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1939 Ivory 302— Rediscovered

Started by unbeldi, March 19, 2015, 10:22:03 PM

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unbeldi

I finally took the time to tackle this one.  This is really a status update and not the finished product.

I wasn't sure what to do with this for a while. I like red phones, and thought perhaps I'll just leave it as is. But it really wasn't pretty. So I finally dug it out of a box again. Figuring I can always repaint it, I decided to try to strip the orange paint and perhaps uncover its original finish.

The first step came out better than expected, so I thought to post some pictures.

We discussed the dial and number cards of the phone extensively last year:  Amazing how much can be found in a dial card holder

This telephone was installed early in its life in Lakewood, NJ. The owner then moved to nearby Red Bank to the SHadyside exchange and had the new telephone number typed on the reverse side of the previous number card. Later in the early 60, with All-Number-Calling and DDD, the phone received a new dial card sticker, with a the translation of the same numerical number.

What happened after that remains a secret, with the exception that someone painted the phone orange. It must have been used that way still, because the orange paint was worn to the metal in the cradle area.

First up, the data.

==Data==
*Base: black painted steel, 10/39
  -feet: leather covered, decent condition, screwed
*Housing: H1 (stamped inside vermillion), J43 (embossed, 1939-10-04), metal, ivory original paint (cleaned from overpaint)
  -Plungers: black
*Handset: F1, brown Bakelite, solid handle, no grooves, separate screw terminals, date: "99" (Sept. 1939), BELL SYSTEM MADE BY WESTERN ELECTRIC F1
  -RX: HA1, 10-10-39, screw-assembly
  -TX: F1, 10/39
*Dial: 5J, IV 39
  -Plate: 150B, III 39, black letters, red numbers, (Z|operator|0), almost mint
  -Wheel: stainless steel with stainless steel card frame
  -Card: Ivory mask; black two-line: LAkewood 2697; on reverse side: SHadyside 7-4527 Area 201; Area Code 201, 747-4527 (Red Bank)
  -Dial adapter: missing
  -Speed: 8.5 PPS, 64% break ratio
*Ringer: B1A, 10/39, 40A and 40B gongs, shiny brass
*Induction coil: IND 101A, IV 39
*Condenser: 195A III 39, sleeve-style holder
*Location: Lakewood & Red Bank, NJ, found: estate sale Medford, MA

The line cord as obtained was a black rubber spring handset cord, and the handset cord was a 1939 ivory silk cord, but rotted, torn, cut, and unrepairable. Cords have been replaced temporarily with 1945/6 brown cloth cords.

==Before==

unbeldi

#1
And now the present state.

It is not finished.  I need to decide what to do about the imperfections in the paint. Matching touch-up paint may be difficult. I really like original finishes.  When I do decide, I will remove the red paint that still remains in some corners.

The new cords are from 1945 and 1946, brown-9 cloth, something I had in the parts bins.  They should be ivory, but new ivory cords would probably look odd.

The dial looks beautiful now.  The stainless steel cleanup pretty nicely.  I replaced the old celluloid acetate window with a newly made one, as the old one was too worn on the surface to see the number clearly.  It probably suffered from sticker glue at some point, but the ANC/area code sticker was tucked inside. Polishing the old disk has not proven successful so far.

The dial has no dial adapter yet. Notice the funky style of securing the screws. :-)  I am looking for an original 59A adapter in not-blackened (beige) rubber.  I have several NOS 59A adapters for the No. 6 dials (half cut off), but one of those wouldn't look right on this phone.  Anyone want to trade a used brown gasket for an NOS later version?

Notable is the presence of the E-2954 number card mask.  I am not sure just when they were introduced, but I believe it may have been in 1941 for the new Tenite housings. PS: An E-2954 should have a tear-off margin all around, so this is an earlier type.

... more later...

Mr. Bones

#2
An absolutely gorgeous phone, unbeldi! 8)

Thanks for sharing so much of the details with us; I thrive upon info, much like Johnny 5! ("Whoa, more input!") ;D

Best regards!
Sláinte!
   Mr. Bones
      Rubricollis Ferus

NorthernElectric

What technique did you use to strip the orange paint while leaving the original ivory underneath largely intact?
Cliff

unbeldi

#4
Thank you.

