Pair of Wood Gongs

[LarryInMichigan]

Among the things in a dirty bag of old phone parts that I bought at an estate sale on Friday was a pair of wood gongs.  They are 2 1/2" in diameter, and one of them has "TEL. CO. PROPERTY" printed in green on the inside.  Where would these gongs have been used?  Are they worth anything?

Thank You


Larry

[Jim Stettler]

They are very cool. The  wood gongs  I have seen were on the small wood extension ringers boxes. Wood gongs are quieter than metal gongs, bells, sleigh bells, booby bells or any of the other variations. They are good items and have value.

JMO,
Jim S.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

From what I've heard, they were used in crowded office buildings where they distingushed themselves from brass gongs, so someone knew it was their phone that was ringing.

[Doug Rose]

Nice find Larry.....I have one on a single gong subset. Yours are very cool. What else was in that bag of goodies??...Doug

[Dan/Panther]

My parents wondered why their phone stopped ringing, that's when they found out they had termites.
Dan

[LarryInMichigan]

Did the ringers which used these wood gongs have a metal or wood clapper?

The bag of parts also included an AE Type 3C transmitter with a good mouthpiece, a loose transmitter mouthpiece, a WE transmitter cup with "bulldog" type transmitter, a WE 6D dial with black bezel, a WE 706A receiver, and a loose nickel plated gong.  When I asked the price, the woman running the sale asked me what I thought, so I said "$10", and she agreed.  I wasn't sure quite what was in the filthy bag at that time.

I am considering listing the wood gongs on ebay, but if they will only bring $10, I would prefer to keep them and install them on one of my subsets.


Larry

[Jim Stettler]

I think they used a metal clapper.

ISTR a  BSP that listed the different gong types available. Standard metal gong came in several tones. You use 2 different tones on a set of gongs. I think the bsp listed the best combinations.

JMO,
Jim S.
There is a bsp on gongs 028-131-801
I couldn't locate it to see if it was the one I am thinking of.

[LarryInMichigan]

While cleaning up my mess a bit the other day, I found some more things from the estate sale phone parts bag.  There was an old Kellogg transmitter with bakelite mouthpiece and a loose mouthpiece which fits the Kellogg plate but is smaller than the mouthpiece which was on the Kellogg.  The Kellogg transmitter was very dirty (it is over 100 years old and spent years in a dirty basement), so I soaked the nickel face plate in a oxygen cleaner solution and polished it a bit.  It actually does work, but the rubber part around the diaphragm is crumbling.  Here are a few pictures.  Is this worth much?

Thank You


Larry

[rdelius]

Worth more than the normal Kellogg trans. Some of these are plated brass and some are potmetal
low serial numbers are hard to find

[LarryInMichigan]

I think that mine is solid nickel.  I don't notice any brass showing through.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

I just listed the gongs on ebay: ebay link. 

Larry

[Sargeguy]

I bought a 335 subset with wooden gongs, cost me $70.  I bought another pair for $25.  Yours seem to be WE based upon the "TELCO PROPERTY" stamp.

[poplar1]

Here is the discussion of Sargeguy's 334 with wood gongs:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=11334.msg121075#msg121075

I agree that Larry's gongs are probably WE, because of the "wing holes."