I just received my first "neutered" designline phone off of eBay. The auction stated "Working", but when I plugged it in with nothing, I opened the case and it was empty...
From the outside, it looked fine - Touch Tone pad in place, modular jacks working, coiled cord dirty but functional, plungers responded. First indication was nothing in the ringer volume slot... Once opened, it was a nice big shell.
It did have 2 drill holes in corners of the handset (guess they ran the drill through to damage the received elements so you couldn't use the handset elsewhere).
I got in contact with the seller and explained what happened and he refunded the money, but I'm keeping the shell for the shipping costs. Will try to merge it with a princess - since it looks to have that form factor inside (with the translucent keypad - but with clipped wires >:( ). I guess it'll become a "frankenphone"...
Now to get the handset opened (it has the K1A handset - the other one I had from my Exeter had a small screw hole just below the received in the indent for the wall mount clip) - not sure how to open without destroying the plastic...
Jim
At lease it came with the original "AREA CODE 311 555-2368" phone number card - I've seen them for years in the ads, but never in real life. Makes me wonder if this was a display model at the Bell Phone Center Store...
The drill holes on the handset line up with 2 on the base... The wicker is around a nice copper sheath...
Jim
I'm sure some else will also chime in on this, but what you got there is the Design Line phone in it's original condition. You see, when these were first introduced, you still had to rent your phone from the phone company, and the phone company only let their own instruments to be connected to the phone network. So, how these worked was, you bought the Design Line phone, and then the company came to you and installed the official, Western Electric working guts to your shell. They came with a dial filler so you would see what it looked like, the handsets were empty because the handset guts were part of the Western Electric working components that were supplied later.
Here are some pics of the typical Western Electric guts that would be installed in these designer shells by the phone company.
I bet that was a display sample direct from Bell System. The empty internals and dial card point me to believe that.
Quote from: Adam on February 13, 2015, 05:37:19 PM
Here are some pics of the typical Western Electric guts that would be installed in these designer shells by the phone company.
The package with the electrical components that completed the customer supplied housing was at first (ca.1969-70) known as the F-56659 (chrome) or the F-56660 (gold) telephone kit, and later as 581A, starting ca.1971.
The kit you are showing has the gold-anodized dial, which is the F-56662 or 6U (later).
There are BSPs for that: Section 501-410-400 and Section 503-100-120
More info and photos here:
http://www.paul-f.com/we581.html (http://www.paul-f.com/we581.html)
The bottom has
2921A22-093
9-74
stamped on it in red, along with a big "D".
The serial number field is blank - not rubbed away - but blank.
Inside, it does have the entire metal framework with
BELL SYSTEM PROPERTY
NOT FOR SALE
2921A
stamped in red on the metal base. No screw marks/rivet marks where the network should be. Even has a heavy weight, similar to the old 701B Princess phones.
I'm sure it will be nice once I restore it/clean it up - just gonna have to unrivet parts from another device to get it into this phone and working...
Guessing it was a display - with the handset screwed on to the base to keep it from walking away in the store...
I'm sure the Phone Center Store folks loved kids like me who would come into the store and insist on touching every phone on display... ;D
Jim
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on February 13, 2015, 05:59:41 PM
I bet that was a display sample direct from Bell System. The empty internals and dial card point me to believe that.
No, as I said, that's the way the designer phones came when you bought them, mocked up to look complete, with non-functional dial filler and rubber (but no wires) handset cord. These components were replaced by the phone company when they installed the guts, that I believe they also rented to you, not sold.
I don't think any of those will fit - there's not enough space for a network and a bell in one area, due to the metal structure. Here are pictures of the base, the inside base, and the space for the network and bell...
It's a working handset and cable (just tested it on my Cisco phone at the office), and there's a full Touch Tone network installed (with cut cables) as well as functioning line switch assembly (with cut cables) and modular jacks (with cut cables). Looking at the BSP, if it were a phone with the innards removed, it wouldn't have the entire base - just the side panels screwed into the bottom.
Must have been a display phone...
Jim
Why must it work? You have a very rare display phone there. Don't ruin it by adding back what the phone company took out. Clean it up and keep it the way it is. It's a piece of history from the Phone Store.
By the date on the bottom, it's an early example of an Accent, which makes sense. I think you're correct that it's a display model. The number card and screw holes are very good evidence. I guess they didn't stamp a special F-number on it like they did earlier display phones. Please post a pic of the complete phone once you get it cleaned up.
It's hard to tell the overall shape, because of the close-up view, but is this the ACCENT model?
