First post here and am very impressed with the friendly forum you folks have here. Won this "mud puppy" that someone had spray painted at some point on ebay and it arrived today. First, plugged it in and it worked! Then started working with Simple Green to get the paint off. LOTS of elbow grease later it looks really good. Just have to find a dial ring for it.
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/Ebay15Aug2012010.jpg)
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/Ebay15Aug2012018.jpg)
Welcome to the Forum....outstanding job removing the paint. You have a North dial which is not always the case with a North phone. The snap on retainer ring is not the easiest to find. I'll look through my spare parts box........Doug
Welcome to the forum!
North sets are a great place to start. I've always appreciated their elegant lines. Finding one with a North dial is a special treat.
I hope you find the number card holder soon.
Welcome to the forum. If this is your first vintage phone, you are starting on the right foot. These are among the collectors' favorites because they are so elegant. Some polishing of the bakelite with plastic polish, like Novus #2, can make it really shine.
Be warned though that old phones can be highly addictive ;)
Larry
Thanks for the nice welcome!
I am a vintage junkie, fountain pens and old guns especially. Can't wait to set it up with some pics of some vintage Smith & Wessons. So evidently, these were also made with different dials, or were the dials replaced?
North H-series sets seem to usually turn up with AE or Western Electric dials. The wiring diagrams usually show all three.
North dials on black sets are usually black or stainless. Colored H-series sets are in high demand and may have stainless, clear or matching color fingerwheels. Ivory sets may also have trim on the handset caps.
There are some photos and more info here:
http://www.paul-f.com/north1.htm (http://www.paul-f.com/north1.htm)
It's been interesting to see the housing copied by others over the years.
http://www.paul-f.com/north.htm (http://www.paul-f.com/north.htm)
I thought that, since these phones were used by independent phone companies, the telcos installed whichever dials they had or which worked best with their switches. As far as i am aware, the majority of these phones have frequency ringers because they were used on party lines. Does you phone's ringer work?
Larry
Well, tried it out this morning and it does not ring. Where can I find a simple explanation of the different ringers? I hit overload when I searched it!
Ringers for party lines were designed to ring only when the ringing voltage is a certain frequency. That way, the telco's equipment could ring only the phones of the subscriber who was being called and not the other subscribers on the same line. There is probably information about the ringer printed on bottom of the phone. If it is not "SL" (stright line) or "20", it will not likely ring for the standard North American ringing voltage of 20 Hz.
Larry
It has ST Line ringer printed on the bottom.
It should work then, if the ringer inside is actually a straight line ringer. Is the clapper arm on the ringer attached to the body with a pivot or a metal reed? Make sure that one side of the ringer is connected to one side of the phone line and the other is connected to the condenser which is connected to the other side of the phone line.
Larry
Does it really take a gallon of paint to paint a Gallion? :)
Quote from: DeaconKC on August 17, 2012, 10:06:29 AM
Well, tried it out this morning and it does not ring. Where can I find a simple explanation of the different ringers? I hit overload when I searched it!
There is some info here:
http://www.paul-f.com/NorthRingers.html (http://www.paul-f.com/NorthRingers.html)
Look at the ringer for identification info, as they were often changed after the bottom plate was marked.
Paul, thank you! The top pic is exactly what I have. Cleaned out the spider webs and other mung, but still no ring.
So you can trace the wiring as Larry suggested with confidence.
You should be able to trace the current path from one side of the phone line through the ringer and capacitor and back to the other side of the phone line.
Since the ringer should ring, the choices are fairly simple.
The wiring is incorrect.
The wiring is faulty (damaged connector or terminal causing a bad connection).
The ringer and/or capacitor are bad.
The connections were all tight and no obvious broken wires. How would I check ringer and capacitor?
Is one of the ringer wires connected to the yellow wire from the wall?
Hmmm, it has a 4 prong plug still and came with a 4 prong adapter to a modular jack. What could be the culprit there?
well, I went and checked the converter and the black and yellow wires are cut off! Even though i am a noob at these phones I believe that could be a problem! Which wire gets hooked to which terminal?
Actually, only two wires are needed for current single line service. By custom it's usually the red and green wires, so having the black and yellow ones cut is not a problem in this case.
Can you trace the red to L1 or L2 on the coil and green to the other one (L2 or L1)?
Check your phone against the wiring in this diagram.
http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=4546&Itemid=11 (http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=4546&Itemid=11)
???
Well, you just left me in the dust! But thankfully I have a couple of friends who DO understand that, so i can take it to them and let them laugh at me. Thank you all for your help and patience with all my questions.
Can you follow the green wire coming off the ringer coil and see if it is on L2 terminal (on the induction coil 101A) and not on terminal 5 (on the terminal strip)?
If it is on L2: Did you see the photos on Paul's website showing the difference in frequency ringers and straight line? I know you said it was stamped St. Line on the bottom of the phone, but sometimes these ringers were changed out.
Could you post pictures of the ringer and wiring in the base of the phone?
Yup, the green wire is on F2. Here are pics of the little beastie. One other question, could the modern jack use all 4 wires, because I have an other rotary phone that uses a modular plug and it rings from the same outlet?
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/002-6.jpg)
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/003-7.jpg)
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/004-5.jpg)
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/005-4.jpg)
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/006-4.jpg)
(http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/DeaconKC/001-7.jpg)
Well, that is definitely a straight line ringer and if the ringer is connected to L2 and 1, and the capacitor red to 1 and orange to L1, then it is wired correctly. So the ringer coil or capacitor may be defective. You can check the ringer with an ohm meter.
As for the jack, you only need two wires (usually red and green or blue/white and white/blue). The other two wires would be for a second line or the transformer for the light in a Princess phone or older Trimline. The yellow wire was also used at one time on some kinds of party lines and connected to ground for selective ringing of the right party.
Thank you. Hopefully I can figure it out!
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=6764.0
see my post...jump pos 5 to L1 if that doesn't work...L2. The 4 prong could be wired incorrectly....Doug
Doug, I believe that the green ringer wire is already on L2. That is the same as having a jumper from 5 to L2 with the green ringer wire on 5...as for your other post, we never did hear from ewolfram again to find out if he got his working.
Quote from: poplar1 on August 18, 2012, 10:12:16 PM
Doug, I believe that the green ringer wire is already on L2. That is the same as having a jumper from 5 to L2 with the green ringer wire on 5...as for your other post, we never did hear from ewolfram again to find out if he got his working.
David...I agree, but where he said there was a 4 prong, it could have been wired incorrectly. With this jumper it takes the 4 prong out of the conversation as the phone is working. Jumping it to L1 if L2 didn't work was just hope against hope....Doug
DeaconKC,
Does the armature and clapper move freely when you jiggle it with your finger?
It might be wedged or stuck with dirt.
Howard