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Now the Story Can be Told - 1949 WECo 500 Set

Started by Dan/Panther, March 20, 2010, 11:08:11 PM

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HarrySmith

I THOUGHT THEY WERE THE SAME BUT IWAS AFRAID TO SAY IT!! ::)
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dan/Panther

McHeath;
Check photos now, wrong photo attached.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Kenny C

In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

Dan/Panther

Paul;
Have we determined what phone is in the the Dreyfus photo, and the Denice O'Neill photo, because they both have the thinner finger stop support, like the one on the #D177001.
Whereas the Pacific Telephone magazine photo dates their phone, November 1949, and appears to have the beefier finger stop  support, and the black plungers..
Also if you notice on the patent drawing the finger stop is not drawn in ?
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

HarrySmith

Interesting. Looking around at my phones here I see the 500's with the beefier support but my 5302 & 302 have the thinner one.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dan/Panther

I can only imagine how I would feel if I could somehow prove that The #D177001, was the same phone used in the Dreyfus photo. What a rush that would be.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

McHeath

Interesting tidbit here.  Curious how they eventually went back to the fingerstop just being supported by the simple metal arm and removed the dial flange piece.  (for lack of a better name)

That would be cool to have the phone in that pic of Dreyfuss eh? :)

cihensley@aol.com

A couple of months ago, I posted a Bell Laboratories Record article on the new (then) 500 set. D/P in a reply post asked if I had any more information on the 500 set. I responded that I had BSPs which I have scanned to the TCI Web site. My response was accurate at the time, but I had a recollection of copying some other article when I had the chance some years ago. I recently came across my missing articles. The attached is another BLR article on the 500 set. Notice on page 415 (second page of the scan) that the dial of the 500 set uses the curved name Operator characteristic of early 500 sets. I have some more BLR articles, including some additional technical descriptions of individual components of the 500 set. I will scan these if there is any interest.


McHeath

That was a good read, and informative as well, thanks for posting it.  I think you will find that this crowd are fond of original info on the model 500 and the more the better.

Dan/Panther

#939
CI;
More, More....
Thanks great read.

Did you notice that he states at the end of his 3rd paragraph, "the Field trial tests were ready BY 1948"
Meaning possibly that they were made in 1947.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Dan/Panther

#940
After reading CI's post, and the attached PDF's. I've culled a couple passages that make me even more convinced that we are missing something in our interpretation of the early production sets.
If you study the wording of the passages, you should come to the conclusion , If our interpretation of the early sets are correct, these passages should be worded differently.
Example of him stating:

"Several thousand of the first production run"

If only 4000 were produced, wouldn't logic dictate that the phrase might or should read:

"Most of the first production run...", or "a large portion of the first production run"

The way he phrases it, leads me to believe the first production run was a much larger figure than just 4000.
That is why I thought, and continue to think that the 4000 initial sets may have been lumped into the original 100,000 plus of 1950.

We must remember that even though we have an example of a 1949 500, it does not match production models and a could quite possibly be a special made set, and most likely not a production model at all.

He also states that; "the Field Trial sets were carefully studied after the tests were finished", which makes me believe they were destroyed...or at least returned to Murray Hill, as my sets clearly instructs should be done, rather then attempt to examine them in the field.
I still think we have a few major pieces missing from the puzzle, I don't think the evidence supports all that we have stated about the early tests, and production figures for 1949.

I further think if anyone wants to find a 49-500 ( if any more exist ) they should concentrate their search in the Murray Hill area of New Jersey, forget about a lucky find in Chicago, or wherever.
I think the 49-500 at the Seattle museum, belonged to a Murry Hill employee, that had the phone modified for his, or her office use, and took it with them when they retired to Seattle.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

HarrySmith

There has got to be someone who was there that is still around. Maybe one of our members who is a former telco employee might have a contact to get a list of names? People who worked in the Murray Hill Lab back then, or in the field in that area, or was at the switchboard??
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dan/Panther

My thoughts exactly, where are these folks.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

HarrySmith

Do we have any ex-telco guys around? or maybe current telco employees can dig this info up? I someone can come up with a list of names I would volunteer to help with research.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

cihensley@aol.com

Here is another BLR article on 500 set transmission. I have a couple of more articles I will post when I scan them. Relative to doing some research on the trial I have put out several queries to see if there is a lead on some retired Bell Labs people that can lead to other contacts. Basic life expectancy math suggests there is no one remaining that worked on the trial, but someone with institutional memory may be a source of information.

Someone in the Forum that lives in the New York area may be able to visit the AT&T archive to do some research. They probably have any documents pertaining to the trial. Here is a URL with an article about the archive: http://www.aip.org/history/newsletter/spr98/att-arc.htm This article was written in 1998, but I know the archive still exists. Hochheiser, the author of the article, has retired and I don't know the name of the current archivist.

Chuck