The hand set was positioned over the TT dial, almost like a Princess, but the case was more brick shaped with rounded corners.
OK. Now that we see the pics, I can't tell now. It does appear to have originally had Bell System guts since it looks like the WE guts set wouldn't fit inside it, and could have, indeed, been a floor model demonstrator. However, in my experience, these sets were usually very clearly marked "Non-functional".
Quote from: jsowers on February 13, 2015, 07:04:59 PM
Why must it work? You have a very rare display phone there. Don't ruin it by adding back what the phone company took out. Clean it up and keep it the way it is. It's a piece of history from the Phone Store.
By the date on the bottom, it's an early example of an Accent, which makes sense. I think you're correct that it's a display model. The number card and screw holes are very good evidence. I guess they didn't stamp a special F-number on it like they did earlier display phones. Please post a pic of the complete phone once you get it cleaned up.
Ok, you are confirming my guess. Thanks.
I agree..... why not be satisfied with the way it was intended to be used?
The ACCENT was among the set of five initial phones in the Design Line series. These phones were field tested in 1973 after only a few months of design and engineering. In 1974 three model were added and by 1975 all were available across the country in phone stores.
So it seems you have a case that is very close in date to the first manufacturing batches. It would make sense it being a sales display item.
I will clean it up and leave it as is - I was struggling with figuring out "how to get things to fit...". I will probably replace the coiled cord, as it is filthy (depends on how it cleans up), and has a broken clip (though I do have the clip...). It's a tall accent, but with a coiled cord (vs. a retractable). The Touch Tone pad has the full "OPERATOR" above the 0 and is a Princess-style - I guess they may have been thinking of lighting at one point?
The brightness of the yellow is what attacts me to it (just like a moth to a campfire!).
Now to find the green and blue versions... (Not that I need to be buying anything in the near future...)
Jim
Quote from: compubit on February 13, 2015, 07:45:16 PM(Not that I need to be buying anything in the near future...)
We all tell ourselves that, but we never listen... ;D
eBay makes it way to easy to get sucked in...
I promise, no more auctions this month.
Oooh - wait, is that a 1702B in Gray currently at $9.99? I'll just make one small bid on it and that's it... I promise!
Ahhh - a Mediterranean Blue 500 with original cords - why not...
Jim
Yep, I got sucked in to buy a generator that was missing parts, still need to work on it to get it to keep running and find out if the electrical side even works.... ;D
You may have trouble finding a matching cord. I don't think this is regular WE yellow. It could be easier to just re-crimp an end onto the original one. Handset plugs are slightly smaller and not too easy to find. The cord can be wound around a dowel and put in the sun on a car dashboard in the summer and re-formed if the coils are uneven. Denatured alcohol will clean all the gook off the cord too. I would clean it first and then re-form it later.
Also I wonder if the "D" on the bottom is for display model or demonstrator? Paul's site doesn't mention that in the translation of the model numbers on the Accent. I don't think they ever lit the touchpad in these phones, but it would have looked really nice if they did.
Color code -93. (On set bottom.)
http://www.paul-f.com/weDesignLine.html#Accent (http://www.paul-f.com/weDesignLine.html#Accent)
The cord is coiled perfectly - just dirty.
I did find a Lemon Yellow coiled cord from an on-line vendor (the had several versions of yellow, and specifically called out the WE design-line phones in reference. I'll see how it looks after a little cleaning.
Anyone had any luck super-gluing the clip back onto the plug? Since it'll be a display piece, it won't get "used" - especially if I put the screws back into the handset through the base...
I'm still excited about the number strip with the 311-555-2368 number in it, though!
Jim
Quote from: compubit on February 13, 2015, 10:48:05 PMAnyone had any luck super-gluing the clip back onto the plug?
Nope, they just break off again as superglue is too brittle for that kind of application...
Easier just fitting a new RJ10 plug on there, whether or not it's used, it'll look better... :)
My limited time working in the Bell Phone Centers during the mid 70's, we were told to make all display phones nonworking. Design line phones were watched over very closely.
Bill Compton
If you have a rj14 jack crimped, you can easily repair it by replacing the plasic jack.
Hello everybody!
Does anyone know what hookswitch they used for this phone?
A friend got ahold of one like described in this thread (gutless and cut clean) but one contact is broken.
It does look like a princess donor would be close, just not sure about the hookswitch.
Thanks!
I've seen in early station manuals that the guts were to be removed if the set was removed from service. The customer owned the housing, but not the guts
I don't think this is the case here, but it's possible.