This dial plate came with those dials I purchased last week - appears to be NOS. Anyone know what application this would have been used for?
Quote from: wds on October 25, 2015, 06:04:39 PM
This dial plate came with those dials I purchased last week - appears to be NOS. Anyone know what application this would have been used for?
I have seen them on AE 40 Navy Phones with the locking handset....Doug
Yes, I have too - both types of locking handset.
I don't know if these are original.
Jack
Thanks - after looking at some pictures it does seem to be mainly used on the ship phone. Also looks great on the other models as well.
wds,
The first reference I found was in AE Catalog 4055 - C , June 1940 , pg. 33 , cat # AK - 22 . stub
thanks for that. My number plate is metal with printed numbers. I'll check tonight to see if the "0" to "1" are luminous.
Luminous numerals? :o
Now I totally want one!!! ;D
Perfect headboard / nightstand AE! 8)
Best regards!
Can't get the numbers to glow. Either it's just white paint or the luminous material has faded to the "off" position.
Here is an excerpt from a manual that AE composed for the USN:
since my letters don't glow in the dark anymore, can I assume I'm not radio-active? Maybe I should stop carrying the dial plate around in my pocket.
Does it glow for a little bit when exposed to a fluorescent light and then observed in the dark immediately?
Quote from: wds on October 27, 2015, 04:16:37 PM
since my letters don't glow in the dark anymore, can I assume I'm not radio-active? Maybe I should stop carrying the dial plate around in my pocket.
Note that the catalog description does not state that the black plastic number plate is luminous; instead, it is the
"Metal Number Card" that has its numerals finished with luminous paint.
Here is a description of the number card from an earlier AE catalog that is located in the TCI Library.
Quote from: G-Man on October 27, 2015, 04:58:04 PMNote that the catalog description does not state that the black plastic number plate is luminous; instead, it is the "Metal Number Card" that has its numerals finished with luminous paint.
Is the one that Jack posted such a card?
(http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15112.0;attach=131008;image)
I actually think those plates look a little creepy on an AE40, the regular white porcelain ones look 'friendlier' to me.
Yes, mine is the metal one. I've held it up to incandescent, fluorescent, and set it on the window sill all morning, and there was no glowing at all. I wonder how long the luminous material actually lasts.
I kind of agree with the creepy look - maybe the police departments used the black dials plates on the black phones to intimidate the unlucky people who got to visit the police department.
I have "no glow" as well. At least on the dial plates. A little JD is a good thing....for medicinal purposes only.....for a glow as needed. It was a tough Tuesday!! :o...Doug
Does anyone have a luminous plate? Do they glow redish or green-blueish?
I suppose I would expect the phosphorescence to be redish, if they were made in the 1930s or 40s, because those zinc sulfide-based formulations came before the later ones with higher efficiency. The color is determined to a great part by the doping of the material with various metals, in particular copper, magnesium, aluminum.
The radio-luminescent paints deteriorated rather quickly, I think. It is not that the radium's half-life limits this, but the material itself becomes inactive.
Use your favorite Geiger-counter to check the plate. ;D
Quote from: wds on October 27, 2015, 09:52:02 AM
Can't get the numbers to glow. Either it's just white paint or the luminous material has faded to the "off" position.
Or the lithium batteries are depleted....or were they Ni-cads back then?
Terry
I'm not sure, but I think the Ni-cads came first.