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North Galion with "Jaeger" AE style dial

Started by countryman, January 27, 2021, 04:50:12 PM

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countryman

The postman brought 2 phones in 1 haul today :-)
One is a 1943 North Galion. It was on Ebay classifieds for over a year (!) and I had placed an offer earlier, which was brusquely declined. This time I was luckier. I made the same offer again and after some bargaining I made the deal at 45 € (54.50 $ US) shipping included. Not sure why no one else was interested, I have not found a second of it's kind on the German market all the time...
It's a  dates matching 1943 North Galion. The dial is an AE style "Jaeger". Never heard about that one and a forum search suggests "Jagger" instead...
I know the Jaeger brand as a French manufacturer of auto instruments but did they make dials for American phones? Or is it coincidential?
-->edit, thinking it over, it must be a French dial retrofitted into this phone, looking at the lettering.

The phone misses it's dial card and retainer, and both elements are shot. The transmitter -as usual- due to old age, while the receiver is damaged and one of the wires is broken off. I don't think that will be fixable. I might try to drill out the rivets, but how to re-assemble, even if I should manage to solder the wire?
Otherwise, it's decently kept, some scratches but nothing serious. The dial was sticky from excessive lubrication, I cleaned it with auto brake cleaner and compressed air. With the elements borrowed from my 302, the phone transmits, receives, dials out and even rings  :-)
Does it have an adjustable bias spring, I would try to release it a bit for even better ringing, like on the 302.

countryman

Dial after cleaning.
The heavy crescent-shaped spacer and everything else looked very original to me.

countryman


Jack Ryan

Quote from: countryman on January 28, 2021, 07:08:44 AM
Or is the dial British?

The dial is French and I would have thought  it wouldn't fit. Can you post a picture of the side of the phone so I can see how the dial is mounted?

Thanks
Jack

countryman

Here you are. It looks like the crescent shaped spacer serves as an adapter. But that looks factory and everything fits snugly. The second pic is a view from the inside. There are 3 mounting screws like in a WE 302, 2 go through the terminal strap where the "french colored" dial wires meet the American ones.

FABphones

French. My guess is the original dial failed and was replaced by one more locally available. Finding the missing dialcard holder will be difficult, and unfortunately is not the same size as the similar looking AE.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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Jack Ryan

Quote from: countryman on January 28, 2021, 01:29:32 PM
Here you are. It looks like the crescent shaped spacer serves as an adapter. But that looks factory and everything fits snugly. The second pic is a view from the inside. There are 3 mounting screws like in a WE 302, 2 go through the terminal strap where the "french colored" dial wires meet the American ones.

Looks like I was right - the dial doesn't fit.

French dials are a but bigger than US and other dials so it won't drop into the proper space. The adaptor holds dial at the surface. I don't know where that dial and spacer were originally used.

Regards
Jack

Jack Ryan

Quote from: FABphones on January 28, 2021, 01:45:24 PM
French. My guess is the original dial failed and was replaced by one more locally available. Finding the missing dialcard holder will be difficult, and unfortunately is not the same size as the similar looking AE.


The retainer from another French dial should fit. That type of dial is (was?) common there.

Jack



countryman

In fact the card retainer is 45 mm in diameter - the AE version is 2 or 3 mm smaller - like on Belgian ATEA phones as well. The French version is hard to find in fact as it's always the first part that gets lost and there are no reproductions.

The conversion was done professionally and is not a tinkerer's work. Possibly the spacer was even manufactured specially for the purpose. That would only make sense if a number of phones was converted. Like this magneto phone, it might have been refurbished using leftover US army surplus material during post-WWII shortages. That story might be interesting, but it's lost and wild guesses do not help.

FABphones

Quote from: Jack Ryan on January 28, 2021, 06:00:06 PM
The retainer from another French dial should fit....

Another retainer from the same style of French dial will fit - problem is finding one. Retainers on their own just aren't to be found :(.  I actively search for them as am in need of a few myself.

As these older dials fail many of them are replaced by the much easier to find later Perspex version (with the centre bolt), so these old dials themselves are becoming less available.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

tubaman

#10
Someone has gone to a lot of effort to make the oversized dial fit in an acceptable way. As FABphones has just said, the French card retainers are unfortunately very difficult to find.
:)

countryman

#11
Looks like it has a younger brother....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/401738546242

Why is there a cord entering the bottom plate?



< edit 05-16-21: image removed, rotated, reattached >

FABphones

A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

countryman

While we have a double lockdown (pandemic control + snowstorm) I opened the dead transmitter element of the North Galion. Beat me for breaking into an almost 80 year old part, but it was dead and useless...
I un-crimped the copper ring and emptied out carbon and the diaphragm. The room inside was still too shallow to mount a perforated board. I built the transmitter in the "dead bug style" for that reason. I also used an extra small electret mic out of a broken cordless phone.

I also opened the receiver and found a person had stuck a screwdriver into it, ruining both coils. I do not think I can fabricate new coils. Also I may have bent parts during disassembly so that it would not work again even with good coils. I found a modern receiver to go into the handset instead. A proper one is put on the wish list for later.

RB

Sweet fix, countryman!!!
I like that "I can fix this...I have the technology" mindset.
It's fading from our midst, as we breath.
So, thanks for sharing that. ;)
While I share the "clean, and original" part of collecting/Restoring old phones with my fellow collectors,
I find myself mostly on the "what I have is broke, so I have to do something out of the bag" to fix it side of the coin.
So, I always appreciate next level posts.
Rock on, Dude! :)