Western Electric Pay Phone - Info for Home Install

[DragonPhone]

I have started working on the second project left to me by my father-in-law.  He had worked payphone repair for Ameritech for years before retiring and had planned to install this in his workshop but never got around to it before he passed away.  Now we plan to instal it at our house.

Lower coin box already has lock completely removed so that is not an issue.  Although I would eventually like to install a replacement lock.

The upper face is detached and the lock is locked in the closed position.  This prevents the face from being properly installed and sealed.  I have sent off an email to see about obtaining a replacement key.  Or if necessary, removing the lock itself and sending it off to be re-keyed.  This is possible as I have access to the mounting bolts.

In the mean time I need to know where I should hook up my house lines to make this functional.  Not looking for it to operate with coins; just pick up and dial like any other phone.  Coins currently fall through to the coin change slot.  I have a T-bar to remove the front of the coin lock box.  Phone is missing internal coin box, need to get one of those and then maybe have coins go to the coin box.  Would make a great place to stick my pocket change.   

So, can this work on a house line without modification?  Where do I hook up the lines?  Can anyone tell me what model this is?

Much appreciated.

[DragonPhone]

More Pictures.

[DragonPhone]

And more pictures.

[DragonPhone]

And more pictures.

[DragonPhone]

Last ones!

[DragonPhone]

Can anyone confirm which of the large multi-prong plugs goes into which outlet?  One plug is attached to the upper unit and the other to the lower, both outlets are on the lower unit but I am unsure which goes where.

Thanks.

[ESalter]

The plug from the dial unit goes into the upper/right socket.  The plug from the validator goes into the lower/left.  That's actually a moderately rare chassis board in that phone, most are 32 types, where yours is a 31 type.  It was refurbished by a private company, that's why it's stamped TSK and the refurb date.  They also stamped the chassis board DTF for Dial Tone First.  If that's to be believed, you should be able to hook your phone line to the Tip and Ring terminals and it should operate like a normal phone.  Tip and Ring are the two screw terminals on the chassis board that are on the yellow plastic terminal block.  They're visible in your photo IMG_3580.

Lastly, it's a model 1C2.  The first digit 1 signifies a standard type payphone, a 2 would be for a panel type payphone.  The middle character is either A (coin first), C (convertible), or D (dial tone first).  The last digit can be 1 for rotary or 2 for touchtone.  So your 1C2 means it's a standard C type touchtone phone.

Hopefully this helps, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

---Eric

[DragonPhone]

Eric,
Thanks for the reply and great info on connecting it and about what model it is.  Tonight I will see if I can get it up and running using the Tip & Ring terminals.

In pictures 3581 and 3582 you can see a Black wire and Yellow wire that are not connected to anything.  Do you happen to know where I should connect these?

Thanks!

[ESalter]

You're very welcome!  I didn't notice that or I would have mentioned it.  Those two wires are for the coin relay.  The plastic cover just snaps off.  There are two screw terminals(I forget if they're numbered 1 and 2 or 3 and 4).  The yellow wire goes to the top one and the black goes to the bottom/side one. 

---Eric

[DragonPhone]

It's Alive!!!!

Thanks Eric.  I was able to get it up and running.  First outgoing call was to my Mother-in-Law to let her know I had the pay phone form the shed up and running.  She was amazed and delighted to hear it was working.

So if I hook the coin relay up what will that do?  Right now any coins going in simply drop through to the coin return.  It would be nice if I could get it to direct the coins into the vault and turn it into a fancy pocket change holder.  I would assume I can probably rig it to do one or the other, coin return or coin vault but not both.  Any thoughts?

Spent some time in the garage today prepping the wall to make sure I'll be able to fasten this securely enough.  Now I am waiting for the locksmith to hook me up with a key and second lock.  Could have gone with out them but it will be nice to make sure it can't be randomly opened.  I am also going to swap out the handset and armored cable for one that is in much better condition.

Thanks!

[DragonPhone]

We changed our minds on where we were going to hang the phone.  We had been thinking to put it out in the garage right by the door that goes into the house.  We have a wall phone there now.  But then we were thinking that we actually wanted to be able to use the phone a little more seeing as how it was something left to us by my wife's father.  So we decided to hang it up in our pantry right off the kitchen.  I was able to get a wire fished through the wall and the stud location was pretty good so I did not need to do anything special other than mount the back plate with a few bolts.

Here is a photo of it installed.

Does anyone know how to set the phone so any coins placed into it go to the coin vault rather than the coin return?

Thanks.

[ESalter]

It looks very nice hanging on the wall in your photo!  You can get the coins to go to the vault by tying the coin relay armature in with a piece of string or a bread-tie or something similar.  Be careful with it, it's possible for it to jam up when being operated by hand.  It's made so when it pulls in a small diverter plate behind it will guide coins one direction or the other.  You want to tie it in with that plate guiding coins towards the cash box.  It's hard to explain, but once you look at it while operating the relay you should be able to see the pieces moving that I'm talking about.  If you can't figure it out and would like me to take some internal photos pointing the pieces out, just let me know. 

Also, your phone has a Mars validator.  That means it will reject all coins to the coin return unless the phone is hooked up to a line and the handset is off hook.  When off hook, it should only accept nickels, dimes, and quarters.  Pennies, slugs, and everything else should still go to the coin return.

---Eric

[DragonPhone]

Thanks Eric.  We really like where it is too.

I hooked the wires up on the coin relay. (yellow & black)

Now when I have the receiver off the hook and I deposit a quarter I will get a short series of beeps/tones and the quarter will remain in the upper portion and not fall through.  If I try to dial (misdialed the first time) and then hang up the receiver; nothing happens.  The coin remains where ever it is held in the upper portion.  To get it to fall I need to manually press on the movable portion of the coin relay, then it falls through to the coin return slot.

If I deposit coin, call a number, make connection and then hang up, nothing happens.  The coin does not fall through from the upper area.

Advice?

[poplar1]

Dragonphone--What Eric is saying is that you should push the relay in as you are doing---but do so only once, then tie it so it won't release. That way the coins won't stay in the hopper. Depending on which way the coin vane is positioned, with the relay tied off the coins will either go in the coin return or into the vault.

[DragonPhone]

poplar1 & Eric,
I was able to get everything set last night.  The issue I was having is that the coin vane was never directing the coins to the vault no matter how I pressed it.  What I had to do was slowly push in on the relay and as I was doing that use a small screwdriver to reach in and behind the relay to push the lever attached to the coin vane the opposite way.  Once I was able to get it to switch to the correct side I had to stop pressing in on the relay.  Because if I kept pressing the relay all the way in it would then flip the coin vane over to the coin return route versus the coin vault route.

So now I have the relay tied off about 3/4 of the way in and that allows the coin vane to remain in the correct position.

I am now able to do both things that I wanted to be able to do.  When the receiver is on the hook any coins inserted fall though to the coin return.  This is fun for the kids.  Then I can pick up the receiver and at that point any coins inserted fall through to the coin vault which can now act as a pocket change piggy bank.

Thanks for all your assistance guys!!!