I, myself, think that it looks pretty sharp considering it is 76 years old!  I believe this is the oldest colored non-metallic-hue 302 that I have seen, IIRC.  I do recall seeing a couple of metallic-color examples though. Who has an older ivory, green, blue, or Pekin Red?

[PS: my memory is clearly failing... we had a beautiful Old Rose 3/39 set in this discussion. ]

This phone apparently was never refurbished by WECo, all parts, other than the rubber coiled 'line cord' (NOT!) are matched to 10/39, only the pristine dial number plate is from the previous quarter, and that could be just a couple weeks.

Earlier I stated the number card mask is E-2954, but now that I am writing about the phone, it just dawned on me that this cannot be correct, as the E-2954 had a small border that could be torn off to fit the new plastic finger wheel used on the plastic housings, for which the number card was a tad smaller.  This mask must be the older type, I don't know the form number...

I also learned something about WECo colors. We often notice that the early ivory color, either on 200-series desk sets or the pre-WWII, is darker or richer than the post-war ivory. Some call it French Vanilla.  I have so far attributed this to aging of the paint when exposed to the environment, but now I think otherwise.  In removing the paint, I could not help to also remove the top of the old paint, thereby exposing a fresh layer of paint that has never been exposed.  The hue is exactly that of the ivory-50 that Western Electric used on the 500-sets in the 50s.  The comparison was stunning. I now believe that WECo reverted back to the old hue and intensity of ivory for the 500-set. It was the ivory-4 of the Tenite 300-sets from 1949-1955 that was a departure.


Quote from: Mr. Bones on March 19, 2015, 11:28:28 PM
An absolutely gorgeous phone, unbeldi! 8)

Thanks for sharing so much of the details with us; I thrive upon info, much like Johnny 5! ("Whoa, more input!") ;D

Best regards!

unbeldi

#5
Quote from: NorthernElectric on March 20, 2015, 08:39:37 AM
What technique did you use to strip the orange paint while leaving the original ivory underneath largely intact?

Ah, good question.   It was rather simple, actually.

The orange paint was easily dissolved in acetone. It was not bonded to the layer underneath and could be simply wiped off with an acetone soaked cloth after bringing it in contact for a moment to allow some solvent penetration.  For the most part, I actually used a solution of ethyl lactate in acetone (1:3), because that reduces the vapor pressure and the acetone doesn't evaporate as quickly.  This was left-over mixture that I have used for solvent polishing Tenite.

The original ivory paint was of much higher quality than the orange. It did not come off as readily as the orange. My cloths did show some yellowing though after most of the orange was gone and I did take off just a little bit everywhere, which yielded a fresh surface.

The whole process was not difficult at all, not even very tedious, except for sharp corners, crevasses, in which I used a cotton Q-tip.  There was quite a bit of spray inside the housing too, but this came of easily. The most critical area was the vermillion stamp of the H 1 handset mounting and I simply carefully worked around the characters. With a finer tip this could be improved still.

Under the magnification in the picture, one can see that there is still some paint residue and in the future I need to go over these surfaces once more, but this is inside and not so critical. I was not as diligent on the inside as out.  After all, the phone will never be "perfect" again.

unbeldi

#6
I mentioned the number card mask, which is different than the later E-2954.  E-2954 is apparently first mentioned in the 1941 BSPs for the introduction of the transparent plastic finger wheels on the Tenite color plastic housings on 300-series telephone sets. It has perforations to permit trimming the mask to a smaller diameter needed in the P-298941 finger wheel. [C30.011 Issue 4, 1941-01-02 Colored Station Sets]

Here is a side by side comparison of the ca. 1939 mask (left) and the  E-2954 mask used starting in 1941 until ca. 1955.

unbeldi

#7
Beautiful dial.

HarrySmith

Yes, very nice dial! The red numbers look perfect, is this NOS? It's hard to find one with perfect numbers!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

unbeldi

Quote from: HarrySmith on March 25, 2015, 08:55:08 PM
Yes, very nice dial! The red numbers look perfect, is this NOS? It's hard to find one with perfect numbers!

It's definitely not NOS... just extremely well preserved. Underneath that orange paint and dirt was hidden a treasure.  It should have been a find of the month.  As you can see on the other pics the plate has the original 1939 date.

