An early 50s Dictograph. I liked the wooden box, that's what attracted me to it. Found it at a second hand store that I'd never noticed before. The kind that I like, stuffed to the rafters with all kinds of stuff. At $25, it wasn't a budget buster. A little Howard's will make it look a lot nicer.
I think it was used in a medical setting by the one switch that says "Supt. Med.", plus "Thieme" is a medical publishing company. Immediately, a scene from one of my favorite movies came to mind, I pictured Jack Nicholson saying "Medication time! Medication time!" and some bimbo singing "Row, row, row your boat..."
One more pic of the insides.
Bb: make it work thus -
Disconnect the wires from +/- on the RING key, attached a standard line cord using the 2 wires for RX/TX, then when you lift the handset you get nothing, but when you flick the switch down...
I also attached a GPO warbler/buzzer in parallel across the +/- screws, then you dial in it buzzes, and stops when you lift the handset and depress the key.
The original gubbins run off 12V I think, later sets have lamp indicators behind the lables, probably also 12V, but I've not got round to testing yet.
Enjoy!
Bb, I've had a thought.
Take one of the blanks out to your local engraver and get "NRS RATCHETT" on it...
I think I'm correct in guessing it had a medical connection. "Thieme" is the name of a medical publisher: http://www.thieme.com, and "Baily" is either a medical manufacturer, medical insurance company, or a medical center, I'm not sure which. My guess is this may have been used in a medical distributor's warehouse. But then, none of the warehouses I've ever worked in had a receptionist (RECPT), so perhaps it was used in a hospital.
Greg....Rather a cool looking F2 push to talk. I have never seen one with the with white lettering. Is that wax caught in it or is it a painted metal plate. Its different....Doug
Quote from: Kidphone on October 27, 2010, 02:38:43 PM
Greg....Rather a cool looking F2 push to talk. I have never seen one with the with white lettering. Is that wax caught in it or is it a painted metal plate. Its different....Doug
Neither, it's an illusion of the camera and lighting. Here's a better shot. It's actually an F3.
Bb - update when you rewire the thing and make it work!
It's still sitting here gathering a fine patine of dust like the others. I promised my 202 that I would repaint it and not start on another phone until I do, but it's still sitting here too.
BB "Funny Lady" (1975) is on TV right now here, and Fanny's banker has an idendical looking set on his desk alongside 2 wee round WE sets...
Quote from: gpo706 on November 07, 2010, 09:30:37 AM
BB "Funny Lady" (1975) is on TV right now here, and Fanny's banker has an idendical looking set on his desk alongside 2 wee round WE sets...
I added it to my Netflix que.
Reviving this thread because I've been watching an identical Dictograph on ebay just to see if it would sell. It went unsold the first time around, then relisted with the same price and sold with a $99 Bin. So does that mean mine is worth $99 smackers? I either got a real bargain at $25 or somebody overpaid for the other.
http://tinyurl.com/44de7h6 (http://tinyurl.com/44de7h6)
Quote from: Brinybay on June 29, 2011, 05:24:00 AM
Reviving this thread because I've been watching an identical Dictograph on ebay just to see if it would sell. It went unsold the first time around, then relisted with the same price and sold with a $99 Bin. So does that mean mine is worth $99 smackers? I either got a real bargain at $25 or somebody overpaid for the other.
http://tinyurl.com/44de7h6 (http://tinyurl.com/44de7h6)
What I have found here on the west coast your $25 find is excellent. The $99 one is about average, however, most I have seen have been well used and abused. So I have passed on them until I can find one in good shape and not a frankenphone.
Russ....
The most I paid was £50 for a dinky desk set, without keys (but with a call button) which came with a comparable wall mounted unit, plus an original junction box and transformer.
See "Dictograph" postings passim...
These were the best sets I got cosmetically, maybe followed by the 10 key set with the transverse handset.
I wouldn't go over about £20 for a standard set, or maybe £30 for something unusual like the "King" Dictograph or the dial set.
But remember most of these sets were custom built for their location so one probably is quite different from another.
They are quite fun when you get them rewired, I even missed out on one that someone had put a DTMF pad on the side of the case.
It's really an obscure corner of the collectors market, as nobody but us would really have an idea of what to do with them, often the seller hasn't a clue either and over-values the asking price based on aint it cute it looks so retro evaluation...
Have you polished the wood up yet, if not it looks nice enough as is, now for the rewire!
BTW I have never been able to figure out the flipper colour designations on any of my sets, there's grey, white, black (most common for extensions) and red (call) ?
Quote from: Russ Kirk on June 29, 2011, 11:04:23 AM
What I have found here on the west coast your $25 find is excellent. The $99 one is about average, however, most I have seen have been well used and abused. So I have passed on them until I can find one in good shape and not a frankenphone.
Russ....
That's what I like to hear, that I got a real bargain. That's really 1/2 the fun. Paying full "retail" price for a phone or phone-related item isn't much fun, IMO. Mine is about in the same shape as that one, maybe slightly better.
6 years later...
I finally got around to dismantling this to clean it and get it ready to restore and put into some sort of function.
I googled how to clean veneer, not difficult, but I do have a question about a crack in the base. Not wide enough to get glue into the crack, so I'm wondering the best way to prevent the crack from spreading. The only other part in the wood case that needs attention is a separation on the left side. That will not be difficult, I can get it just far enough apart to get some glue in there. Question is, which glue would be best, super glue or regular wood glue?
Also discovered the handset was disconnected. Where exactly is it supposed to be wired?
The working part.