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Stupid Question (trivial)

Started by Dan, June 30, 2011, 10:24:19 AM

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Dan

Why did Western Electric add a seventh hole in the center of the earpiece?  I know it was around 1960 or so. I don't think it was because they switched from tenite to ABS plastic because I have some ABS six hole earpieces. Cost is always a consideration (leather to plastic feet), but addind a seventh hole would seem to be more work. Anyone  ???know? ???
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Adam

I don't know the "why".  But, why do you suppose one more hole would cause them more work?  It's just a different mold, created some time after the switch from soft to hard plastic...
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Wallphone

Were the holes really molded into the piece or were they later drilled? If they were molded that would make for some rather fragile parts in the mold (more things that could go wrong) and it would be harder to eject the piece from the mold.
Doug Pav

Adam

#3
I don't know, I always assumed they were in the mold.  As you originally surmised, they wouldn't want to add work to the manufacturing process.  If the holes were drilled, there would be a further manufacturing step of burnishing/polishing the holes to assure the hole edges were smooth.

A document in another thread on this site very recently talked about the F handset and why they added the seam, because it alleviated them from having to sand the area where the molds joined on the seamless version.

Interesting stuff!  I want to know now, too!

Mommy, where did the phone holes come from?
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Wallphone

No doubt it would add an operation, but it might save the hassle of repairing the small pins in the die all the time. Where are you at Paul F., do you know the details on the process?
Doug Pav

jsowers

I happen to know the answer, only because I have a picture of the handset cap machine at home in a WE Transmitter magazine. They did indeed drill the holes after the cap was made. Once a cap was drilled, compressed air blew the cap off the machine and into a bin. I don't know how or if they burnished and de-burred the holes or if the machine did that too. It had to have been some machine.

Did you ever see the salt and pepper shakers with handset caps that had an S and P drilled into them? They were made from caps that hadn't been drilled yet.

I'll see if I can locate, scan and post the picture this weekend. It has a small blurb under it that describes the process.

Dan, that is definitely not a stupid question. I don't know why they added that seventh hole. Maybe it let more air through when the machine blew the cap off and since the hard plastic pieces were lighter, it kept them from being blown across the room?  ;D
Jonathan

Wallphone

Jonathan, Thanks for solving the mystery about if they were drilled or not. Now we still need to find out why the extra hole was added.
Doug Pav

Willytx

My guess would be the center hole had some function in aligning the cap during the manufacturing process. Did I win?

MDK

I would have guessed the added bilateral divergence in the increased telephone line usage during the later 50's required the extra hole for redundant sinusoidal pan-chromatic resonance, and other highly ambient domains.

Either that, or they thought it looked cool.

LarryInMichigan

From some of the caps I have seen, it appears obvious that they were drilled because there are excess bits of plastic hanging from the edges of the holes.  Those plastic burrs catch filth and germs, so I usually remove them.

I expect that the extra hole was added to allow the sound to travel though the cap better.  Perhaps the phone companies had complaints from subscribers about the sound from the receiver being too low, and they thought that adding an additional hole might reduce the number of service calls a bit.


Larry

Russ Kirk

What ever the reason - and it is not trivial  - I'm glad they did it. 

It makes determining older phones easier!

Russ
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

Dan

Easier, yes, but for some reason, the North Electric phones kept theirs at six.

More trivia --- Automatic earpiece holes numbered five, newer ones added the center hole to make six!! A pattern here.........

"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Adam

#12
Quote from: Dan on June 30, 2011, 08:16:48 PM
for some reason, the North Electric phones kept theirs at six

I think you meant Northern Electric.  :)

WOW!  I didn't know this!  I just pulled my Northern Electric 500D dated 1976 out of my stock and it has 6 holes!  NEAT!!!

Also, both my Northern Telecom Logic sets (a Logic 6 and Logic 1) also both have 6 holes!

So, now, enquiring minds want to know:  Why do Americans need 7 holes, but Canadians only 6?
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

rdelius

I beleive the Kellogg sets stayed with 6 holes
Robby

Adam

I don't know about Kellog, but I own several ITT 500 type sets from various years, they all have 7 holes.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820