehive and this was a 970. The 2nd housing with no dial was a model 601, with a dial it was a 605. If it had the hand crank magneto where the dial would go it was a 901. Anyone out there can correct me if I'm wrong.
Doug Pav

Stephen Furley

#2
Quote from: Wallphone on August 20, 2011, 04:46:17 PM
Stephen, Leich could make many different models out of two housings but for the basics - On the first shell that you described as a pyramid they made a desk phone that was a model 62, this one didn't have a ringer in it. Then they took the same phone and mounted a small ringer shell to the bottom and this was a model 90. They also took the same housing and mounted it on a magneto that looked like a beehive and this was a 970. The 2nd housing with no dial was a model 601, with a dial it was a 605. If it had the hand crank magneto where the dial would go it was a 901. Anyone out there can correct me if I'm wrong.
Doug Pav

Thank you.  It sounds like a 90 and a 605, or something similar, are the ones that I should be getting.  Just hope they arrive ok.

The pyramid one was received by British Customs on Thursday; there's no tracking information for the claw one.

I've received the request to pay the tax on the North 540 from Parcelforce Worldwide, but there's a problem.  I'm never in at times when they deliver; in the past I've collected from their depot, but they will only allow collection with a very limited range of identification, and the only one on the list which I had was a passport.  My passport was in my desk at work because I used it for this purpose, which the Passport Office say you shouldn't, and it went missing during the office move, and hasn't turned up yet.  I have just over two weeks to find a solution to this before they send it back.  From past experience they will not move on the range of identification which they will accept, and I cannot get time off from work until the end of September as enrolment starts this week, and no leave, except compassionate, is allowed during that time.

paul-f

Check out the TCI Library for documents on Leich.  Among them, you'll find this chart for the 50-90 sets:
  http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=3555&Itemid=2

Leich catalog 50 lists the "600 telephones" (common battery) including the two Doug mentioned plus others for a hookswitch latch and/or signalling button.

The 900 telephones were magneto telephones, available with a variety of ringers and optional hookswitch latch.

Catalog 61 lists the 900s plus the Type 100 telephones in "10 beautiful colors plus black."  Type 100s apparently replaced the 600 line.

Briny:  I suspect OPW is charging more for the labor to buff the housing than for the housing itself.  How much time do you spend on one?  (Most of us are probably not in the target market for this item!)
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

rdelius

The 100 series were plastic and used components that somewhat resembled 500 set parts.The dial opening was large to fit the same dial used on type 80 sets.These were desk or wall sets.
Robby

Stephen Furley

#5
AE_Collector has a picture of a 105C in desk mode here:

http://tinyurl.com/3hscqvu
( dead link 05-09-21 )

And in wall mode here:

http://tinyurl.com/3lv3rp5
( dead link 05-09-21 )

I don't have one of these, but I'm looking.  This would just about complete my collection of the reasonably common standard American desk sets of the 500 era.  I have WE 500, AE 80, SC 1543 and North 540.

What happened to Leich; Were they taken over by somebody else?  They seem to have made relatively few dial models, and that's reflected in the ones which turn up on Ebay.

Edit:

What do you know, a black 105 has just turned up on Ebay, looks like it has original cords and it's $4.99 and no bids with four days to go.  paint on dial is worn, with brass showing through, and it's marked 16 2/3, presumably ringer frequency, but that probably wouldn't put me off.  What would however is the postage to UK, $66.45.  Guess I'll have to keep looking.

rdelius

Leich made telephones for GTE and other independent telephone cos.Some early AE type 80 sets were assembled by leich.Most likely absorbed into AE-GTE.They did make leich switchboards and 900 series magneto sets possibly into the 1970s
Robby

stub

#7
Stephen Furley ,
          The Leich 900 Magneto telephone showed up in the AE Catalog in 1957, pg. 12 and in the 1975 , pg 17. They use a AE 51-A dial.

 Here's where you can get the 1957 AE Catalog at the TCI Library - scroll down to # 5
                                                                           
                                                                                                          http://tinyurl.com/3mhb7l2


                                                                                                                                         stub
                                                                                                               


                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                   stub
Kenneth Stubblefield

AE_Collector

General Telephone Corporation purchased its first telephone equipment manufacturing subsidiary when it purchased Leich Electric in November 1950. Leich was headquartered in Chicago with a manufacturing plant in Genoa Illinois.

Leich Electric continued to operate independantly of Automatic Electric after GTE acquired Theodore Gary & Company (who already owned AECo) in October 1955 but Leich was formerly consolidated into Automatic Electric in 1962.

Terry

GG



Ohboy Stephen, nasty paperwork mess you've got there, I have no idea what to suggest other than having someone else at your residence to hand over a check when they deliver the package.  Alternately have the sender contact ParcelForce with the shipping & tracking information and attempt to have the package re-addressed to you at work.

However if your passport went missing you need to file a police report ASAP because almost certainly it was stolen at some point in the process, and will be used for identity theft: and then your troubles have only just begun. 

--

There's another Leich phone which was their first with extended number plate.

It looks roughly like other extended number plate phones except that the cradle switch buttons are mounted diagonally and the rear of the cradle is even more claw-shaped than on the "90."   This was of course a "combined set," desk/wall mounting.  The bottom surface of the handset (approximately similar to a G-type handset) is triangular such that it fits into the cradle and operates the plungers in both desk and wall positions.

The only one of these I ever saw, used an AE type 52 dial with extended number plate.  Oddly I don't recall much about the innards, but they might have been similar to a 500 in terms of layout.  And I think it's possible that the ringer was similar to a WE C4A, and the same ringers were used on AE types 86 and 87 (the 5-line 1A2 phone and the 3-line self-contained phone). 

Anyway, those seem to me to be pretty rare, so if you're into Leich and you find one, scoop it up at first opportunity.

Stephen Furley

Quote from: GG on September 02, 2011, 03:34:21 AM
Ohboy Stephen, nasty paperwork mess you've got there, I have no idea what to suggest other than having someone else at your residence to hand over a check when they deliver the package.  Alternately have the sender contact ParcelForce with the shipping & tracking information and attempt to have the package re-addressed to you at work.

However if your passport went missing you need to file a police report ASAP because almost certainly it was stolen at some point in the process, and will be used for identity theft: and then your troubles have only just begun. 

Cheques (checks) are almost extinct now; I haven't written one in at least five years, and most organisations no longer accept personal cheques.  The banks came close to withdrawing them last year, but they remain for now.  The guarenteed payment with a card, usually up to thirty pounds, was abolished a few months ago.

Paying is no problem, like most things these days it's done on-line.  You just type in the parcel number and a form comes up with the name and address, and space to type in the payment details.  It only takes a few seconds.  It's receiving the parcel that's the problem; there will never be anybody there when they come.  Sometimes a neighbour takes things in if she sees them.

I'd never speak to the British Police about the passport.