WECO Transmitter Cups-Notches vs. Holes

[Sargeguy]

I have it on good authority that transmitter cups for telephones always have hole for the mounting screws and that notches were for telephony devices such as microphones and railroad phones.  Today I received a 20AL with a notched transmitter cup.  It is nickel plated and marked "PROPERTY OF THE AMERICAN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY".  Anyone know why some cups were notched and some were drilled?  Was it done during refurbs???

[Phonesrfun]

I have 5 Western sticks.  3 are notched and 2 are solid.  I have not delved into the topic before, but have noticed that some were notched and some weren't.

[Sargeguy]

Idle speculation:

#1 Spare parts were notched for the sake of field expediency while factory produced sticks were not notched

#2 Older ones had holes, newer ones had notches.  Recycled older ones were notched.  The nickel plated one has been repainted black, so it was a re-issued part.  The other ones I have were from a microphone and a frankenphone that had a 40AL perch but was otherwise brass, a third was from an industrial intercom. The rest have holes, including my 1941 151AL.  My 4 wood wall phones have holes, asdoes the 51 AL lamp.

[Phonesrfun]

I just remembered yet one more stick I have, and it is notched.  That's 6 total 2 holes. 4 notched.  The AL20 and AL40 I have are both notched, although the 40 is obviously not the original cup, since it has a much different black finish to it than the rest of the phone.  Almost looks out of place.

I would say that either of your theories sound reasonable.  It is obviously much easier to replace a transmitter with the notched hoels than the solid holes.  It is kind of a pain to get the holes lined up for those teeny screws.  Probably the whole reason they went to notches,

[dencins]

I have 12 transmitter cups - 11 have holes and 1 has slots.  Six of the cups do not have any stamped information on them - 5 of the 6 have holes and the other is the one with the slots.

The one with the slots was off a transmitter faceplate with only 323 on the banana tag but the back of the faceplate is very different than a WECo 3XX faceplate.  I assumed it was a repro with WECo guts.

Not a big sample size but it has always made me cautious of slotted back cups.

Dennis

[Phonesrfun]

I just reviewed Larry Wolff's book Desk Telephones of the Bell System the years 1875 to 1955, and while he has a lengthy discussion about the transmitters and mouthpieces, there is nothing mentioned about the mounting holes or slots in the back cups.  For what it's worth.

[dencins]

Here are some examples I found of transmitter cups that are listed as reproductions.  All have notches.  Also they all have something stamped on them.  What I have not found is a reproduction with notches but no stamping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/REPRODUCTION-BRASS-TRANSMITTER-CUP-CANDLESTICK-PHONE-/270079086174

http://www.architecturals.net/phone-transmitter-cup/

http://www.architecturals.net/transmitter-cup/

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/reproduction-transmitter-cup-black.html

Dennis

[Sargeguy]

The only one I have that I suspect may be a reproduction has holes!

[dencins]

Here is a quote from R. Wiltfong web site on reproduction transmitter cups:

"Many of the repo's have been stamped NOV 1910 on the back cup (as one collector put it, "avoid sticks labeled NOV 1910 like the plague!")"

Nothing about notches verses holes.  Also nothing about unstamped cups.

Dennis