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Completely New To Hobby... Feeling Completely Helpless with my Leich 901B

Started by Joel B, January 02, 2017, 03:26:32 PM

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dsk

I am not sure whats the original type of cord for this one, but a black rubber cord could fit, another lo-cost way to do it is to take a pair of long flat shoe lazes and pull s modern telephone cord in it to make a cloth cord.
Of course you may get new old looking cords at internet, or get help from somebody here.
I have bought some rubber cord from Steve Hilz.

dsk

PS many here will suggest other solutions too, this is just some of my experiences starting as a child without much money to today at more than 50, and still do not want to spend much money.  ;)
DS

andy1702

I had a feeling there could be a diagram in there. Usually they're there when you don't need them and not there when you do!  :D

So, now it's just a matter of connecting the handset back up to the phone, connecting a two wire line and also fitting a battery for the speech.

The first thing you need to understand is the crank handle that drives the magneto is there to generate AC to ring the other phone you'll connect to. This AC ringing travels down the same two wires as the speech. However the speech is carried on a DC signal provided by the battery. So the AC and DC goes down the same two cables, often referred to in linesmans terms as a twisted pair.

OK, lets start wiring...

First, let's get the handset reconnected to the phone. You can use any flexible 3 core cable for this. You can even use 3 single core wires and plat them together if you like, it really doesn't matter. Just use anything to get things working. You can always get a nice looking cable later, when you know it all works and it's worth investing money in it.

First thing you need to notice with the wiring is the numbers marked on the screw terminals inside the phone.

Handset
According to DSK's excellent sketch, the three wires to your handset connect to terminals 7,9 & 10. The wire from 7 goes to one side of the transmitter (microphone) in the handset. The wire from 9 goes to one side of the receiver (speaker) in the handset. The wire from 10 in the phone is the common return for both these circuits so the handset end of that wire should go to the remaining unconnected terminals on both the transmitter and receiver. As far as I'm aware it doesn't matter which way around the transmitter and receiver are fitted.

Battery
DSK tells us the battery needs to be 3V-4.5V and as I don't know that much about LB phones I'm happy to go with that. If you have problems finding a battery, you can always wire two or three 1.5V cells together in series to get the correct voltage. The battery is simply wired between terminals 2 & 3. It doesn't matter which you connect to + and which you connect to -.

Line Cord
Finally the two wires of your line connect to 1 and 2. Again it doesn't seem to matter which way around. Remember the side of the line you connect to terminal 2 will be sharing it with a battery connection, but that's perfectly ok.

And that's all there is to it! Connect another LB phone to the other end of the line cord and when you lift one of the handsets and wind the handle the other phone should ring.

What you are actually doing here is more like setting up an old military field telephone than setting up a modern telephone system. If you have difficulty finding another LB phone, then an old wind-up field telephone will most likely work ok on the other end.

Good luck!

Andy.

Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

Victor Laszlo

There is an electrically equivalent telephone that could serve as the "other end," at least for demonstration purposes. Try searching for a Western Electric type 331A on Ebay.

dsk

You could search for:  crank telephone,   or; crank generator telephone, or; field telephone

dsk

Jim Stettler

You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

TelePlay

Quote from: Jim S. on January 05, 2017, 01:17:03 PM
magneto desk

Like this? I know nothing about these but it looks similar and it's been on eBay for a few days now as a BIN with no takers. $40 plus $12 shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/142233636300

dsk

I can not see shipping cost s to you from here, but Ebay item http://www.ebay.com/itm/272491550173 is interesting.

dsk

---------------------

NOTE:  eBay screen capture with shipping to Wisconsin shown ($15.32 or so to Iowa)

Joel B

John- Yep, that's the one.  I saw that one, but I think this one (new in box) would be a better alternative for the price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Leich-telephone-/391668132872

I really like the Leich 901b because of the mounting flexibility on the wall (upside-down), but there are a lot of cool phones out there (like the one DSK shared). That's probably why all of you have caught a bug on your collecting!

You guys have given me so much great info to start with.  Need to carve out some time asap to start diving in.  Need to secure some 3 core cables to start experimenting.

I can't thank you enough for how much you have taught me already.  I'll continue to update progress, as well as ask a few more questions, so you can see how I'm doing.
Thanks & God Bless,

Joel B

TelePlay

Quote from: Joel B on January 05, 2017, 03:43:01 PM
John- Yep, that's the one.  I saw that one, but I think this one (new in box) would be a better alternative for the price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Leich-telephone-/391668132872

Missed that one but it sure is nice. The past concern with "outing" phones that may be flying under the radar is not a moot point. eBay in their programing wisdom show similar phones to the one being looked at so nothing seems to be missed. I see there are at least 3 other 901Bs for sale right now. A buyer's market but snipers do show up, and sometimes they do not, so good luck at auction end time.

dsk

The Norwegian made magneto phone (last version) made from 1953 to about 1967 looks not to different:
(Just shipping to the USA will be slightly more than $ 60)  :'(
dsk

unbeldi

Quote from: Joel B on January 03, 2017, 12:47:46 PM
Victor- A lot to chew one here, but thanks for the resource links.  I guess I'm still confused on how to determine which BSP to consult. I know my phone is considered a "desk phone", but that seems to provide no help in the BSP number system.  The closest WE phone seems to be the WE B-type Manual.  Would I just reference the BSP for that phone, even though it (obviously) isn't a Leich 901B?

Did I mention that I'm feeling helpless with this?  :-[

You won't find your phone in any BSP, actually.  The Leich 901 is not a Bell System telephone, and was not used by them at all.

By the time your phone was made, or any 900-series set likely, Leich was a part of General Telephone, or GTE as it was called in 1955 or so, an independent telephone company.

Here is the GTE practice for your set, issued in 1968.

Joel B

DSK- Uncanny resemblance! 

Unbeldi- Thanks for this!  It will be very helpful.

I have been talking to a gentlemen who has a bunch of experience with the 901B and set up his own network of them on his property.  He's tutoring me a bit on what "uniqiue" issues to be looking for.  Hoping that will get me moving even faster.

Have a great weekend.  More updates asap...

Thanks & God Bless,

Joel B

Greg G.

Joel, welcome!  You made a good start!  I've been collecting for 8 years.  I have no training or knowledge of even basic electricity or electronics, but have brought many phones back to life with help I received here.  Most of them just needed some wires moved around.  Get yourself a good digital camera and take pictures of the wiring before you go digging into a phone, it helps when you go to put them back.

I have a couple of Leichs similar to yours, but they're 901C.  One has a coiled handset cord, the other a straight cord.  Personally I like the straight cords on these better.  Even though these phones look like they belong in the 30s-40s era, mine are from the early 60s.  Check the bottom of your phone to see the manufacture date.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr7k-GfEC50
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Greg G.

Quote from: TelePlay on January 05, 2017, 01:34:31 PM
Like this? I know nothing about these but it looks similar and it's been on eBay for a few days now as a BIN with no takers. $40 plus $12 shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/142233636300

$12 to Waukesha, $28 to Seattle.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

TelePlay

Quote from: Brinybay on January 09, 2017, 10:03:00 PM
$12 to Waukesha, $28 to Seattle.

Yes, no flat rate there. Joel lives in Iowa and as I put into dsk's post

     http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=17372.msg179487#msg179487

when I looked up the shipping he could not get, it's $15 or so to Iowa shipping from Michigan. It's up to $51 with 12 hours to go and 7 watchers. So, what will it go for? I hope Joel gets it and time will tell.