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WECo 557 Answering Service Cordboard

Started by marty, April 12, 2011, 11:20:11 AM

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Jim Stettler

Quote from: marty on April 14, 2011, 07:10:50 PM
Hi All;
When looking under Google for 557 switchboard operators manual.. I didn't find a manual, but did find many articles on starting your own Telephone Answering Service, using this SwitchBoard.. I don't know how old the articles are, but I plan on going home and reading them just for Fun..
THANK YOU Marty

Marty,

Check with John Novak for some scans on 557 board manuals. I don't have his contact info handy, but the switchers will.
I don't think John met any documentation that he didn't save for future scanning.
He has lots of scans avliable on discs.
Just a thought,
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

marty

#16
Hi All;
Thank You , JIM for the Board and for Nominating me for 'Find of the Month'.. I am hoping to go thru all of the Singing Wires Back Issues and all the Switchers Quaterly back issues for any information about this Board and the 555.. And see what I come up with... I am Already using it to plug between my day phone, in the kitchen or my night phone in the Bedroom .. I hope to expand its usability even further... I just found some Bell System Practices for this board that I am going to go home and look thru, one is installing this board...
THANK YOU Marty

Jim Stettler

You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

marty

Hi All;
Yes, that is exactly where I went to find what Documention there is for this board. I also have started to look in old switchers quarterly issues and will also look in singing wires, for more information on Manual Switchboard systems.. I have seen much that I would need to read thru..
THANK YOU Marty

HarrySmith

Hi Marty,
I have the SD's, CD's, operators manual, etc all on CD that I got from a member when I picked up my 555. I have not had it out in a while so I do not recall everything that is on it and I do not remember if it is too large for email. If you are interested I will pull it out and see. I can also pick up some CD's and burn you a copy.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

HarrySmith

OK, for all that are interested I posted everything I have on the 555 board here:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6eDAxemj1VHZjk2NTgwNWItMGUzNy00YzhhLWI4NGQtNzc3MTU4OGE5MjRh&hl=en

It includes CD's, SD's, manuals, diagrams and a ton of other stuff.
I have not tried to access it outside my home PC which is linked to my Google account but it appears to be working.

Remco, if there is anything there not in the repository please feel free to add it.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Wallphone

WOW Harry, Thanks a lot for going through the time & trouble to share all of this. I already have all 456MB downloaded. It took less than 10 minutes. Much appreciated.
Doug Pav

Ed D

HARRY!  HARRY!  HARRY!!!!!

Wow, thanks for uploading these documents!

I am thinking seriously about bringing my 555 to life, and this will be a great resource.  I downloaded every file.

And Harry, I had started a thread yesterday:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4705.0
asking for help/info with my project.  Maybe you could chime-in there regarding power supplies for the 555?

Thanks Harry!

Ed

marty

Hi All;
WOW ! Harry, THANK YOU for all the Documentation, almost ALL of it will work with my 557, so THANK YOU Again, Just what I have been  looking for...
THANK YOU Marty

marty

Hi All;
Because of Harry's Documentation, I found out how, (from His 555 Manual) to make a call from one extension to another, I need 24 Volts for talk, but it works.. Now I need a couple of We 500's for those extensions.. I have contacted Phil about His phones... I hope to be able to connect my roomate with a neighbor, by those two phones going thru the 557 Switchboard...
THANK YOU Marty

marty

Hi All;
I think I have figured out how to make the Telephone Answering part work... If I connect one side of "Ring Voltage" to the 'R' wire (on the line I want), and then connect the other wire to Frame (Ground), I can then get the relay to trip, turning on the Light (momentarily).. And If I then connect that wire I had attached to Ground, and then remove it from ground and instead attact it to the 'T' line, I can get a tone to pass from the line leads to (If I have it Plugged in, with the cords) my extension phone...
THANK YOU Marty

marty

Hi All;
I have some Bad News and some GOOD News.. The Bad news is that while trying to get "Ring on my 557 Switchboard, (By using what the manual said was the correct connections for Ring), I Toasted my 1050 Telephone Analyzer.. So I need a Repair Manual for it... If I would have done it the right way at first, even thoug h I didn't think of How to do it, till  after I burned it up.. (IT looks like a Transformer in the Analyzer has been cooked for a long , long time..)
Anyway , for the GOOD news, I found the right (Correct connections) for the ringing on my 557 Switchboard.. I used my meter and used Ohms- (with sound) and with one end connected to the tip of a cord,  I pressed the RING Key, and checked the connections in the "Misc" and then did the same for ring tip, and ohmed it out also... SO, I got Ringing on my 557 Switchboard, and it will work with or without 24 Volt power...
The pins or connections under "MISC" are the following -- pins 5 for one wire and 7 or 8 for the other wire. and then you get Ring... Do Not use pins 14 and 15 as the 557 Manual (I downloaded from TCI) shows they are Shorted together or mostly shorted together, they show .04 ohms on my meter.. I have included some pictures of my Connecting block on the 557, they are different than the 555..
This was taken before I wired for Ring..

marty

Hi All;
I have moved my 557B to a different location, so that I could put in the writing shelf and the Dial, and plug in the Handset..
What I would like to know is CAN I dial out from the Dial and use the Dial and the Handset, just like a regular Dial phone for calling out ??
OR would some of it need to be rewired to do that ??
THANK YOU Marty

Jim Stettler

Quote from: marty on March 29, 2013, 12:21:13 PM
Hi All;
I have moved my 557B to a different location, so that I could put in the writing shelf and the Dial, and plug in the Handset..
What I would like to know is CAN I dial out from the Dial and use the Dial and the Handset, just like a regular Dial phone for calling out ??
OR would some of it need to be rewired to do that ??
THANK YOU Marty

Marty,
You should be able to use the switchboard as a large rotary phone.

The purpose of the dial on manual boards was to connect with the long distance network. The switchboard operator would call the long distance operator and set up the call. once the call connections were in place, then the operator connected (or rang back) the calling party.

I think most switchboard dials are 20 pps vs 10 pulses like a subscriber set. This was to help keep the equipment from getting tied up to long.

20 pps should work ok on the phone network.
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

AE_Collector

Quote from: Jim S. on April 05, 2013, 02:25:59 PM
The purpose of the dial on manual boards was to connect with the long distance network. The switchboard operator would call the long distance operator and set up the call.

Long distance could be involved but manual PBX boards would need to have dials to work into local dial exchanges as well.

Manual CO boards started to get dials on them as soon as there were CO exchanges in the local calling area that were Automatic (dial) as the manual CO operator had to dial calls into those exchanges for the subscribers.

Terry