Dial plates found on Western Electric Telephones

[poplar1]

There have been no 2-type dials manufactured later than III 32 reported here. Unfortunately, my 2H dial dated III 32 has a 1952 150B number plate, so it offers no clue whether the dial was originally equipped with an unnotched plate. It does seem likely that the production of unnotched plates would have ceased along with the manufacture of dial desk stands (apparently in 1930).

Although Sargeguy's photo shows "132-B" stamped on the back of an unnotched plate, the vast majority of these notched plates with 3 pins have no markings on the back.

[TallahasseeTom]

RE: 150C plate.
I took an original? plate off of a B1/202 I bought years ago, a II36 phone. The back of the plate was somewhat rusted/tarnished. There are no markings on the plate and it matches perfectly  with the 150C noted on this web site. Front is quite good. Somewhere else I saw that a writer called it a 150D, but that appears at odds with other views. Is the prevailing idea about this dial is that it was not a genuine WE dial or has that changed?  The "0" stands alone as in the pictures in Greg's posts. Thank You.

[unbeldi]

RE: 150C plate.
I took an original? plate off of a B1/202 I bought years ago, a II36 phone.

What do you mean by "original"?  There probably were no original B1 202s, I believe all B1 handset mountings were manufactured as 102-type telephones, i.e. sidetone instruments.  No B1s were manufactured anymore in 1936, so the date must be a refurbishment date.  On which part is this date stamped ?

What kind of dial is on the instrument ?  Is it a type 4 or 5 ?
Can you show some pictures?

The back of the plate was somewhat rusted/tarnished. There are no markings on the plate and it matches perfectly  with the 150C noted on this web site. Front is quite good. Somewhere else I saw that a writer called it a 150D, but that appears at odds with other views. Is the prevailing idea about this dial is that it was not a genuine WE dial or has that changed?  The "0" stands alone as in the pictures in Greg's posts. Thank You.

On which web site?

A 150D has "Long Distance" printed on it, I believe.

This is a 150-type plate I found on a 5H dial in a 302 telephone, which was found in independent telephone country in WI.  Is this what your plate looks like ?

[TallahasseeTom]

Thank you for the reply. The "original" term was meant to describe that the dial plate appeared to be original to the dial, and only the dial.  Dial is marked in red  II36  & 4H.   What the phone was initially is impossible to ascertain.

My question was purely about the dial plate, and yes the one I have looks exactly as the one you sent in reply. No markings on it on front and back is corroded enough to obscure any possible markings. My only interest in this is the plate. It appears to be the 150C and I was wondering what are the opinions on that in 2017, thank you.  Incidentally I just came across a decent 4H II 37 dial with "original" II 37 dial plate.........I assume it is original to the phone. Nothing looks new on any of it.  Thank You.

[TallahasseeTom]

The picture you supplied is one I had saved on the computer. Yes, that is same dial plate.

[unbeldi]

The No. 150 type number plates were first issued in the first quarter 1938, so it cannot possibly be original to the dial.
The plate that was used until that time was the No. 149, which was a metal plate with cellulose acetate layers on the front.
Only the very last 4H dials, made in the first or second quarter of 1938, had the new plate already.
The 149 plate came out in 1934, replacing the 132.

[unbeldi]

BTW, talking about a 150C number plate is completely non-standard.  The Bell System did not stock such an type number.
They only made 150 A, B, D, E, and H plates, same for the 149.

The 132C did not have an official replacement part.

These plates were probably made outside the Bell System for the independent telephone companies.
The plate I showed, was indeed found on a set installed by an independent telco, and I suspect yours was too.

[TallahasseeTom]

The Paul-F.com web site mentions a 150C, right or wrong, but he does not mention manufacturer.  But, that satisfies my interest on the plate that I had actually put away until I saw his discussion and one other on 150's.  Sounds like it is some after market production, so back in the drawer it goes.

I suppose the II 1937 149b plate and dial I found today, both in good shape, can be used as needed.
Thanks for the time and help.

[unbeldi]

The Paul-F.com web site mentions a 150C, right or wrong, but he does not mention manufacturer.  But, that satisfies my interest on the plate that I had actually put away until I saw his discussion and one other on 150's.  Sounds like it is some after market production, so back in the drawer it goes.

I suppose the II 1937 149b plate and dial I found today, both in good shape, can be used as needed.
Thanks for the time and help.

I think this type of plate should be referred to also as a 150B.  The 150B evolved over time anyways into three distinct WECo versions.  Most notably, in 1953 they dropped the Z letter from the zero position and curled "OPERATOR" around the zero, without renumbering the plate.   This is just another variation, whether Bell or non-Bell.
Independents may well have not wanted to show "Operator", because either their population didn't speak English, such as in some areas of Canada, or because they used different codes for reaching long distance.   On some switching systems, the long distance operator was 112.

[rdelius]

At Heins telephone  Sanford NC ,we had some NE 251 sets (302) that had some of these number plates.with no operator.