AE 80

[Devansphones]

It is kinda a beauty and the beast thing, outside "BEAUTY " inside the moldy "BEAST "
but for $15.00 US, I can learn to love mold, works ok and sounds great, eccept, what is this at the top right above the dial, it looks like a light but I don't know...can anyone tell me?
  PARDON THE UPSIDE DOWN PICS

[jsowers]

You can clean off the mold. I re-saved your pictures right side up, but you still need to post a picture of the phone with its housing off so we can see the right side where the lens is. It almost looks like a message waiting light, but it's hard to tell.

[Devansphones]

Thanks for flipping the pics, I hate the dang ipod when it does things like that I need to buy a camera...and yes I will post that pic of the inside.

[AE_Collector]

And post a pic of the base so we can see any codes stamped there. Light looks similar to the in use light on the 88 speakerphone but the shell would have more holes in it for switches. I was going to say that you are slipping. First pics were only sideways!

Terry

[GG]

AE's version of the Mushroom Phone: they had to put the light on the opposite side of the dial compared to WE :-)

Seriously though, here's my guess:

The phone is intended for use on 1A2 key systems (AE 10A2).

The line cord has three pairs.

1st pair is tip & ring (phone line).

2nd pair is A + A1, the A-lead control: connected to a hookswitch contact that closes when off-hook.

3d pair is LG + L, connected to the lamp. 

Thus a) when a key telephone was using that line, the lamp on this set would light, and b) when this phone was using the line, the lamp on the corresponding button on the key telephones would light.

This would enable a single-line set to have access to one line on a key system.  For example an executive/secretary system where a bunch of execs have these and a secretary has a key telephone.   There would still be need for intercom in that configuration, which "should" have been accommodated in the phones, but in those days often wasn't, and a separate intercom system, likely a "squawk box" hands free type, would be installed next to the phones.

So the secretary answers a ringing line, puts the caller on hold, buzzes the executive on the squawk box, and asks if s/he can take the call.  If the exec can take the call, they pick up the receiver, removing the call from hold.  If not, the secretary picks up the call and takes a message.  When either the secretary or executive is on the phone, the other sees a light on their phone to let them know.

[Devansphones]

In my defense I know NOTHING of AE phones I mainly collect WE phones... here be the pics, the VOL. control is gone from the base, I think the bells were changed because the bells are not the type that would have VOL. control, above and to the right of the 2 on the dial seems to be a light socket, I THINK and the stamps on the base read (if you can't see them) N 802 CSL 4-58-4, and what is the little dial like thing with the arrow on the bottom?   I fyou need more pics I would be happy to post them and I will post pics of the inside and out of the shell if you need...

[Devansphones]

I gotta post them 1 at a time cuz the computer is stupid.

[Devansphones]

I gotta post them 1 at a time cuz the computer is stupid.

[Devansphones]

I gotta post them a few at a time cuz the computer is stupid.

[AE_Collector]

Well at least the lamp is factory. No clues in the base markings though. It will come down to where the wires go to. GG could be correct in that it could be for 1a2 or maybe a neon to give a visual ring indication.

Terry

[JorgeAmely]

What's the caption on the numbers card? 

[Devansphones]

It reads " FIRE 2434, GUARD 2434, DOCTOR 2333, AMBULANCE 2444, OPERATOR 0, (my number is listed below the operator as just) 2477.

[AE_Collector]

It could be from a very small town with potentially only a couple of hundred phone lines since all 5 numbers listed are within 2 connector groups.  But maybe more likely is that it is a station from a potentially large PABX. Potentially large since it has 4 digit stations AND the services listed on the number card are quite likely services available on the site where the PABX was located.

The dial on the bottom is a manual compensator tha tis adjusted depending how far the pone is fro mthe switch. Very soon after the AE 80 was introduced they changed to "automatic Compensation" which eliminated this item from newer phones.

Terry

[AE_Collector]

Ok Devan, time to trace the two wires coming off of the lamp socket to see where they go. There should be numbers by each screw terminal on the network (big thing beneath the dial). See if you can get those numbers if the leads go there. This might tell us if it was a ringing light or a line in use light. Could have been optional either way depending on where the wires were connected and what type of lamp was put in the lamp holder.

Terry

[GG]

Devan - in more detail:

The "volume control" that's marked with little numbers 0 through 4: as Terry said, it's for line compensation.  What that means: it is used to adjust the amount of line current that reaches the transmitter, thus adjusting the audio output volume of the transmitter.  A phone located close to the telco CO or the PBX, would be adjusted to put more resistance in the circuit so the transmitter was not excessively loud.  A phone further away would be adjusted to put less resistance in the circuit so the transmitter had enough current to be loud enough.  Later models of type 80 did this function automatically with rectifiers, as with the WE 500. 

The marks on your ringer: ASL = Straight Line, so it will ring on any available ringing voltage.   Party line phones had ringers that were selective for the frequency of the ringing voltage, enabling the telco CO to send different frequencies from 16 Hz to 66 Hz, to ring only one household's phones at a time.

Your dial is a normal AE dial with a dust cover.  Those dust covers crack easily so treat it gently.

The mark "Louder -->>" is where there would be a volume control for the ringer.  That was optional during that era, so many AE 80s don't have it.  It was a little plastic disc with a knurled edge, that got thicker in a spiral from one side going around, so as to stop the bell clapper from striking one of the bells quite as hard.  IMHO, AE's volume control was less effective than WE's, and in any case you can adjust the ringer volume without it, as follows:

At the back of the pivoted clapper assembly, there is a little screw on the armature.  When you tighten the screw, the armature moves through a wider arc, striking the bells with more force, making a louder ring.  When you loosen the screw, the armature moves through a smaller arc, striking the bells with less force, making a quieter ring.  You will also need to loosen the screw in the center of each bell gong and pivot it such that the clapper is just a tiny bit clear of each gong at the end of the clapper's travel in each direction: this ensures that the tone of the bells is clear rather than dulled.   

Terry may be right about the light being a ring indicator: useful where there are a bunch of phones nearby such as at a cluster of desks.  But the key to this is to trace the wiring of the light socket.

Codes on the base:  N-802 = the telephone is type 80.  C = "metropolitan" dial with letters as well as numbers.  SA = straight line ringer.  Date code shows it was made in 1958, which is one of the older ones.  AE 80 was introduced in the mid 1950s, and anything before 1960 is an older one.  Later ones have more digits e.g. NC-802-000-CSA: those three zeros in the middle, one is for optional components that aren't included, the other two zeros are for color code = black.