Recent acquisition from a flea market - What have I got?

[migette]

Hi

I have just picked up this phone. It would appear that it had been modified many years ago and that it had been bodged with a buzzer and built in capacitor, there was no induction coil.

It was manufactured by automatic electric, there is a list of dates on the front of the base which is in brass, to me it looks like a marriage of several bits and I wonder whether the base was infact from a candle stick. The dial connections are soldered and very strong.

The motif on the dial appears to be familiar to me, but I can't put my finger on what it is.

The handset is also AE.

If anyone has any information that they are able to pass on about this then it will be greatly appreciated.

The seller at the market said that it came from New York, when he went over there on a trip.

Thanking everyone in advance

Peter

[jsowers]

Looks like an Automatic Electric Model 1A (commonly called AE1A) to me, but the AE guys will certainly chime in with details. The number card is from Kellogg and probably not original to the phone. It has the Kellogg griffin logo on it.

[LarryInMichigan]

The handset looks like an AE type 38.  The dial is the type used on AE80 type phones.  The base may be a reproduction.

Larry

[Wallphone]

With that finger stop it looks like a Phoneco phone.
Doug Pav

[stub]

LarryInMichigan ,
                      I agree with Larry .       stub

[rdelius]

We built plenty of these at COT. The cradle on these was from a ATEA belgium magneto set.PhoneCO reproduction base and bottom cover.Buzzers were junk.Used a nicer dial though.
Robby

[GG]

Agreed all'round. 

What strikes me as odd/interesting, is: The handset cradle looks roughly the same as on the British AE, ATM/Strowger version of the AE 1A Monophone (used in Hull if I recall correctly).  Rdelius says it's also the same as used in Belgium (Belgian AE, ATEA).  To me that seems a more rare and difficult to obtain part in the quantity needed to produce a lot of these. 

Yes the dial is an AE type 52 or equivalent, that originally would have had an extended number plate and been used on an AE type 80 (1950s - late 1970s).  That can easily be changed out for an AE type 24 through type 51A dial, which would have been original to that phone, if you wanted to do that.

I wouldn't write off the buzzer as "junk."  Those high-voltage AC buzzers that ring on 90 volts AC were difficult parts for me to get, until I scored a decent quantity (like about 30 or more) a few years ago.  They are highly useful in a range of applications such as in AE 2-line and 3-line sets (47, 87, 187), as well as in restorations where you don't have a separate ringer box but need the phone to signal incoming calls. 

What I would do personally with that phone:

= Paint or powder-coat all the metal parts of the base unit in black, or perhaps jade green, ivory, or red (GPO UK colors).

= Keep the handset black, including paint the metal rings on it black.

= Replace the dial with an older one (just because:-).

= Use a black dial fingerwheel.

= Probably use a black numberplate (white numerals on black background, no letters, just numbers).   

= Alternately, the whole phone black but with a chrome dial fingerwheel and any reasonable numberplate including black numerals on white background, or alphanumeric on white background. 

= And of course replace the cords with cloth cords, probably also black but brown would work as well.  And last but not least, a new baseplate gasket, or brown cloth with a retainer ring (the latter being non-original but reasonable). 

The result would be either all black, or one of the color schemes used on GEC 1000 and similar phones (black handset & dial, ivory or red or green main housing).  It would be slightly unorthodox but it would be more than acceptable.

Of course everyone here is going to have opinions about what to do with any given example, but all of these add up to starting points for ideas, and it's up to you what'll look good and work well. 

[rdelius]

Called the buzzer junk because we bought a large quantity of them and they would not work well unless we replaced the neon bulb with a capacitor.Had to use a larger than normal capacitor at that..I would replace that dial with a brassed out type 24 or 24a36 and cloth cords. Those Belgium cradles came off magneto sets that were rather rusty or beat up. There were thousands of them up at turtle lake Wisc.Be carefull on the cradle thr brass plating might  be thin
Robby

[migette]

Hi

thanks for all your comments, I really was stumped with this, should of realised it was the Kellogg motif, The cradle is similar to the Strowger phone but not exact, I have the Aptofone from Portugal. I missed out that there are dates stamped in the base just below the dial   pat in USA  jan 26  15  jan 1  18  may  7  18  sept 21  20

The ringer looks similar to the one fitted in the Ericophon both wires enter a black tube (capacitor) and connects across the line  tip and ring it does not work so will check it out, once again many thanks for all help    amazing what you find at the Wimbledon Collectors Fair     Peter