Continental Telephone - Late Model Dial

[Dennis Markham]

I'm doing a refurb job for a guy that just wanted me to clean up a phone he had purchased and connect to a ringer box.  He initially bought the phone some time ago and wanted to connect it directly to the phone line.  After some e-mail conversation with him I convinced him that he should connect it to a subscriber set (ringer box) so he set out to find one.  Eventually he did locate a 634A subset and sent the bundle to me to clean and put into working order.

The phone is a Western Electric "Continental" set, Pekin Red in color.  The phone arrived very poorly packed.  The heavy ringer box was just sitting next to the phone which seemed to be thrown in there.  On top of it all he put a couple pieces of crumpled up newspaper.  It's amazing that the phone was not destroyed.  I think the handset suffered some paint loss as a result.

I noticed right away a couple of things.  First the finger wheel was a hard center as opposed to the open center, or soft center that should be on there.  Secondly the dial body was black.  The Continental sets had white dial bodies, and as far as I know MOST of them were released from the refurbishing shop with 5J dials.  Although I have a couple with 4H dials, with white dial housings.

In removing this dial from the body I noticed what a late date it is.  From early 1975.  I did not realize that #6 dials were made so late in the production run.  This one is marked 6T.  Although the dial gears are brass and steal, they seem to be much smaller.  The main hub nut is much smaller than the nuts used on the earlier #6's as well as the earlier dials.  You'll notice from the photos the dial plate is marked I 74.  Again, I was surprised these dials were being made so late.  I guess I just had no clue.

I showed the owner of the phone what the proper dial and finger wheel looked like on a similar phone I own.  He didn't want to spring for the cost of a 5J dial and asked if I could paint the housing on his #6.  I thought it would be a good learning experience and I did that.  It turned out very well.  Per his insistence, I also put the hard center finger wheel back on the phone----but I didn't like it.

I thought I'd share some of the photos.  Perhaps there will be some discussion about the dials and how late these type were made and what others experiences are with the later #6 dials.

[Dennis Markham]

To follow-up and to post a couple more photos, I removed the black paint from the upper edge of the dial.  I then painted it with a Satin finish Krylon spray paint.  Once it dried I gave it a second blast and then baked it at about 200 degrees for a couple of hours or more.  The results were very good.  The rest of the photos are the reassembled phone.  The handset cord is a silk coiled cord that I have not yet replaced.  I removed it and let it soak in Woolite to remove some dirt from all of these years.  As most of these sets were made in 1955, the handset cord is dated 1955.  The coiled cord is drying as I write this but should be ready for reinstallation tomorrow.  I have already begun refurbishing the 634A.  When complete this guy will have a nice working Continental.

[bwanna]

looking good, dennis.

[JorgeAmely]

Is the numbers wheel fired ceramic, like the very old type?

[Dennis Markham]

Yes, Jorge.  It is just like the older ones.  Actually I didn't notice much in the way of diminished quality except for the gears of the gear train assembly.  They were all metal, with no plastic but they seemed smaller.  The gear train assembly was pressed together rather than having screws, just like the later #7 dials.

[bingster]

Very nice result, Dennis.  It's good that you repainted the case... black just wouldn't cut it.  It's also good that he sent a 634, because if he had sent a 684, it would have been destroyed in that poorly packed box.

[Jester]

Dennis,

By "smaller" gears I assume you mean "thinner"?  What's curious to me is I have never seen a #6 dial, early or late, that had a riveted geartrain--they all, in my experience, used the screws & steel spacers to hold the mounting plates together throughout the entire production of the #6.  Hasa anyone seen something different?  Western Electric did offer the #6 with a white housing, I presume as a replacement for the 5J on refurbished Imperials, Continentals & colored 302's.  All of my white examples are marked 6D and were manufactured in 1955, so all have the 164A dial plate.  I have seen newer examples of the #6 on ebay with white & grey paint on the housings along with black.

[Dennis Markham]

Stephen, I guess I wasn't clear on the gear size.  I suppose "thinner" would be more appropriate than saying smaller.  I was just looking through the file on that phone and I can't believe I didn't take a photo of the dial gears.  I have re-installed it but I can take it back out and get a couple of photos.  I got the impression as I worked on this phone that this was a dial someone other than the phone company put in the phone.  I'll bet originally it came in another phone.  A silver Imperial I have has a #6 dial.  A gold Imperial has a #5 and my Pekin Red has a #5.  The others (Ivory & Green) have #4 dials. All with white dial bodies.