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Western Electric 334 subset with Wooden Gongs

Started by Sargeguy, March 02, 2014, 03:32:17 PM

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unbeldi

#15
Quote from: Sargeguy on January 16, 2015, 10:05:57 PM
They are notched like WE bells.  These were used, like cowbells, tea gongs, etc. in offices where there were multiple lines and people had to differentiate which phone was ringing.  I have also seen 3.5" gongs that were notched to dull the tone on CO ringer boxes.

By "notched" you mean the little "cut-out" to prevent the gong from rotating?  I would think even a third-party gong would require that, to prevent it from mounting crooked.

I searched through more catalogs last night that I probably had not consulted before for telephone gongs, namely the Electrical Supply Year Books. The 1917 Year Book has something like 20+ pages of all conceivable types of vibrators, bells, gongs, buzzers, and I could not find a single wooden gong. However, the 1916 Year Book does have ONE !  See attached.  It is not a telephone gong, however, but a general purpose type.

Those are the only complete Year Books I have available, I think, and there ever was only one prior to that; the WECo 1915 Year Book was the first of its kind.

So, the question remains, of why they wouldn't list the wooden gongs if WECo actually made them themselves?

I have seen wooden gongs on subsets where it seemed that the screw holes didn't quite have the proper fit for the mount, or the screws looked much newer.

poplar1

#16
I believe Sargeguy is referring to two different notches:
(1) The "wing hole"  that allows the gongs to be mounted on either the type ringer where the gongs are fixed, or the older type.

              Western Electric standard 2 1/2 and 3 inch gongs have mounting screw holes which are slotted for
           engaging the projections on the gong posts of standard ringers, thus making it impossible for telephone
           users to inadvertently put the ringer out of adjustment by turning the gongs with the fingers (a frequent
           source of ringer trouble). These gongs may also be used on gong posts which are not provided with pro-
           jections for engaging the "wing" holes.


(2) The slit(s) cut into the edge of the gong to change the sound. B. B. Wingo says he used to do this onsite to make distinctive ringing tones. These are also shown in Catalog #6 as the No. 31-A (one cut) and No. 32-A (four cuts):

         Differ from the No. 29A in that they have different tones.
               Intended for use where a number of telephones are placed
               close to each other.

     

Various type gongs were often used on 27- or 43-style extension ringers for Central Office Alarms, sometimes with a single gong. If one of these turns up with wood gong(s), perhaps that would be further evidence that these were provided by Western Electric. (I have one with a single sleigh bell that is marked "SDR GR BSY ALM." On the bottom it is marked  "43F D-40000".)

A friend said the Graybar/WE catalogs showed a mere fraction of the items he remembered stocking when he worked at Graybar in the 1940s-50s.

Reference: Western Electric Telephone Apparatus and Supplies, No. 6, page 81.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

Quote from: poplar1 on January 17, 2015, 01:16:39 PM
I believe Sargeguy is referring to two different notches:
(1) The "wing hole"  that allows the gongs to be mounted on either the type ringer where the gongs are fixed, or the older type.

              Western Electric standard 2 1/2 and 3 inch gongs have mounting screw holes which are slotted for
           engaging the projections on the gong posts of standard ringers, thus making it impossible for telephone
           users to inadvertently put the ringer out of adjustment by turning the gongs with the fingers (a frequent
           source of ringer trouble). These gongs may also be used on gong posts which are not provided with pro-
           jections for engaging the "wing" holes.

This I also read and interpreted to be what was referred to.

Quote
(2) The slit(s) cut into the edge of the gong to change the sound. B. B. Wingo says he used to do this onsite to make distinctive ringing tones. These are also shown in Catalog #6 as the No. 31-A (one cut) and No. 32-A (four cuts):

         Differ from the No. 29A in that they have different tones.
               Intended for use where a number of telephones are placed
               close to each other.

     

Various type gongs were often used on 27- or 43-style extension ringers for Central Office Alarms, sometimes with a single gong. If one of these turns up with wood gong(s), perhaps that would be further evidence that these were provided by Western Electric. (I have one with a single sleigh bell that is marked "SDR GR BSY ALM." On the bottom it is marked  "43F D-40000".)

A friend said the Graybar/WE catalogs showed a mere fraction of the items he remembered stocking when he worked at Graybar in the 1940s-50s.
I certainly agree, especially for that period.  The 1950 catalog doesn't even mention color telephones or 500 sets.

On the earlier catalogs with that many of pages of gongs and bells, I would have expected to find more than a single occurrence of wood gongs.

Cutting a slit into the wood, in attempt to change the sound, would probably be rather ineffective.  Wood gongs don't resonate much. The sound they make comes probably more from the contained airspace they enclose, while the wood structure only provides the initial energy. They just make more or less dull sounds depending on their size and thickness.  I think even the wooden gongs that are split in half, probably sound pretty much the same as those that managed to avoid such damage.

On metal, I can see it would make quite a bit of difference.

Sargeguy

Yes, I meant that the holes in the wood gongs are notched as seen on a standard WE gong.  The C.O. call box has notches/slots cut into the 3.5" bells to alter the sound.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409