Western Electric Test set

[jiggerman]

A co-worker knowing I collect phones mentioned that every Thursday night there's an auction in a neighboring village from where we work. He said that there's usually a couple of old phones up for auction.  There weren't any telephones but I did pick up old crystal radio from the 20's and a chrome Northern Electric headset patented 1918 that will fit in nicely with my Northern Electric phones. I also won a Western Electric test set # 40C probably from the 40's or 50's. Very happy with this since I don't see many Western Electric pieces up here in Quebec.  Paid $24.00 for the lot lots, I thought it would go higher. I bet ya bwanna doesn't have one of these on her tool belt. Jiggerman

[bwanna]

very nice, jiggerman. will that be your regular thurs nite haunt, now? 
you are right, nothing that cool on my belt (or my collection)

your head set & wooden box look like what we call a "busy boy". it will generate tone on the pair or provide "talk battery" so two repairman can talk to each other on a vacant pair of wires.... can you get me a close up shot of the face of the box?  any markings on it?

thx for sharing

[Dennis Markham]

Jiggerman, that test set is very cool.   Can you tell what number dial that is?  In the photo it looks like the finger stop is on the outside of the dial body.  Is that the case?  It may be a #2 dial.

[jiggerman]

I posted another photo of the box and test set. The box is marked  Marvel Radio Reciever. As for the test set I'm new to phone collecting so I can't say what number dial it is. The SHER. I know is for Sherbrooke. Do you know what year it was made. Thanks bwanna and Dennis for the info.... always learning something new here. Jiggerman

[bwanna]

my bad,  jiggerman.i see now, the box is the crystal diode radio. with the headset attached it looks like a tone device.  still cool

[DavePEI]

my bad,   jiggerman.i see now, the box is the crystal diode radio. with the headset attached it looks like a tone device.  still cool

Yes, the screw device at the top of the photo is the adjustment device for the cat's whisker, which was used to set the whisker (the wire which dangles from it) over a sensitive point on the galena crystal. Once a sensitive position was found, the radio could receive. A very rudimentary early crystal diode.

For fun, when I was a kid, I used to play around with galena diodes with a cat's whisker, though by then, they were very obsolete!

The selector selected taps on the coil to tune the radio. The left hand binding posts are for antenna and ground; the right hand posts for the headphone.

It is a great early radio collectable, a Marvel 101 Crystal Receiver made c.a.. 1921:

http://www.gifarmer.com/radio/crystal.shtml

Though not telephone, these are quite collectable.

Dave