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Northern Electric Line Load Control Panel

Started by sebbel, September 08, 2013, 06:10:08 PM

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sebbel

An client came to me today a large phone related box to sell for him.  He first offered to sell it to me for $250 but I declined since i felt this was way too much for that kind of item.  He then asked me to consign it and try and sell it for him but not only do I not know what it's for but I can't even find a word to properly describe it on ebay.

It's a pretty cool piece, shame the wires are all cut.

It's Northern Electric, no date, no model number stamped on it.
However
Each row of light is stamped 43A290AMGT, the diviers 1C, double divider are 101-AB and the bulbs E1.

It looks like a sort of wire closet or patch panel. Based one the wires I'd say mid 50's and the rack unit size is smaller than standard.

Does anyone know what this is?  

Seb.

K1WI

#1
     I believe it is a LINE LOAD CONTROL panel from a crossbar or panel central office. Probably late 60s through late 70s. Should be some dated parts inside.  It was used to deny service to all but essential (class A) lines during severe conditions . ie; blizzards , hurricanes etc.

Andy F   K1WI
Andy F    K1WI

G-Man

Correct, a Line Load Control panel.

In order to not tie-up an exchange during an emergency such as an earthquake, hurricane or nuclear attack, switches could be thrown to disconnect non-essential  groups of telephones from accessing dialtone.

Other telephone lines serving locations such as police, fire, hospitals, doctors, water and electrical utilities, etc. would still be active.

However, this particular panel would not be used in a Panel switching office but considering it was manufactured by North, it most likely was used in one of their all-relay or crossbar offices.

You are correct that it is certainly not worth $200.

sebbel

#3
Thanks. It nice to at least know what it is.  I doubt He'll get much for it but. I Joke to him that I tough his only chance to get more that $100 for that was to sell the light bulbs individually. He than went on that it was really rare insited I try an list it. 

People don't realize that you can often get an entire switch board for less than $300. Anyway we'll see.

Seb.

G-Man

Correction:

I reread your post and see that it is a Northern Electric unit and was not manufactured by North Electric. In that case it was most likely used in a step office.

Also, it appears to have been manufactured in the 1930's to 1950's timeframe. As Andy mentioned there should be some dates stamped on some of the components.

G-Man

I have included a photograph of another model of a circa 1925 Western Electric Line Load Control panel. In this instance it could have been used in either a Panel or Step Office, however the other panel would not have been used in a Panel Office since neither North or Northern Electric ever manufactured Panel switches.

Here are excerpts from other sources regarding Line Load Control...

"Emergency operations are those unanticipated measures which must be performed for the immediate protection of life or property threatened by major disasters and emergencies.  Emergency operations in the Department of Agriculture are usually coordinated through the Department's defense organization (FSM 1595.04a, 1595.06).  When the President declares a major disaster or an emergency, all Federal activities will be coordinated by
the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration (FDAA).

1595.4 - Telephone Line-Load Control.  This is a telephone company system which permits designated personnel who would have a need to make outgoing calls during an emergency to make such calls from their home telephones, even though the general public might be denied that service.  All non-duty-hour alerting officials should have this service. 

The chairmen of the USDA regional emergency staffs are responsible for preparing and submitting to the appropriate General Service Administration regional office a list of persons who should have this service."

And
[/b]

"This panel contained a series of switches that would cut off incoming or outgoing service to groups of telephones within a central office. Every subscriber line was classified as an "A" or "B" or "C" in terms of priority. Government and essential services were the highest priority and would rarely be cut off. Important businesses would be a lower priority, but still higher than ordinary citizens. Finally, the "C" priority people like non-wealthy residences would be the lowest priority. The Line Load Control panel had a series of switches. Pulling a knob would disable either incoming or outgoing calls for the section that it was responsible for. This was called "Sectionalization."

There were two primary uses for Sectionalization. The first was that if a Central Office became overloaded, traffic could be sectionalized to the more important traffic, or load could be shed so that everybody had a fair chance to place calls. This happened during the assassination of JFK in the 1960s. There was so much calling traffic that government, businesses, and wealthy individuals were given unrestricted telephone service while businesses and residences were throttled back. If everybody is calling everybody then nobody goes through. So you allow only a small number of people to originate calls so that their calls can go through...more total people can communicate.

The second use for sectionalization was panic control. Let's say a nuclear bomb went off in St. Louis. Then, it would be important to black out the St. Louis area. All phone service would be sectionalized, as would media lines. There would be no communications in or out of the affected area. This would prevent mass hysteria and would give valuable time to authorities.

Today, sectionalization is mostly a mess in the classic sense. There is no "Line Load Control" panel. Individual phone lines are not typically classified. All VoIP lines are dumped into the "C" classification. However, traditional Central Office lines and cell phones are still prioritized as "A" through "C". The term used today for "A" priority is "Essential Service." A hospital will have many "Essential Service" lines. Corporate Executives, politicians, and individuals identified on VIP lists will be granted Essential Services. Major businesses usually are given just a few "Essential Service" lines...typically 2% of the total number of lines they have.

So, if there is an emergency that swamps the phone system, locate your doctor as they can likely still make calls on their cell phones. (By the way, the doctor won't know they have essential service. You can't ask for this special treatment. It is granted to you by the phone company, usually automatically. This is one of the many reasons that they ask for your social security number or major identification when subscribing to a new line of service."[/i]

G-Man

Not intending to "beat a dead horse," however this is from a completed eBay listing. The photo shows a unit that is somewhat closer to sebbel's unit.
Sold Date: 12/11/2006
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay

Western Electric Line Load Control Box, telephone
Up for auction is an authentic Western Electric Line Load Control box. I think this box was used to restrict subscriber's phones during an emergency, or line/trunk overload conditions. I may have been located in a central office or switch room. For the age the box is in pretty good shape. This is an unusual item. This is a great piece for any Western Electric or telephone equipment collector to have.

Because of the style of the wood, shellac, and switches it looks to me as if this was made before 1940. However I could be wrong. Some of you may know more about it than me.
The wood is in pretty good shape. Although t are many places on the box w the shellac is peeling off. This box would really look nice if someone wants to spend the time to remove the old shellac and put a new finish on it.