Telephone?

[Grabart]

Nothing like making yourself look like a goof in your inaugural post, but here goes.  Since I've just become interested in vintage phones I have been stalking the various sites looking for ideas.  Tonight, a gentleman posted this item, along with what (to me) looks like a very old switchboard, albeit lap sized.  To my untrained eyes, it has the look of a phone, minus a handset.  So I come asking, is it?

I tried doing a bit of searching on the web, and it appears to be some kind of device for shocking fish   In its previous life though, it was purportedly for some kind of "I need to make a call" signaling.  Would it, however, also been using for making that call, and/or receiving one?

Hopefully this is the right forum for this post.

Thanks,

Scott

[LarryInMichigan]

Scott,

Welcome to the forum.  The thing in the picture is a Western Electric magneto subset.  It contains a magneto (generator), a ringer, and some other parts.  In its day, it would have been connected to a phone and a battery.  The caller would turn the crank a few times to generate an AC voltage to ring the phone or operator's switchboard at the other end of the line.  The DC voltage for amplifying the voice was provided by the battery.

Those old magnetos can produce quite a voltage, but not much current, so some people like to use them to shock fish (which I believe is illegal in some jurisdictions).


Larry

[andre_janew]

Congratulations on getting a "fish shocker."

[Grabart]

Congratulations on getting a "fish shocker."

Oh, I didn't buy it, just came up in my searches.  Now the switchboard, on the other hand, I may grab.  Just need to see if he'll budge on the price.

[Nick in Manitou]

Scot,

No worries about looking like a "goof" in your first post.

I have been here for a while and still have to ask questions that might make me look like a goof, or worse!

These folks know a lot, are pleased to share it with those of us who know less, and they are quite patient.

Welcome to the forum!

Nick

[HarrySmith]

Hi Scott! Welcome to the best forum on the net! The only stupid question is the one you don't ask! You have found the right place, no judgment here, there are lots of people in your shoes that know nothing about phones and some experts who have been in the business and know a lot more than you will ever want to know! Also lots of people in between and we are all willing to help. Warning Phoneitis is a progressive, incurable disease, we are all fellow sufferers. If you stop now you may avoid it! One phone will not be enough or one subset, now you will want a phone to connect to it, and maybe all the stuff needed to get the switchboard up, then more phones to connect to it. Maybe some other model in a different color, or maybe a sign or two. It goes on & on forever! Get out now!
Just kidding
Welcome and congrats on a nice little find!

[dsk]

Hi and welcome to the forum. As Harry said: The only stupid question is the one you don't ask!

I have been interested in telephones for decades, still I have never seen a switchboard as "yours".
That is whats making this so interesting, some clever person has made something to cover hes needs, and when more people needs it you had a marked.  Should be interesting to find out how it works.

dsk

[G-Man]

Congratulations on getting a "fish shocker."

Oh, I didn't buy it, just came up in my searches.  Now the switchboard, on the other hand, I may grab.  Just need to see if he'll budge on the price.

It is indeed a switch of some sort but not in the form one would expect to see being used as a traditional telephone switchboard. Normally this style was used by early telegraph companies to switch telegraph lines.

However, the pushbutton (signaling?) also indicates it may have been used as some sort of apartment house or pantry intercom device. Sometimes old designs were revived by small companies wishing to cheaply enter a small market. Overall, both it and the handset give the impression of the possibility that it has a slight European influence.

We need further information to determine what is being offered for sale, such as, are there any markings indicating the model and manufacturer of this item? Is it being offered for sale in the United States or elsewhere?

[Jim Stettler]

I have a similar one of these, Mine has a shelf on top for a candlestick.

Mine came from a collection I purchased from a long time (former) collector in 1992-93 ( he was a high ranking WE executive). He said he had seen an AT&T archive photo that showed the "switchboard on the end of an WE switch bank*. It had a Strowger 11 digit candlestick on the shelf.

Later he found the " switchboard" and got a strowger for it. He then spent years trying to locate the AT&T photo but never found it.

There is a stereoscopic card (from the Sears set) that shows a strowger stick on the end of a strowger switch. He said the photo resembled that card.

Jim S.
The "Key" for mine is a hollow triangle that fits the triangle "locking" shaft.

[Grabart]

However, the pushbutton (signaling?) also indicates it may have been used as some sort of apartment house or pantry intercom device. Sometimes old designs were revived by small companies wishing to cheaply enter a small market. Overall, both it and the handset give the impression of the possibility that it has a slight European influence.

We need further information to determine what is being offered for sale, such as, are there any markings indicating the model and manufacturer of this item? Is it being offered for sale in the United States or elsewhere?

It may easily have been used more as an intercom than as a phone switchboard.  The seller indicates that his father got these items when he renovated NY schools in the 1950s.  I can find no tag on his pictures which indicate a manufacturer, but he does indicate that the handset was made by SH Couch in Mass.  Perhaps some kind of device to make announcements in classrooms?

He's not yet responded to my email, and yesterday I found the same item listed on Ebay (with the same pictures), presumably by him, for $270, but it appears to be gone today.

Here's a pic of the innards if that helps in any way.

Scott

[rdelius]

This was a "peg board".Shorting pegs were used to complete the circuit instead of plugs.More commingly used by railroads to select telephone/telegraph circuits.Also used to select precision resistors on Wheatstone bridges

[G-Man]

 S.H. Couch was a manufacturer of intercoms, and this definitely is an intercom. Small wonder that these don't appear often since the selecting mechanism was designed for switching telegraph lines and not intended for this type of service. Using it for this application is unwieldy. 

[Grabart]

Many thanks to all who replied.  I have learned much already.  I can see I've come to the right place!

[Jim Stettler]

Mine is a 6x25 w/9 shorting pins. The lable is :

THE

STANDARD ELECTRIC TIME CO

SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

U.S.A.

[Jim Stettler]

Here is another one with lable. This isn't mine but a similar one that I saved photos of. I believe mine is older, the tag on mine is smaller. Most likely these photos came from this forum.
Jim S.