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A.E. 1A Monophone

Started by BDM, April 10, 2009, 04:58:52 PM

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Wallphone

Terry, I thought the 43 was the predecessor of the 87 and the 183 was the successor. AE didn't change their numbers again did they?
Doug Pav

GG



Hi Terry-   Yes, I have a 40 with space for the multifunction button near the cradle, but the button itself went missing from its chrome cylindrical holder, and I'm not sure if the switch contacts are still present underneath.  This one is Philips from Canada, with a GPO dial that needs a rebuild (I can do dials as long as the mainspring isn't broken).  So apparently those did exist, which makes sense because that function was very common back in the day.

As for the rest of them, perhaps the answer is for all of us to round up all of our AE 40-series sets and compile a database to try to find the pattern.  Chances are some of the code was continued with the 80s, e.g. "SL" and "XX" and 2-digit codes for ringers. 

Dennis - Yes I'll be interested in taking you up on this when I have some free time to ship stuff.  I have some misc AE parts such as hookswitch plungers, and a couple of AE & GPO fingerwheels, that could do to be re-plated. 

Doug - I have right next to me an AE "Call Director" style 3-line set (DTMF) and it says "T-187-SL" with date code "13 Aug 1980."  That is a radically simplified part code compared to the earlier ones, and is missing any reference to color (this one is black), but I have to assume T stands for Touch Calling.  I have a bunch of 187s so I could go check the rest of 'em, but I'm sure they're all "187" rather than "183."   Also the type 86 was a 5-line 1A2 phone (or 10A2 in AE terms) similar to a WE 565, and the type 186 was the 10A2 version of the 187. 

Now the sensible thing to do would have been to code the 3-line set with the lower part number e.g. 86, 186, and the 5-line set with the higher part number e.g. 87, 187, but these numbering schemes evolve ad-hoc and so it goes. 


AE_Collector

Quote from: Wallphone on September 29, 2011, 11:52:15 AM
Terry, I thought the 43 was the predecessor of the 87 and the 183 was the successor. AE didn't change their numbers again did they?
Doug Pav

Doug:

3 line KSU-less phones: 47 - 87 - 187.

Spacesavers: 4 - 43 - 83 - 183.

GG;

T simply refers to "Type" 187. AE never did anything to model numbers to differentiate Rotary from Touch Call.

Somewhere around the year 2000 ATCA did an AECo code survey but the results were not very conclusive. I think that there were only 50 odd codes submitted. I decided that a LOT more codes would be needed to further decipher them.

I started a spreadsheet and entered some of my phones codes along with their features. I have also entered a lot of phones seen on ebaY where their code can be read. Maybe I will start a thread here soon asking for input and continue adding to my spreadsheet.

Terry




GG



Hi Terry-

Re. "somewhere around 2000, ATCA did a survey..." 

I have to laugh:  All the King's horses, and all the King's men, couldn't put the AE codes back together again!

Here's a conventional 40 for you:  4020B0 PL7.  Chrome dial fingerwheel & handset cradle, and the baseplate appears to be aluminum.

Here's a Canadian Philips version with GPO dial and with the odd hole where I thought the exclusion pull/press key must have gone (the exclusion key plunger is missing now):  looks like Y 1186, which number also appears on the schematic inside.  There's another sticker inside with the date 4-4-50 on it. 

However, I was mistaken earlier: that is NOT an exclusion pull/press key: the schematic refers to it as "Push Button, Red," and it is nothing more than a PABX ground button or recall-register button.  (I can probably fabricate a new plunger out of something, for example lucite rod stock and a washer and screw.) 

AE_Collector


GG SAID:
I have to laugh:  All the King's horses, and all the King's men, couldn't put the AE codes back together again!

Good One! That about sumarizes things as far as I am concerned!

I'll get a thread going here for more input soon.

I suspect the little button on a 40 is like the AE 81 and AE 85 sets in that there were many options. I have only seen the button being black but I've only seen a couple of them in total.

