A Really Special W.E. Touchtone Dial

[Dave F]

This unusual dial came from a guy who worked at W.E.  As you can see, the numbers on the buttons are in Arabic (and also in English).  Phones with Arabic dials, both rotary and touchtone, do occasionally turn up and are not considered particularly rare.  However, finding one made by WE most certainly is.

[Phonesrfun]

Not to detract from the post, but I love that animated gif file.

[gpo706]

I found it difficult to tell if my dial surround for a Concorde blue 706 was Arabic or Indian.

[K1WI]

         

   AWESOME !
     
                And I thought I had a rare one !



Andy  K1WI       @mgh

[Dave F]

         

   AWESOME !
     
                And I thought I had a rare one !



Andy  K1WI       @mgh

Andy,

Your dial is indeed a rare one.  W.E. TT dials with numbers-only were mostly used in (ASR33) Teletype machines.  I have a 10-button Card Dialer dial with numbers-only that came from a Teletype.  Will post a picture when I locate it.  Your dial is unusual in that the positions of the numbers 1-9 are reversed from the usual configuration.  Does the phone dial correct numbers with that button configuration?

Dave

[Dave F]

Not to detract from the post, but I love that animated gif file.

Thanks!  It started out as a simple little idea, but it took quite a bit more time and effort to create than I had originally anticipated.

Dave

[Phonesrfun]

Now for years, as an accountant with my 10-key, I have always wished that either the adding machine keypad should change, or the telephone.  It is hard to have both on my desk, and go right from using the calculator to using the phone!

[twocvbloke]

I always wondered why calculators had their numbers start at the bottom, but phones had them start at the top, would have made sense if they were both laid out the same way to make it easier to go between the two...

As for arabic-labelled devices, I've seen quite a few here in the UK, but I think that's due to our "multicultural" population...

[Russ Kirk]

I talked with a friend of mine that spends a lot of time in the middle east and showed him the photo of the dial.  He told me most phones (but not all) there (Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) have that type of numbering.  Even most of the cell phones they use that numbering. Never been there myself,  it seems logical.  So,  the Arabic dial may be rare here but not in the middle east.   

[Dave F]

<snip> So,  the Arabic dial may be rare here but not in the middle east.   

Western Electric?!!!

[Russ Kirk]

<snip> So,  the Arabic dial may be rare here but not in the middle east.   

Western Electric?!!!

my friend is not a phone person,  so he would not know a WE dial from a non-WE dial.  I guess a WE dial would be rare.

[Dave F]

<snip> I have a 10-button Card Dialer dial with numbers-only that came from a Teletype.  Will post a picture when I locate it.....

Dave

Here it is -- Type 26 Card Dialer mechanism with numbers-only 10-button dial. Salvaged from a Teletype machine in the early 1970s.

[Dave F]

Andy K1WI,

According to BSP 501-164-115, Issue 10, May 1980, the original application for your 35N1A dial was "Data Phone service with 33- and 35- type Teletypewriters".  It was rated MD (Manufacture Discontinued) and replaced by 35N3A which had both numbers and letters.  The schematic diagram of the 35N1A shows the "1" button in the upper left corner, where I would expect it to be.  It appears that your dial was modified into it's present configuration at some time after leaving the factory.  If that had been done during manufacture, the dial would almost certainly have been given a different part number.

Dave

[Sargeguy]

The dial is labelled "Western Electric"

[K1WI]

Dave F ,
   The all number TT dial did come that way from Western .  It was used in the late 1970s on "new and impoved" APTT (automatic progression trunk tester) in Xbar5 COs. It had an ED number on a paper tag (ie  ED-#####). Think I have one more with a tag still on it somewhere if I find it when I get home I'll post pictures.
  Actually it was this dial that "inspired" me to make a hobby out of modifying TouchTone dials  I saw how easy it was to do on these early dials.  Attached two pix of dials I modified , I always stenciled or labeled the ones I changed.
  I never saw any with Arabic figures but do remember seeing a Braille dial at a Telco training Center in Denver.

   Andy F  K1WI     @mgh