Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Telephone Talk => Collector's Corner => Topic started by: Dennis Markham on November 14, 2009, 04:30:12 PM

Title: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Dennis Markham on November 14, 2009, 04:30:12 PM
I opened up a "new" 302 today.  The first thing that jumped out at me was this clip that was attached to the B1A ringers.  It stifles the ringer.  All you hear is the machine gun like sound as the clapper rat-a-tat-tats against the silenced gongs.

I've never seen anything like this.  It's a perfect fit, just squeeze it together, let go of it and it springs against the gongs.  I'm sure it was designed to fit this ringer.  

Is it a W.E. produced item or an after-market item??  I'm sure it has a technical name---not "gong muffler".  :)

By the way, the set is pretty much original from early 1947.  Thermoplastic.
Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Sean on November 14, 2009, 04:39:27 PM
What a great idea. With small kids, I have all of the ringers on my antique phones muffled to keep stupid sales calls from waking them up during nap time. Thanks for sharing this one with us Dennis!
Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Dennis Markham on November 14, 2009, 07:02:54 PM
I don't know how this set-up wouldn't wake up the kids though.  When that clapper hits the dead bells it really makes a lot of noise.  I've seen a lot of different ways people have silenced their ringers (without disconnecting them), from band-aids where the clapper strikes the gong, to stuffed with cotton to just removing the gongs all together.
Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: McHeath on November 14, 2009, 07:20:38 PM
Never seen anything like your gong muffler, but I bet it was store bought.  Quieting the ringer was a big sales feature of the 500 from the press conference notes I read.  They were unsure if they should allow the customer to tinker with the phone in such a way, as it had not been done before, and they even did studies to see how people had changed the settings on the pre-release 500s that had been test seeded.  A surprising number of folks just left it alone, seems like it was about a third if memory serves, but most changed it in some way.

Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Dan/Panther on November 14, 2009, 11:54:35 PM
Dollars to Doughnuts, that phone was in a Doctors reception area....
D/P
Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Dennis Markham on November 15, 2009, 12:18:09 AM
Dan, I'll see if I can find out that information.  The guy I'm refurbishing it for said it was his fathers, in the Atlanta area.
Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Dan/Panther on November 23, 2009, 12:38:23 PM
Dennis;
Any word on the original location ?
D/P
Title: Re: Never Saw One of These Before - "Ringer Muffler"
Post by: Dennis Markham on November 23, 2009, 10:30:36 PM
I did communicate with the owner of the phone.  He could tell me nothing of where it spent its time in service.  I believe it is original to the Atlanta area and was also manufactured there as indicated by the initial "A" on many of the dated parts.  S=Shreveport, I=Indianapolis.  Maybe someone knows of others.

But I don't know if it was from a Dr.'s office.