AE "Step Base" Candlestick

[LarryInMichigan]

I have been on a candlestick buying binge lately and just bought this online for $30 plus shipping.  It appears to be a somewhat corroded AE "step base" candlestick with "Mercedes' dial.  I assume that it originally had a bottom plate, so I will be needing a replacement.  My wood AE subset will be happy to finally have a phone connected to it.

Larry

[AE_Collector]

Looks better than mine! One day I will get mine restored. I think I only paid maybe $50 for mine but that was in 1984! I guess I should get to work on restoring it SOON!

Some of these have the "A" in the hook.

Terry

[rdelius]

Looks like the earlier version of that dial. Note all contacts are in one stack
Robby

[LarryInMichigan]

Robby,

This dial looks like it is the same as the one on my wood AE wall phone (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4534).  I was under the impression that this was the later version of the dial, and the earlier one had the AE embossing on the finger wheel.

Larry

[wds]

Nice candlestick!  I picked one of those up a while back, but paid a lot more than you did.  Mine had about the same amount of corrosion, and I spent a lot of time sanding and painting.  I never could find a bottom plate, so I just cut one out of wood and now it displays real nice.  I always liked this style canclestick, with the stick centered on the base, and the dial protruding farther out the front. 

[rdelius]

the dial could have been rebuilt. the later versions have separate pile ups for shunt and pulse, the latest will have mounting holes in the standard pattern plus the side mount.I think the fingerwheel was larger on the newer one.
Robby

[LarryInMichigan]

I just found this page: http://www.telephonetalk.com.au/images/Australian/AutoElectric/AutoElectricGeelong.htm.  It shows a dial with an embossed finger wheel and two pile ups and another with a plain finger wheel and single pile up, so apparently the embossed finger wheels were later than the plain ones.  The wood wall phone which came with the one mercedes dial I already have has an inspection date of 1918 on one of the condensers, so it is likely that the dial is from that time.

From the picture of the stick that I bought, the dial appears to be the same as my other one.  The phone will hopefully arrive later today, so I should know for sure.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

The phone arrived a little while ago, and it is really corroded!  The mouthpiece, which is bakelite over steel, will not budge from the transmitter place.  Just about everything in the upper part of the phone is fused together, but the hook does move up and down.  Possibly the worst part though, is the dial.  The metal part on the underside of the finger wheel is broken off, so turning the finger wheel will not turn the dial.  Does anyone know how to fix this or where to find a replacement?

Larry

[wds]

I've collected several of the Mercedes dials, and a couple of them were missing the retainer spring and ratchet pawl.  I have looked all over for replacement parts - I located two of the springs like yours, but when they arrived they were both broken, like your picture.  That was $15 down the toilet.  I did locate the Ratchet Pawls at PhoneCo, but they don't have any of the retainer springs.  This attached picture is from another posting here - it shows two different types of springs, and I'm pretty sure they are interchangeable.  If you or anyone is able to locate either type of retainer spring - I'll take two!

[wds]

I've collected several of the Mercedes dials, and a couple of them were missing the retainer spring and ratchet pawl.  I have looked all over for replacement parts - I located two of the springs like yours, but when they arrived they were both broken, like your picture.  That was $15 down the toilet.  I did locate the Ratchet Pawls at PhoneCo, but they don't have any of the retainer springs.  This attached picture is from another posting here - it shows two different types of springs, and I'm pretty sure they are interchangeable.  If you or anyone is able to locate either type of retainer spring - I'll take two!

By the way, how did you get the fingerwheel off the dial?

[LarryInMichigan]

By the way, how did you get the fingerwheel off the dial?

The finger wheel slides out of the dial once the spring is removed from the back of the dial.  

This dial is the same as my other one, except that on this one, the face plate is held by a collar ring, and on the other one, it is held by little bent tabs.

I think that the ratchet pawl is good on this dial, but it will not turn because of the governor which needs cleaning and lubriation.  I imagine that the dial was broken by someone trying to force it to turn.  I would also be very interested in a new retainer spring.

I have the top of the perch and part of the transmitter cup soaking in CLR now.  I sure hope that I will be able to separate the parts after they have soaked for a while.  The heads of the little screws which hold the transmitter pate to the cup are very badly corroded and fused to the cup.  I may have to try to cut them off.

I was surprised to see how small the diameter if the base is on this phone.  It is smaller than any of my other candlesticks.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

I have stripped the rust and primed the steel parts.  The question now is whether to paint it with a satin or glossy finish.  What type of finish did these phones originally have?

Larry

[GG]

Dude!  Score!  Especially at that price, you can afford to send it out to one of the expert restorers if needed to get some of those fused parts unstuck.  There's a master dial repairman who's well known around here, and who can probably fabricate the needed parts to restore that dial, and his hourly rates are surprisingly good. 

If I recall correctly, these were made around 1914.  Anyone here have any closer information on the date range for them?   

Must be the season for these, I just scored one in surprisingly good condition for $175 with an early type 24 dial (I have a couple of Mercedes dials sans number card retainers, one of which will go on this phone, and its dial will go on an AE 21 desk stand that needs to be powder-coated). 

Anyone know where I can find schematics including the phone connected to the ringer box (bellset in UK terms)?

Seeing as it's unlikely I'll find enough proper AE ringer boxes for the two AE desk stands and my two 34A Monophones, one of each will probably end up with a ringer box, and the other with a resistor/capacitor network. 

(Next desk stand I'm looking for is a GPO-UK tele. 150, with the GPO version of the "bulldog" transmitter.)