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WE 302 Ivory

Started by George Knighton, December 02, 2012, 09:02:22 PM

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George Knighton

So far, so good.  The case came off with only a tiny bit of bother, and the insides look like they're in decent shape.

I'm going to have to replace both cords because they're frayed, but other than that....  I have a feeling that this thing is actually going to work when I plug it in, and I'm just going to have to worry about cleaning up the ivory thermoplastic.

:-)

I'm going to be asking some dumb questions because I'm very new at this, and I want this ivory 302 to work out right.
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George Knighton

This is the first 302 I've opened that's been this new.  Most of the phone says 1953, but the dial is 1952.

All my other 302 are much older.

This ivory seems to have some things I haven't seen before, like that extra big cylinder that I've no idea what it is, and whatever it is inside one of the bells.
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LM Ericsson

That "thing" inside the bell is a resonator. My Japanese OKI telephone has them.
Regards,
-Grayson

George Knighton

Thanks for the reply.

In this thread, I found out more about why Western Electric would add the big capacitor that is in my phone.  It evidently provides some extra ringer reliability for party lines and other power stealing situations, I suppose very long distances to the equipment or something.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=218.0
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poplar1

There was a discussion here recently about these non-WE capacitors.

Notice that your housing is marked H5 instead of H1. That indicates that it was a 306 not a 302. Instead of the usual 195-type condenser (capacitor) with 4 leads, it has only red and black leads for the talk circuit. There was originally a tube in series with the ringer so that 4 parties could be rung separately without ringing the other parties.

Later, the set was converted to a 302 (Some are marked "302 Special") by removing the tube and adding the cylindrical capacitor which attached to the same bracket that originally held the tube.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

George Knighton

Thank you so much.   I've got a long way to go, clearly.  :-)
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George Knighton

Quote from: George Knighton on December 02, 2012, 09:02:22 PM
I'm going to have to replace both cords because they're frayed, but other than that....  I have a feeling that this thing is actually going to work when I plug it in....

Coming back to report a minor triumph.  :-)

It *does* work perfectly well.

I'd ordered new cloth covered ivory cords, and they finally arrived.  Took a few moments to wire the line cord to see what happens, and it actually works perfectly well.

It even rings when it should, which surprised me since it's a 306.  I figured it mightn't recognise the signal coming in and that I only had a 25% chance that it'd ring...but it works.

The ringer's the best sounding one I've heard yet.  One of the bells has a resonator in it, as illustrated above.  I don't know exactly how it works, but it produces a wonderful noise.

Now it goes back on the shelf until I have time to completely disassemble it, clean it up and put it back together.  The case has a hard time going back onto the base so I'll have to decide whether I want to modify the base or resolve to put the case on "one last time" and know it's probably never coming off again in perfect condition!

Delighted with this thing.  I don't think it'll ever be my favourite phone to use (my 5302 seems headed that direction), but it's still clearly very nice and very neat.
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George Knighton

Quote from: poplar1 on December 04, 2012, 01:45:50 PM
Later, the set was converted to a 302 (Some are marked "302 Special") by removing the tube and adding the cylindrical capacitor which attached to the same bracket that originally held the tube.
I should've realised from what you said that it was going to ring.  Thank you.
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