AE-40 pick-up bar question

[bushman]

Could someone post up some pics of an AE-40 pick up bar. I have an AE-40 with the bails to hold the handset in place. There is chrome inserts where the pick-up bar would be but no bar attaching them. I am wondering if that is the way it was supposed to be or is it missing a part. Do all pick up bars have the recesses for the wire bails? I need pics from all angles. I can't tell from the pics of the ones for sale at OldPhoneWorks.

Thanks

Bushman

[Jim Stettler]

Check with Ray K. He used to have lot's of them NOS.
AKA Butler's handle.

Jim

[AE_Collector]

I can't post pictures at the moment but I would say that the gizmo's that are there to hold the handset in place have no impact on the type of bar or lack there of.

The earliest AE40's had chrome blocks like yours that the plungers protrude through except they DIDN'T have the little hole in the side of the blocks. Inside the phone you will notice that the hook switch assembly screws into these blocks.

The next version is like yours with the hole in each block. They had designed the Buttler Handle which snaps into the hole on each block and lays into the slope on the back of the AE40 when not being used to carry the phone around.

Then finally they redesigned the blocks into blocks with the bar between them to carry the phone. This was a single casting, not seperate pieces. Considering the number of older 40's that have blocks with holes but no carry bar, I'm assuming that the Butler handles fell out too easily and got lost. Presumanbly this happened while carrying the phone on occasion so the Bakelite AE40 might have been "lost" (a write off) as well.


Terry

[paul-f]

Unfortunately, these aren't my sets..

[AE_Collector]

It is very obvious that the final one piece carrybar was an afterthought when you look at how it sweeps back from the plunger blocks to leave enough room to get your fingers in under it.

Thanks for posting the pictures Paul.

There is one other small bit to the story of "carrying" an AE40. The two indents on each side of the cradle area are designed as points to put your fingers when carrying the AE40 so that it doesn't slide from your grip. This would have been the first planned way to carry the phone before the Butlers Handle and way before the carry bar. Somewhere I have a picture of a VERY early 40 that DOESN'T have the indents on each side. This would have been the first incarnation of the AE40.

Do you have a picture of that one Paul?

Terry

[paul-f]

Let me look...

[AE_Collector]

That be it! Could you pick one up in Ivory so that it is easier to see the (lack of) indent area?

Terry

[paul-f]

I don't see one on the hard drive.  You'll just have to photograph one from your collection.   

While we're looking at variations, here's another one...

[jsowers]

That's the party line switchhook. We had one on our black AE40 when I was a kid. The switchhook plungers only came up halfway and you could hear through the receiver but the transmitter was cut off. The right switchhook plunger is beveled and there's a stop. You lift the handset, the plunger comes up halfway, you listen for the dial tone or someone talking, and if you get dial tone, you squeeze that little lever on the side. It was great for listening in, but anyone on the other end could tell because the volume went down a little with someone else on the line. We were on a party line with my grandmother next door and two other neighbors.

You always had to remember to squeeze the lever when you answered the phone too. The lever was spring-loaded and sometimes the spring would break.

[bushman]

Thanks for all of the info. That really answers a lot of questions. Now should I have my blocks rechromed or should I purchase a later model one piece casting? Will my bails still fit on the one piece casting? Are there any handles out there to fit my blocks? I really like the look of the 3 piece butlers handle. I have not seen one like that in all of my searches for pics on these.

Bushman

[paul-f]

Some one in one of the clubs had NOS chrome butler's handles for sale at the Enfield shows a few years ago.  I got a few and put them on a couple of sets.  They look nice and are a great conversation piece, but seemed awkward to use.

If I remember who had them I'll let you know.  Perhaps someone remembers seeing them at one of the other shows.

[Jim Stettler]

Some one in one of the clubs had NOS chrome butler's handles for sale at the Enfield shows a few years ago.  I got a few and put them on a couple of sets.  They look nice and are a great conversation piece, but seemed awkward to use.

If I remember who had them I'll let you know.  Perhaps someone remembers seeing them at one of the other shows.

I am pretty sure it is Ray K. He had a lot of these from the depot. If it wasn't him, then I suspect the seller got them from him.
Just my guess,
Jim

[AE_Collector]

Ray had brand new in the box one piece carry bars from the Depot but I never heard anything about Buttlers Handles.

I too had heard that someone had lots of Buttler Handles at shows a few years back. Maybe it was Paul who told me this...can't recall now who told me nor who it was who had them. I was looking for a couple of them and did investigate further and came to the conclusion that whoever it was that had them at shows 4 or 5 years ago no longer had any of them.

I did eventually get a couple from another club member (can't remember who this member was EITHER!) for something like $35 or $40 each.

Easiest and least expensive route is going to be the one piece carry bar. I would think you would get one for $10 or $12. I probably have one or two spares here.

I can't see any reason that it would cause any problems wiith the bails but then again, I have never seen that type of bail on an AE40.

Terry

[Jim Stettler]

I was under the impression they were the same item. I defer to Terry's opinion.
Jim

[GG]

One thing to keep in mind with the butler handle: if it was subject to falling out of the phone, that means the phone was subject to falling out of the handle ....and onto the floor... *splat!*

So if you're going to install one of those, don't go using it to carry the phone around a room or you might end up having a smashed phone.

BTW, anyone else notice the similarities between the AE cradle and the GPO 706?  The original 706 cradle resembled the early AE cradle with chrome blocks and that's all, no carrying handle.  The later one has a handgrip that resembles the AE.  The difference being that on the 706, the case mounting screws are in the flat surface at the top, next to the plungers. 

The reason GPO did it that way with the screws in the handgrip, was to enable using the same set for both desk & wall use, with a different chrome attachment that formed a cradle when the phone was hung on the wall.  The dial would of course be rotated 180 degrees.  Go here and scroll halfway down the page to see one:   http://britishtelephones.com/ericsson/gptel.htm

When GPO came up with the 711 wall set, there was no need for a convertible desk set.  Eventually with the 746, there was one case mounting screw only, at the rear of the set, and the handgrip was integral with the case.