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Half modular, half hard-wired handset? Have you ever seen this?

Started by JimH, March 14, 2011, 11:21:45 PM

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JimH

Check this item out from ebay.  Makes me wonder is WECO eased into the modular conversion in this way.  The phone is dated 1972. I've never seen a handset cord hard-wired into the handset and a modular plug into the phone base:

http://tinyurl.com/4l5p5a6
Jim H.

Adam

Take a closer look.  I believe both ends of that handset cord are hard-wired, and where the set-end of the cord is, there is a grey "modular to hardwired filler plate" that converts the square hole meant for the modular jack into the oval mouse-hole for a hard-wired handset cord.

ITT, however, did make 1/2 modular handset cords (hardwired into the handle, modular plug on set-end).  It would have been flat wire, though, not round wire like the phone in question.  I don't think Western Electric ever made anything like that, though.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Adam

Here is a picture of the phone in question, for those who are hard of eBaying.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

cihensley@aol.com

Some of the associated companies began modularity before they had full stocks of modular sets from Western. In Pacific Telephone, this entailed converting sets to modular, using a specially designed cutting tool (like a cutter on the end of pliers type handle) that made a square hole for the modular (female) plug, on all visits to a customer location for any reason. The tool could not be used on a handset. A supply of modular and partially modular cords were carried by all installation and repair forces.

Chuck

Adam

Are you sure about that?  Do you have a Western Electric half-modular handset cord in your possession, a picture of one, or a Bell System Practice (BSP) that documents one?  I would be most interested to know.

Yes, telephone bases were notched in the field and telephones were converted to modular in the field.  But to my knowledge, in that case, the entire handset was replaced with a modular one.  Those handsets did not go to waste, they were brought back to the phone company and converted by Western Electric to modular by drilling out a big hole and adding the modular jack filler in the same color plastic.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

JimH

Well, I'll have to see when it arrives.  I couldn't resist this oddity for $15.  A while back I bought a 2-line black 500 that had a "fat" handset cord with modular connectors on BOTH ends.  My initial thought was that the "base" end on this one has a modular connector.  I'll be interested to see.  It's a lesson to see just how far WECO went to use everything.  From cutting round holes in handsets to convert them to modular, to converting sets in the field.  In today's "throw away" world this was the type of philosophy that kept them going strong for over a hundred years.
Jim H.

jsowers

Jim, I think you will find this phone was refurbished in the latter part of the 1970s and the housing was replaced with a modular one and the mousehole things were inserted then to fill the cord openings. The original date stamp on the bottom, which is probably 1972, was covered up by a sticker. It is unusual to see that combination. It may have been refurbished just before they were fully into modular phones at the refurb house.

In 1972, the touchpad would have had "Operator" spelled out and not "OPER" like this one has. I think that changed about 1974 or so. Also a 1972 2500 would have had a ribbed translucent gray faceplate. This one has a solid gray one.

I have a phone collector friend who calls hard-wired black 2500s "Rockford Phones." It's what Jim Rockford (played by James Garner) used on The Rockford Files, which started in 1974. I think the opening credits always had his phone ringing and his answering machine picking up, or something like that. It's hard to believe, but hard-wired black 2500s aren't too plentiful now. I actually found two of them at thrift stores a long time ago and didn't realize at the time how rare they were.

Here's a link to the opening of The Rockford Files that's been shortened, but it has the phone pictured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz_NkXeAnJo
Jonathan

Adam

And it's got an official Bell System prop phone number on it!
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

cihensley@aol.com

jsowers - No, I am not sure. It is so long ago now my memory could be faulty. I am reasonably sure the cutter would not work on a handset.

Chuck

Adam

I agree.  Bell System personnel only modified telephone base shells in the field to convert them to modular, they did not convert the handset handles (that was done at Western Electric refurbishment facilities.)

However, that does not imply that Bell System personnel retained an original handset in the field, because they could not modify it, by adding a half-modular cord to it.  As far as I know, they did not do this, when converting a set in the field to modular, they simply completely replaced the handset with a modular one.

This is my recollection of procedures and modified sets that I actually saw in the field.  Does anybody have any proof or documentation to the contrary?
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

JimH

I've also found hard-wired black 2500s very hard to find.  My Dad had one in his den in the 70s and I'd been looking for a good original example, which I found a couple of years ago.  Seems most all of them are fully modular.
Jim H.

Adam

I believe black is rare in anything Western Electric other than 500 sets, because black was so common in 500s.  You very rarely see black trimlines and black princesses, for example.  This is the reason black is my second-fave Western Electric color (first is red).

Coincidentally, I have a Rockford phone on my desk currently (I switch my phones around occasionally).  Here's a pic.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

JimH

Loved that show growing up!  If I remember correctly, wasn't the message different each week on the answering machine?
Jim H.


oldphon

I agree as well.  Hardwired 2500's and 2554's in black are tough to find.  Much easier to find in colors.
Somewhere I have some modular handset cords that used the round cordage.  It appears the Bell Operating companies may have used existing stock of hardwired cords, cut the ends off, and attached these plugs.  They are very different than the typical modular plugs in construction.  I think the bags that the cords are in are marked Pacific Telephone, or something similar, not Western Electric.

Jeremy