Couple Questions about a Stromberg Carlson

[Grumpy99705]

My dad sent, what I thought was an S-C1212 that had been in my grandfather's barn. When it got here, I found that it was a 1191, with a badly broken shell.
I thought Kellogg was bad about cramming a lot of things in a small space. I think this might take the cake.

First question: the 1936 catalog says that its made of a "black moulded phenol compound". This shell presents more like a hard plastic than bakelite. Suggestions as to how to glue the cracks and broken piece

Second question: it came wired to a S-C 1156BY subset. Any idea why anyone would want to connect a functional standalone to a subset. The coil & condenser test as OK

Interesting side note with this phone. As I said, this is a complete self contained phone. What looks to be a dial blank, is actually a cast bronze gong for the ringer.
While this is a very interesting, and nice looking phone, it must not have been very popular either with the customers or the company it self and was short lived.
It is featured in the 1936 catalog but is no where to be found in the 1940 catalog.

[LarryInMichigan]

I have an SC 1191 (Link).  Mine looks like bakelite to me.

I hope that your phone wasn't damaged by its recent shipping.  Bakelite can be glued with super glue, but filling in cracks and chips is not easy.  I have plenty of phones needing bakelite chip and crack repair and would love to hear about good methods.

Larry

[Grumpy99705]

No, the cracks are old and an attempt was made to repair the worse of the two. I think the best thing for me to do is clean out the old glue and try to super glue it all. It's too cool a phone to not make the attempt.
Your's looks great and gives me hope for mine.
The receiver caps on mine came right off, but it looks like I need a special spanner to get the xmitr out.
This is going to be a challenge that I'm looking forward to.
Still haven't figured out the subset thing yet

[LarryInMichigan]

If the transmitter is not too stuck, you should be able to carefully unscrew it using the tips of an open long nose pliers.  Mine was corroded , so it took an effort to unscrew it.

My only guess about the subset would be that someone assumed that it needed a subset since this one one of the first phones which did not need one, and SC made phones with the same, or similar, shells which did need subsets.  I am curious to know how the subset is connected and if the phone actually works with it.

We would love to see pictures of yours, especially after it has been repaired.  Denatured alcohol or acetone will probably dissolve the old glue, and I do not think that either will harm bakelite.

Larry

[Grumpy99705]

I took some "before" pics, and will post them as soon as I get back to Alaska next week (currently somewhere over Yakima area of WA at 35000ft)
I got in the habit of taking pictures of wiring before disassembly so I hook the subset back up later, just to see what happens.