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Manual Green 500

Started by HarrySmith, May 06, 2011, 07:57:22 PM

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HarrySmith

Just bought a nice manual Green 500 from an ATCA member. Nice phone!
Pictures on the ATCA website starting here:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll2/jeancharles142/100_0040.jpg
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

Adam

Very nice!  For some reason, I am very attracted to manual 500s.  I own two, a red one (below) and a black one.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Jester

I like them, too.  For now, though, I only have this one....
Stephen

Adam

Jester, that set is intense!  Is that Oxford Grey (it's hard to tell from the pic)?  Also, the GE number card is SWEET!  Is that original to the set?
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Jester

Dave,
It is Oxford Gray.  The dial card is not original to this phone.  I got this card from a Dark Gray two-tone over 25 years ago.  Yes, I still have the two-tone.
Stephen

Adam

Excellent!

The GE number card is very appropriate to the manual set!
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

GG



There are voice recognition dialers you can buy and connect in series with those phones so you can dial by name or by speaking the numbers.  These are typically sold as disability/accessibility tech.  The most versatile one I found with a search a year or two ago was made in Israel and cost about $200. 

It would be max cool to build something like that out of Asterisk parts and equip it with the voice responses of a live operator from back in the day.  Lift receiver and the voice says "Number please?", etc. 

Surprise your friends who think that manual phones are obsolete, heh heh!

Dennis Markham

Stephen, I know you've posted that Dark Gray phone before but I never get tired of seeing it.  What a nice phone to have in your collection.

JorgeAmely

Jester:

That is a sweet looking Oxford Gray phone. I see there is a difference between the blank dial of yours and the previous two postings. Do you know if they were available simultaneously or if there is a year when they switched styles?

Jorge

paul-f

For background, see BSP C34.401,

"APPARATUS (DIAL) BLANK DESIGN FOR THE WESTERN ELECTRIC 500,"
  by Russ Cowell and Paul Fassbender in Singing Wires, March, 2009,

or look here:
   http://www.paul-f.com/500blanks.html
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

jsowers

Note the chrome number card retainer rings on all three manual phones. This is where I think they were intended to go--not on a black 500 fingerwheel. Just my opinion, of course. I've never seen any hard and fast rules on those retainers. I just know what looks right, and these all look right to me. The chrome gives that great expanse of plastic housing some flash. I remember these phones from the motel rooms we visited in the 1960s.

Stephen, the GE logo on the dark gray is very nice and reminds me of my parents' appliances from the same era. They built their house in 1953 and the stove, fridge, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher and air conditioner all had that GE logo. The ones on the stove and fridge lit up, and those two items are still in regular use today, believe it or not.
Jonathan

Adam

Quote from: jsowers on May 07, 2011, 11:55:27 AM
Note the chrome number card retainer rings on all three manual phones. This is where I think they were intended to go--not on a black 500 fingerwheel. Just my opinion, of course. I've never seen any hard and fast rules on those retainers. I just know what looks right, and these all look right to me.

If you think about it, what other color could the number card retainer ring on a manual set have been?

The number card retainer ring was designed to be used with the black metal dial, at the time these were made, dials made in color did NOT have number card retainer rings, it was built into the clear lucite finger wheel.

So, black number card retainer rings could have been used on black manual sets, but what about all the other color sets?  They had to have something that was appropriate for all the manual color sets, like the clear lucite finger wheel was appropriate for all the color dials.

Hence, the silver number card retainer rings for manual sets.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Dave F

Quote from: Jester on May 06, 2011, 10:09:59 PM

...It is Oxford Gray...
What a wonderful phone.  Be careful when you pick it up:  The front cover screw appears to be loose, and you sure don't want to break off a piece of that beautiful gray housing!

Dennis Markham

I acquired a Mahogany 500 a while back that came with the 95C apparatus blank.  It too has the chrome/silver dial card retainer ring.

paul-f

Note the P-296741 Chrome Card Holder Frame in one of the earliest mentions of the colored 95A apparatus blanks in the BSPs...
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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