There was some kind of thin lacquer type film on the some of the plate and some of the finger wheel, also in the cradle area.  I don't know what it was. Sometimes dirt and stuff protect the original finish.


HarrySmith

Yes, dust & dirt seem to be a great protector! Sorry, I forgot this topic started with removing the paint.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

unbeldi

#11
For completeness sake, I want to cross-link this presentation with a discussion of ivory colored telephones by WECo in general.


Here is a comparison between the color of this 1939 ivory metal housing (rear of the picture) and a 1955 plastic housing (front) made from the same plastic that the 500-type sets were made from. Both housings were surface cleaned (solvent cleaned/sanded) within hours of each other, and both are unpolished, which is best when comparing color. It minimizes reflections from the surroundings.

The comparison is almost stunning. It appears that the ivory plastic color of the 500-series really represents a return to the ivory that was used for finishing the prewar metal 302s.  Both, the prewar ivory paint finishes as well as the ivory plastic of the 302s (Tenite Acetate), used the color code 4, despite a marked difference in saturation.  Yet, with the introduction of the colors for the 500-sets using Tenite Butyrate plastics, a new ivory color code was created (50) which is identical to the original painted ivory of the 302s.



PS:  Now (Aug 2016), 16 months later, the surface color of the 1939 paint, previously freshly solvent-cleaned, has yellowed just a bit, and seems a little darker too. I think that was probably to be expected.  I believe the paints of 1939, or most before the mid 1940s for that matter, were all based on linseed oil.

NorthernElectric

Quote from: unbeldi on March 19, 2015, 10:26:17 PMThe dial has no dial adapter yet. Notice the funky style of securing the screws. :-)  I am looking for an original 59A adapter in not-blackened (beige) rubber.  I have several NOS 59A adapters for the No. 6 dials (half cut off), but one of those wouldn't look right on this phone.  Anyone want to trade a used brown gasket for an NOS later version?

I have no idea if this is a good price, but thought you might be interested if you hadn't already seen it...

Two Western Electric 59B 302 Dial Gaskets Grommets Pliable Great Shape Telephone
Cliff

unbeldi

#13
Quote from: NorthernElectric on April 05, 2015, 08:14:21 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on March 19, 2015, 10:26:17 PMThe dial has no dial adapter yet. Notice the funky style of securing the screws. :-)  I am looking for an original 59A adapter in not-blackened (beige) rubber.  I have several NOS 59A adapters for the No. 6 dials (half cut off), but one of those wouldn't look right on this phone.  Anyone want to trade a used brown gasket for an NOS later version?

I have no idea if this is a good price, but thought you might be interested if you hadn't already seen it...

Two Western Electric 59B 302 Dial Gaskets Grommets Pliable Great Shape Telephone

Thanks much. I do know about the auction, but this is actually the wrong kind of dial adapter for a 302 telephone. These are 59B adapters, and were supposed to be used on No. 44 dial mountings on switchboards. Telephones should use the 59A adapter which has a slightly different shape.  I am aware however, that apparently Northern Electric also used 59B adapters on telephones in the 1950s, despite the card catalog still specifying them for dial mountings, but it could simply be a mistake in the sales catalog, because the catalog is not consistent between telephone types. IIRC, for example, the 352 was specified with the 59A adapter.  (perhaps it was the other way around)

I believe Western Electric refurbishing shops may have used 59B adapters occasionally, as I have found one on a phone in the 50s.  But I believe this was not done at the factory, and not so early in the lifecycle of the 302.

I like to hear others' input on this topic.  It would be interesting to get an idea of just how often the 59B has been found on telephone sets.

For now, I'll be happy waiting for the correct part at the right price.
Thanks!

unbeldi

#14
By the great generosity of a forum member (Chuck) this set now has a proper dial adapter, a brown 59A (the dial gasket) visible in the inside view, below.
The rubber padding substantially reduced the noise of the dial.

While inside the phone, I also swapped the temporary brown cloth cords with another set of cords, this time ivory.  I freed an OPW-repro handset cord from other duty, to get the set a step closer to original looks. The 'new' line cord is a repaired cord, but of original WECo manufacture (1950s).