What is this used for? "Western Electric Bell system Telephone Test Switch Gear"

[WesternElectricBen]

Hello,

I came upon this switch while on eBay http://goo.gl/Ydl9zV and I want to know how it works. Yes, I read the description but it says "d. tone on and off" so I was wondering if you could connect these up to a phone for testing? Or would you use these on a key system or a switch for testing the system?

This particular switch is a Western Electric Bell System Telephone Test Switch Gear 213A 552A. As copied from listing.

Any information would interest me.
Ben

[Weco355aman]

They are only switches, You can wire them up to turn on/off something.
These were used in a Central office to control a conductor I D tone supply.
The conductor I D tone supply was used for the outside tech to locate the pair of wires that was not where they thougt they should be. If a Hack and wack
tech did some custom wiring there may not be any records of how the customer
service was working. This is STILL a big problem today, however we use modern
tone source.

[WesternElectricBen]

They are only switches, You can wire them up to turn on/off something.
These were used in a Central office to control a conductor I D tone supply.
The conductor I D tone supply was used for the outside tech to locate the pair of wires that was not where they thougt they should be. If a Hack and wack
tech did some custom wiring there may not be any records of how the customer
service was working. This is STILL a big problem today, however we use modern
tone source.

Oh, okay, I see. Thank you,

Ben