News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Western Electric Single Slot Rotary Dial Payphone

Started by oldguy, March 22, 2016, 08:04:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

oldguy

So, I picked up this western Electric single slot rotary dial payphone off of Craigslist for $90 Last Sunday in Fai oaks CA. It came with a 178A Backboard. I don't remember seeing one in person before, I've seen pictures & thought they were cool. It seams weird to me that both single slot rotary dial phones & 3 slot touch tone phones were produced! I may have seen them in the 70s but don't remember. Did Western Electric use them for very long? What do I have? I am having trouble getting the upper housing on. It seems to be hanging up in the middle at the top. It has a weird lever thing at the top that holds the coin chute in. this lever seems to be in the area that is stopping the upper housing from sliding into place. The upper housing won't slide all the way back even with the coin chute & network / ringer stuff removed. The upper housing lock looks like it was removed with a jack hammer. The lower lock is still in place & it sounds there are a lot of coins in the phone. Any suggestions as to the best way to Get the vault door off without destroying the phone? 
Gary

oldguy

More Pics
Gary

trainman

When the coin chute is in place, that locking tab is down, and out of the way of the upper housing. On the sides of the upper housing are the lock rails, when in place, there is a key hole on the left side of the housing You put a special key in there that drops the lock rails and locks the upper housing in place. You need what is called a T Key to lock and unlock these rails. THey need to be in the Down position to remove the housing. They can be moved by hand while the housing is off.

As to the vault door, only way to get in is to cut it off. Cant drill the lock.

oldguy

#3
Thanks Trainman. I think I figures out the upper housing problem. I understand the "T" key / side rail issue. I think my coin chute bracket is bent & can't move out of the way. The middle picture I got off of eBay, I think it is a good one. The last picture is mine. I will try bending it back into shape, if I don't break it I will let you know how it works . After looking at different threads it seems that cutting through the vault door is the only tried & true method to open the vault door. Now the real question is, is it worth to destroy the vault door to get at the change? Any other suggestions on how to get the vault door open.
Gary

oldguy

I bent the coin chute bracket into the shape of the one on eBay & now everything clears & the upper housing slides into place & the side rails lock it in. for now I think I will leave the vault door alone. I still don't understand both single slot dial & 3 slot touch tone.
Gary

Kimball321

The reason that both touch tone and rotary single slots were produced was because not all central offices could accept touch tone.  Also touch tone came out about 2 years before single slot payphones so that is why touch tone 3 slots were manufactured.
I collect payphones :)

oldguy

Gary

Stan S

Hello
The main reason 10 button Touch Tone 3-slots were manufactured was for the 1964 Worlds Fair. The Bell System wanted to make the general public aware of Touch Tone dialing. All the Long Island Railroad stations along the route to the fair had 1234G payphones. The fair itself had a special model (F-55880) that was painted white. A major part of the Bell Telephone Exhibit compared the speed of Touch Tone dialing vs rotary.

In reality the 10-button 3-slots were a disaster. They were designed around the standard 10 button Touch Tone pad used in the 1500 deskset. A TT pad mounted in a 1500 deskset sitting in a temperature controlled office worked fine. Apparently the engineers at Western didn't figure on the temperature changes these payphones would have to endure mounted outside in New York. The glue that held the two halves of the pot cores together in the TT pads failed and the pot cores 'popped their tops'. Once that happened the pads didn't oscillate. Didn't make a very good impression on the general public. There were many more 1234G tops made than entire payphones because the tops were constantly being swapped out for working ones. For many years orphaned 1234G tops appeared on Ebay. As usual everything works great on paper. In the real world- not so much!

Stan S.

Stan S

Great payphones if you keep them at room temperature.
Bye the way.
If anybody knows where there's a white one I'm interested.
VERY VERY iNTERESTED!!!

Phonesrfun

Quote from: Stan S on April 06, 2016, 05:05:29 PM
Great payphones if you keep them at room temperature.
Bye the way.
If anybody knows where there's a white one I'm interested.
VERY VERY iNTERESTED!!!


Well....   :)
-Bill G

Stan S

Bill
Nah, that won't do it.
There were other differences in the Worlds Fair model besides the color.
I doubt any of them survived but I'll keep hoping.
Stan S.

Phonesrfun

There is always hope.  Vern Potter is still looking for an ivory 1554.



-Bill G

oldguy

Thanks Stan, great information. now that I have TT & rotary single slots & WE & AE 3 slots, I uess I will have to look for a TT 3slot!!
Gary

Stan S

Gary
Try to fight the urge.

Payphone collecting is a very serious illness. You may have noticed there are a few members of the forum (myself included) that have this affliction.

I've been trying to find a cure for many years. To date I have had no luck.
Stan S.

.....

#14
Quote from: Stan S on April 08, 2016, 12:37:52 AM
Gary
Try to fight the urge.

Payphone collecting is a very serious illness. You may have noticed there are a few members of the forum (myself included) that have this affliction.

I've been trying to find a cure for many years. To date I have had no luck.
Stan S.

Yes, Stan is right. It is an addiction. I became an Addict in early 2014. I joined CRPF because I was told they could help me. Truth is my addiction has only gotten worse.

It started out with just one. I felt good to hear that dial tone in my ear. I thought I could handle one more and the high was even better than the last one, as it had been aged a little more. I started to need more. You know the story, it is always just one more. I can handle it. That is why I ended up here.

Hello, My name is Doug and I'm a Telephone Addict.....  ;)