LM Ericsson Model 1951

[mienaichizu]

Guys,

This is the phone Mark is asking me on my previous post. It is an LM Ericsson but the model I'm not so sure about it. I think it is 1951 as far as my research goes. What do you think of it?

[Bill Cahill]

Interesting phone. Do you have it connected?
Interesting how they put all the numbers in the center of the dial.
Nice style case, and, handset looks easy to handle.
Bill Cahill

[Mark Stevens]

I like it!  Collectors in the U.S. tend to favor their domestic phones, but the European designs are very interesting.

[Dennis Markham]

The numbers on the inside of the dial are not unlike the Western Electric model 500 where the numbers/letters were moved outside of the finger wheel.  I have read that this was an advancement after much study of the dialing habits of consumers using the earlier phones, like 102's, 202's, 302's etc.  The "study" concluded that dialing time could be decreased if the numbers were moved from under the finger holes.  The theory was that the user could be eye-balling the next number to be dialed while the dial was spinning---or returning.  To keep the user from getting confused about whether or not the finger wheel was still spinning, a dot was placed under the hole so that it would be evident to the user that the spinning had stopped and the finger could then locate the next number to be dialed.  If they only know how fast touch-tone would be in the future!  Perhaps Ericsson copied this theory from Western Electric, perhaps W.E. copied from Ericsson.  I'm sure someone out there knows the answer to that.

[BDM]

Dennis, I've seen a few W.E. sets with those number cards. Not often, two or three times in the distant past. I have a feeling it was an "after market" idea. I've never seen reference made to it through W.E. info.

[mienaichizu]

Interesting phone. Do you have it connected?
Interesting how they put all the numbers in the center of the dial.
Nice style case, and, handset looks easy to handle.
Bill Cahill

I have not connected it. I think there is a problem with it because the line always get hanged when this phone is connected. I'm still studying how to fix it, any idea how can I fix it?

About the handle, it is slim and easy to handle but a little bit heavy unlike WE handsets

[mienaichizu]

I like it!  Collectors in the U.S. tend to favor their domestic phones, but the European designs are very interesting.

I also like this phone, yep your right Mark, European designs are interesting, some are quite stylish

[mienaichizu]

About this phone, does larger bells affects the loudness of its ring? this phone has at least 2 1/2 inches in diameter of dual brass bells. I can't test it because it always get hanged. Also its inner components is quite complicated unlike WE sets

[GG]

What this is:  American export version of Ericsson dial phone of the 50s era.  The much more common version is the Dutch PTT version that was sold in huge numbers in the 70s by Radio Shack.  I refer to all of these as "Ericsson #4" which is incorrect but was practical enough back in the day when we were actually installing them and the Ericsson 6-DLG "Dialog" phones. 

About the dial:  Ericsson put the digits in the center of the dial since at least the 1920s, on the theory that they would not be rubbed off over time (as they were from other makers' porcelain number plates).  For export versions, Ericsson created those lettered dial plates as you see there.  Also there are versions with Arabic numbering for the Middle East, where Ericsson had a large presence.  Presumably Ericsson was less concerned about lettering rubbing off in markets where that was an accepted outcome. 

About the ringer and the CO line being held:  Every version of these I've ever seen had a 1 MF capacitor in the circuit, such that it could ring normally without putting a DC short across the line; and this is how they were wired for installation.  However, there are probably terminals inside the phone where a wire in the line cord can be connected to the ringer coil in a manner that bypasses the capacitor, thus leading to a DC bridge that holds the line off hook.   Almost all of them have schematics inside, so follow the schematic to find the correct line terminals to hook up such that the capacitor is in series with the ringer coil.  A simple analog volt-ohmmeter will help trace the wiring. 

If you need further help with this, I have one of these around and could go look up the schematic to tell you which terminals to hook up.