Terry

GG



Hi Terry -

YES, a topic on deciphering AE would be good.  The maddening thing about AE is that for many years they had no dates on anything, so the best one can say is "some time between year X and year Y."  This may partially explain why AE phones don't generally fetch higher prices (GOOD!  This is a hobby, not the b----y stock market!).  Yet it would be nice to be able to piece together the history more closely, and figure out where one's particular examples fit into the timeline. 

Agreed, the single button on 40s probably had many optional contact-sets for different purposes.  So far we know of the ground-button version (SPST momentary contact) and the third-line version with a ground button function (DPDT pull contacts, and SPST momentary contact).  A pure "exclusion" version might only be one set of SPDT contacts with an SPST make-only contact, in other words an incomplete set of DPDT contacts as found on some of the type 85 phones. 

"Incomplete DPDT contacts" were IMHO false economy, limiting the flexibility of the phone for the sake of saving one contact spring and its associated wire.   Type 85 with press/turn key and true DPDT contacts in the exclusion switch, could have been a drop-in replacement for the two-line type 40 with intercom line option, or been usable for "2 line with 2 hold" service similar to the 85-E.

Kenny C

As long as we're deciphering AE sets, the title says AE A1 Monophone. Isn't the A1 westerns first desk set? I thought the AE was called a 1A. I could be wrong (usually I am ;))
In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

AE_Collector

#52
Quote from: Kenny C on October 01, 2011, 09:09:26 AM
As long as we're deciphering AE sets, the title says AE A1 Monophone. Isn't the A1 westerns first desk set? I thought the AE was called a 1A. I could be wrong (usually I am ;))

You are 100% correct Kenny. I have noted that it was wrong a couple of times in the past and had now forgotten about the incorrect title. Either BDM (originator of this thread) or Dennis could pop in and do a correction on the title. Then I think what happens is all existing posts stay as is but new posts will be correct. But the title of his tread when then be accurate as well.

Terry

Dennis Markham

I did modify the original topic so that it now reads "A.E. 1A Monophone" instead of A1 Monophone.  All subsequent posts should be titled correctly, but as Terry said, those already in place will remain as they were. 

AE_Collector

Thanks Dennis.

I think the main thing is that the Subject line will be correct when looking at the list of topics.

Terry

GG



Question:  What about an AE 1A on which the metal cradle switch cover does not have the usual Automatic Electric logos, but is just plain & flat (plus the indentation for the screw-on retainer? 

It's clearly an AE phone in all respects, dial & handset included, and not one of their foreign variants such as the UK or Belgium versions.  Could this be an American Electric (AE reconditioning shop) variant?  Or did AE issue them with plain cradle switch covers at some point?

AE_Collector

#56
GG: I don't have an answer for that question other than this observation.

I am in British Columbia Canada where the incumbant Telco, BC Telephone Company (Now Telus) began using some AE Monophones rather than NE telephones in July 1928. They were introduced as new Monophones which of course meant "Telephone with a handset containing both transmitter and receiver rather than phone with seperate transmitter and receiver".

The Theodore Gary Company already owned AECo and then purchased a controlling interest in the BC Telephone Company in December 1926 so it stands to reason that BC Telephone would begin offereing AE products.

In Canada, Phillips Electrical Works of Brockville Ontario made telephone cable and then expanded into telephone production in 1937 producing Automatic Electric phones with labelling inside or on the base saying Phillips Elecrical Works. Much like (no pun intended) Leich Electric produced early AE 80 phones before Leich was completely absorbed into Automatic Electric.

I am finally getting to the point I wanted to make now. Almost every AE 1A phone that I own has the blank plate that you describe GG. The excptions are likely the phones that I bought on ebaY coming from the USA. Since Phillips didn't start making AE phones in Canada until 1937 the majority of the 1A monophones here must have been imported from the USA.

For some reason it appears that they were equipped with blank plates for the BC or maybe the entire Canadian market. I can't really think of a reason for that other than maybe they didn't want the indication that they were made in the USA rather than Canada or Britain. Or maybe there was some other more obscure reason. Maybe an operating company could order them with blanks if they didn't want the name of another company (American Electric or Automatic Electric) in front of their subscribers every time they went off hook.

Terry

AE_Collector