Western Electric receiver magnet

[wds]

I have these western electric magnets, and the one on the right has a threaded hole in the top of it.  And before you say it's a homemade thread, there is a oval recess around the threads that is on the top and the underside of that spacer.  A handyman wouldn't have gone to the trouble of that kind of detail work, plus there's no way to get to the underside without taking the magnet apart.  The threaded hole looks like it would have been used to bolt the magnet to the receiver shell like on the #122 ost.  Anyone have any ideas about what receiver this magnet would have been used on?

[rdelius]

Possibly the receiver used on a mine telephone.

[Stubbypylon]

What about the receiver that I think was used by plumbers or some other trade?  It had a short metal pointed rod coming out where the cord would have.  The pointed rod would be placed against something like a pipe and they would listen through the receiver.

[unbeldi]

It is hard to tell by the perspective, are the left and right receivers of the same length ?  They see to be manufactured pretty much identically, except for the hole.
Is the left one a 122 ?
The middle one appears to be a 143/144 made after ca. 1913, having the magnets welded together rather than riveted.

[wds]

Here's a couple more pictures.  Not sure what you mean by "122".  I was told that these silver magnets were used on the early version 143, but I don't know for sure.  Yes, these two magnets are the size height and shorter than the black magnets.  The one on the far left is stamped 70 Z.  The one of the right is stamped Z. 

I have never seen one of those plumber receivers up close, but it sounds like a good guess.

[rdelius]

The plumbers (mechanics) receiver was an empty shell with a rod attacked.Put rod aganist object and listen to noise

[andre_janew]

Could the threaded hole have been used for some sort of cord restraint?

[wds]

I thought about the cord restraint, but then why the threads?  The thread seems to be for a screw, like the #122 receiver, to bolt the magnet to the shell. 

[Ktownphoneco]

Cord restraint :   That was my thought as well, and in conjunction with the suggestion by rdelius that the receiver may have been made for a mine telephone set.    Western made a receiver specifically for mines and explosive environments where the cord was sealed to the receiver shell through a grommet located at what would be the normal cord opening.    The grommet on the last generation of type 558 ( see photo ), is substantial, and most likely extends inside the top of the receiver shell for a short distance.     There wasn't a lot of room to start with between the inner cord opening in the receiver shell, and the top of the magnets in a 140 series receiver.      It's possible, and this is only conjecture on my part, that the grommet may have had a hollow sleeve which threaded into the cross pin that joins the 2 magnets as indicated in one of Dave's receivers.   That would serve two purposes, in that it would allow the 2 inner cloth covered conductors to pass through the hollow sleeve and continue down to their connection point, while at the same time, providing a solid anchoring point for the grommet.
The picture is from W.E. No. 11 Tel. Catalog - 1950.     Click on the picture to enlarge.

Jeff

[Sargeguy]

I have one of those shells. No grommet though.