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Anyone Looking for a Small Manual Switchboard?

Started by Scotophor, March 03, 2014, 03:22:28 AM

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Scotophor

Name: A.J.   Location: LAPNCAXG, EDgewood 6

G-Man

NOT a 551 board but a newer model 555 instead!
The headset on the seat is not used with it (minor) and it is considerably overpriced but if he can get that amount then more power to him. 
Also on the TCI list it was announced that there are currently two 557A boards available that will be hauled to the dump if there are no takers.   
"They're 557A answering service boards. The cord circuit will also work in 555s. They can be modified to work like a PBX."

G-Man

Quote"Although the instruction card does indicate a 555, in fact it has been
extensively modified and is now more like a 556: The 100 line (extension) jacks
do not have lamps and there are 0 level attendant trunks--this would indicate
an  attendant position for a dial PBX, and not a self-contained 555."
Thanks popular1 for pointing out that it is a 556.    I only glanced at the thumbnail photo at the top of the page and was unable to see the lack of station supervisory lamps.

Someone is going to be especially disappointed when they find out it is not capable of manual service.

poplar1

Although it has the same footprint as a 555, it is actually a 556. Notice that the 100 line (extension) jacks do not have lamps, and there are three 0 level Attendant Trunks.

On a 551 or 555 PBX, all stations are manual. The PBX is self-contained other than a power supply. When a user goes off-hook, the lamp associated with that line lights up. An attendant makes all connections for incoming and outgoing calls and between stations.

A 552 or 556 is an Attendant Position that is a small part of a dial PBX such as a 740.  Users with dial phones can call each other, or make an outside call by dialing 9, without the assistance of the attendant. To reach the attendant, a user must dial 0.

Incoming trunk (outside) calls on all 4 types are handled by the attendant. With a 551 or 555 (non-multiple), the attendant can see whether a line (extension) is already in use because it will have a cord connection. With a 552 or 556, the attendant must first test the line to see if it is in use. To do this, she would touch the sleeve of the line jack with the tip of the cord. If there was no click, then the line was idle and she would then extend the trunk to the line.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

AE_Collector

Good summary of the various 55x boards. I still get 552/556 and 557 mixed up on occasion.

A 557 answering service board is all trunks with basically no stations providing the attendant the ability to answer trunks of the businesses around town after hours etc. Apparently some or all of the 557's do have a few stations for the answering services office itself. Is this correct?

Terry

poplar1

557B has single cords and no way to extend calls through the 557B.
557A has cord pairs for extending calls.

If you want one for home use, a 557A is preferable to a 557B. You can connect a few of your phones to a 557A and play  attendant (operator). A 557B is pretty much useless, although there was a company that converted them to work with DID trunks and sold them to answering bureaus.

At an answering bureau I worked for, we had the same 6 incoming trunks that appeared on the trunk jacks of the 557Bs also multipled to 10-button 830 1A2 sets. This was convenient at night when there were few calls so you could answer trunk calls---but not the secretarial lines--from the sofa. (Secretarial lines were the 200 or so lines that were Off-premise extensions of customer's 1FB business lines.)
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

G-Man

#6
2. IDENTIFICATION

GENERAL
2.01 The 557A PBX is a single or
multiposition manual switchboard designed
to serve as a combined PBX and secretarial answer-
ing service switchboard (direct and concentrator-
identifier) at bureaus furnishing answering service
to telephone subscribers. Secretarial lines have sin-
gee jack and lamp appearances in the face of the
switchboard. Station lines and trunks may have ei-
ther single or multiple jack and lamp appearance in
the face of the switchboard. A rotary or
TOUCH-TONE calling dial, ordered separately and
installed locally, is required for completing calls to
central offices and other dial system PBXs.

STATION LINES
2.09 A space of 4-1/8 inches at the bottom of the
switchboard jack panel opening is arranged
for trunks and station lines using individually
mounted or strip-mounted jacks. The capacity for
station lines will be 20 if the jacks and lamp sockets
are mounted 10 per strip, and 40 if mounted 20 per
strip. Jacks, lamp sockets, designation strips, and
associated wiring for station lines are provided local-
ly. Terminal strip connections are provided for 16
local station line circuits. The wiring for additional
station lines is run direct to the station jacks.