160 Series with 50K upper?

[Fabius]

Put together from parts? 160 series lower, 50K backboard and 1949 lead coin chutes.

[Stan S]

Yes, every payphone is put together from parts.

The bottom is definitely NOT a 160 bottom. By definition 160 series 3-slots were manufactured entirely by Western Electric. Even if they weren't, the bottom of a 160 would still have been embossed Western Electric in lightening script.

http://www.atcaonline.com/WE160pay.html

Was it re-manufactured for whatever reason at some point in history- of course.
It has a bull dog transmitter and a 706 receiver. Done after 1935.
Just like most 50 series 3 slots that still exist today.

That's a perfect historically accurate 50K.

Stan S.

[Stan S]

First let me state that this is NOT my item. I have no interest in bidding on it. I already have one of each type 50K in my collection. One made by Gray/Western Electric and one made by The Gray Paystation Co.

Attached is a picture pointing out a few characteristics of the payphone that would not be obvious to a novice collector.
If you are interested in a 50K this one is a 10!

Stan S.

[Fabius]

I screwed this up. I totally forgot that the 160 series only had the Western Electric name on the lower.

Would the 1949 lead coin chutes be original to the 50K?

[Stan S]

Is that particular coin track original to that particular payphone, I have no idea.
Is it correct for any 50 series 3-slot, absolutely.

In 1949 a phone call was still 5 cents and that's a 5 cent coin track.
What difference does it make what date is stamped on it?
Stan S.

[poplar1]

Pictures of the coin track would be helpful to those of us trying to follow the discussion.

[TelePlay]

I actually saw this when listed and considered it as an auction contest. Not knowing how authentic or Galesville it was, I did not use it.

More images of the phone in the eBay listing.

It's up to $790 with a day to go.

[Stan S]

Just in case anyone is interested.

Below is a copy of the diagram that was on this payphone when it left the factory. The original diagram is probably still pasted on the back casting and covered with black paint.
The hand stamped 50K was probably done when the payphone was upgraded with a 706 receiver and a bulldog transmitter.

When it comes to payphones there are a whole lot of Probablies, Possiblies and Maybies.

Stan S.

[TelePlay]

Auction ended  few minutes ago. Ended at $1,731.00 plus $40 shipping. Guess it was the real deal and yes, it would have made a great contest.

The last few seconds were snipe time at its best. 4 bids in the last 6 seconds with one buyer placing 3 of the 4 but none of them exceeded the one, what must have been a very high bid, placed by 9***5 ( 1388 ) 6 seconds before the end so he took the phone home. The frustrated bidder, 0***0 ( 168 ), placed all 3 bids within 5 seconds with his last bid accepted the second the auction ended. Seller won big.

[Stan S]

Hopefully that payphone still has the local alarm switch in it.

Below is a picture of the local alarm switch in the Gray/Western 50K from my collection.
My example isn't as pretty as the one in the auction. However, it certainly has original 'personality'.

The contacts of the switch as shown is a closed circuit. It was designed to ring a local alarm bell.
The alarm circuit didn't send information down the phone line.
When the bolt of the 10L lock moved up into the locked position the contacts opened.
Great idea-on paper. In reality, not so much.

Stan S.

[RotarDad]

Stan - Question: How did the person who collected the coinage from the vault avoid triggering the alarm?  Thanks for the ongoing education on the payphones! 

[Stan S]

He didn't. If the alarm was triggered by a legitimate employee it would only take a few seconds to pull the coin can, slide in an empty one and close and lock the vault.
If the payphone was broken into and the thief wasn't familiar with how the switch worked the bell would keep ringing.

I assume the idea was to alert someone close by that there might be a problem.
The vault alarm was part of the 50A, designed in 1911. By the 1920s they were being pulled out and the terminal positions on the wood strip used for other purposes.

The original idea was a little hokey. Apparently a simpler time.

Stan S.

[AE_Collector]

And in typical Telco fashion....I wonder if the plan was to send steady 90VAC ring generator on a separate pair from the Exchange and use an extension bell to complete the alarm system? Yes it would sound like a ringing phone but ringing steady without interruption would quickly have people checking it out.

A side benefit for criminals was if they happened to hear the 10 seconds of alarm ringing when the box was collected they now know that there was a cash box to be stollen from a Telco employee just outside the closest phone booth. Probably more in his truck parked at the curb. I only once came very close to having that happen to me when collecting from pay phones. That was enough for me.

Our full time collectors had a try system in their vans that prevented access to the full boxes once put in their vans. But I was a repairman who was occasionally asked to do collection routes if the collectors were swamped so I just had a conventional installer/repair person van. Coin collecting was a real good workout!

Terry