Select O Phone

[wds]

I picked up what I thought was a nice Candlestick Select O Phone, but upon receipt and inspection, I think something might be wrong with the dial.  This is my first Select O Phone, so I don't have anything to compare this to.  Can anyone tell me if all the parts are there to the dial?  It seems to spin ok, but the spring on the main shaft is not connected to anything, and there doesn't seem to be any contacts form the dial to the contacts in the base of the phone.  Should the dial spin back like a normal rotary dial?

[G-Man]

I picked up what I thought was a nice Candlestick Select O Phone, but upon receipt and inspection, I think something might be wrong with the dial.  This is my first Select O Phone, so I don't have anything to compare this to.  Can anyone tell me if all the parts are there to the dial?  It seems to spin ok, but the spring on the main shaft is not connected to anything, and there doesn't seem to be any contacts form the dial to the contacts in the base of the phone.  Should the dial spin back like a normal rotary dial?

Select-O-Phones are indeed a different breed of animal!

If others on this list are unable to assist you, Mike Neale and Steph Kerman on the TCI list are generally presumed to the the S-O-P experts. There is some limited information on Mike's Select-O-Phone website and in the TCI Library.

Here is Mike's link:
http://www.strombergcarlsontelephone.com/selectophone/selectophoneindex.htm
It also has a link to Mike's Kellogg website.

[wds]

Thanks - I've down loaded all those pdf files, but none of them talk about the dial, or show any detailed drawings of the dial.  I'll try to contact Mike or Steph. 

[wds]

Mike Neale was very helpful, and provided me with this picture of the dial, showing the contacts that are missing out of the dial.  This dial is actually pretty cool - no wires to disconnect, and no screws when removing the dial.  Just press a couple tabs on the outside of the dial, then the dial just pops out.  I'm suprised this wasn't done more often by other manufacturers.  

[GG]

If other manufacturers had made their dials that easy to remove, you know what would have happened, right?

People would go removing dials for fun, profit, and to throw at other people like snowballs because after all they're about the right size.

Dials would also fall out when phones were dropped.  We would see #6 dials going for $200 as replacements for missing dials. 

The reason Select-O-Phone got away with that is because they were PAX phones used in offices and suchlike, thus a constrained installation environment in which humans could be expected to behave better than their nearest relatives on the phylogenetic tree.

The other clever thing about that style of Select-O-Phone dial is that it enables using a uniselector with all of its positions: the dial just keeps moving the uniselector contacts forward until it hits the intended number.  This being a way to get a larger number of extensions without need of an expensive two-motion connector switch, or additional time-out relays on a uniselector. 

[wds]

I picked up another Select O Phone for my collection.  I know these aren't technically phones, but I love them just the same.  It was pretty rough, but cleaned up nice, and the dial now works perfectly.  This dial must be removed from the inside, much like a telephone dial.  Need some felt for the base, and will work on the ringer box next.

[LarryInMichigan]

It's very interesting that it is a WE D1 base with a Leich handset.  Did this pre-date Kellogg's acquisition of the Select-O-Phone product?

Larry

[Dennis Markham]

Beautiful job of making it look nice again.  Nice looking "phone".

[wds]

It's not a D1, but a steel base that looks similar to the D1.  Although not too similar when placed side by side and a little smaller than the D1.  The handset does look exactly like my leich handset, but this one is unmarked.  Also, there is a iron weight in the transmitter and receiver that's not in my leich handsets. 

[wds]

Here's an ad from the Select O Phone web site that identifies the base as a 202 base, but the one in the ad is exactly like mine, and is definitely not a 202 (D1).  The green felt in the ad is what I'm trying to find to put on mine.

[LarryInMichigan]

According to Mike Neale's page, Select-O-Phone was purchased in 1948 by Kellogg, so this phone would have been made by the Screw Machine Products Co..

Larry

[wds]

for some reason, the language did not print with the ad.  Here's a link to the ad that identifies it incorrectly as a D1 base:

http://tinyurl.com/ydjtjz8

[G-Man]

The following contains clear photographs of the instruments and information regarding maintenance for Select-o-Phone systems:

http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=10554&Itemid=2

Here is another link to a Kellogg Select-o-Phone brochure:

http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=3675&Itemid=2