Advice of candlestick experts needed

[bingster]

I've had this candlestick for probably thirty years.  It came with a Kellogg receiver, so I know it's been tinkered with (not to mention the transmitter was flipped over to face the back).  I'd like to get it sorted out properly, but I don't know enough about candlesticks to know what it originally was.  The perch is marked 50AL, which as far as I've been able to determine was only a dial model, and this one clearly has a manual base. 

Given the items I have, is the consensus that I have a 50AL with the wrong base, or a 20AL with the wrong perch?  40AL is out, because that was made of steel, but maybe I have something else altogether?  Which phone would have used the 250W transmitter?  And which receiver is appropriate? I have a reproduction 706 receiver I can use on it, but I'd like to get a proper original.  Here are the clues:



The 50AL perch with a plain transmitter housing:





The 250W transmitter:





The manual base showing the patent dates:





The five terminal rack, all terminals on the front:





The curved receiver hook:

[Phonesrfun]

I am no expert, but.....

I believe the 50AL was designed for a dial, but the dial was optional.  Does your deskstand base have a hole for the dial that is covered with a dial blank or is it the older style base with no provision for a dial?  The hookswitch is indicative of the 50AL.

The 250W solid-back transmitter may have been made by Western for non-Bell phones or even for microphones of the day, as indicated by the W which was the Western code for non-Bell applications.  The 250 is not covered in Larry Wolff's book, but the photo you show of it is that of a later model transmitter that would have come out in the 19-teens, with no knurled nut in the center.  I suspect it may not be original to the phone, but would most likely be perfectly acceptable to have it on the phone.

According to Larry's book, the 50AL was a dial phone that came out in 1919, and were soon replaced by the 51AL with a better wiring harness arrangement.

The 50 AL, if equipped with a dial would have used a #2 dial, which you could expect to pay around a hundred bucks or more for these days.

[bingster]

Thanks, Bill.  The base is the older non-dial base, with no provision for a dial.  So it would seem that this would need a dial base to be correct.  I have a converted #4 dial, which I could return to #2 configuration, with a repro fingerstop.  

Do you know what transmitter would have been commonly used in 1919 and shortly thereafter within the Bell System?  

[wds]

I think the receiver hook came off of a #20 style candlestick.  There's one on Ebay right now selling for pretty good money.

[Phonesrfun]

Darrin:

According to Larry Wolff's book, the 337 would have been used in 1919, and oddly enough, that is the last solid-back transmitter he references, even though candlesticks were used into the later-1920's when the handset A and B mounts started coming out.

[rdelius]

I have seen 250w transmitters mostly on (1)317 wooden magneto wall sets mostly.the guts on your transmitter are not 250 type guts though.They look more like a 337.
Robby

[bingster]

Thanks for the information, guys.  It's really helpful.

Here's the back side of the transmitter, and it is indeed stamped "337."  So not only was the phone pieced together, it seems as though the transmitter was, too.

[Sargeguy]

Is the receiver cup notched or does it have holes where the screws hold the transmitter in place?  Non-telephone telephony apparatus such as microphones and railroad phones, factory intercoms, etc featured notches whereas telephones had holes.  Microphones seem to have been cobbled together with whatever parts were on hand, I have a brass bass and stem that has a 40AL perch on it.  Your phone may have done time as a microphone.

[rdelius]

It appears that they reused the brass transmitter bridge assy from the 250 to build the 337 on . The bridge on a 337 would be steel.I wonder if this was a wartime assembled stick built from old parts. The base is an earlier one also
Robby

More information. The 337 tx was insulated from the rest ot the telephone.The 250 was grounded to the faceplate and was attached to the diaphram with  a threaded  post .You could see this with the mouthpiece removed.

[bingster]

Is the receiver cup notched or does it have holes where the screws hold the transmitter in place? 

It's got the four tiny screw holes.

I wonder if this was a wartime assembled stick built from old parts. The base is an earlier one also
Robby

I hadn't thought of that, but it's a distinct possibility.  It came with a set of cords that are original WE cords, and are a dead match.  They're old and frayed, and were almost certainly installed at the same time.  Which probably wouldn't be the work of a basement tinkerer.  Unfortunately, the subset end of the cord is missing, so there's no restraint to check a date on. 

Now I'm not sure what to do with it.  Restore it to an original 50AL configuration, or restore it as it sits as a monument to wartime necessity (if that's what it is).

[Sargeguy]

If its a Frankenphone then I would restore it to an original 20AL, which is easiest.  If its a war-time production model, and that can be reasonably proven, I'd keep it the way it is as a conversation piece.  Of course then you would need a normal 20AL as reference, and a 50AL while you are at it.