Removing Wall Paint from W.E. 352

[Nick in Manitou]

Hello...this is my first posting to the forum.  I hope that I am posting this question in the correct place.

I have just purchased a 352 (I think that is what it is!) and it has a bit of wall paint on the case.

I have read several posting and opinions about how to remove the paint from plastic telephones and as I don't have any Dawn Power Dissolver on hand, I wanted to ask about another possibility.

I have recently had great results in removing old finish drips from antique hardware by boiling it in plain water.  I would think that boiling water might be too hot for this phone's plastic case, but if the water was kept below the boiling point, would that be O.K?

The case has been pretty abused, but I want to create as few problems as possible in my attempt to bring it back to acceptability!  The case is very dusty at the moment and that shows up in the photos.  But I think that the scratches where the handset rubs against the case are pretty obvious also.

When I opened the phone up at the shop it seemed that all the dates in both the handset and the base were 6-51.

I will try to post some photos...

Well, since it is my first post, there are some things I still need to learn...I can't seem to preview my photos, so I hope that I have attached the proper ones correctly!

[LarryInMichigan]

Try soaking the shell in sudsy water (not hot) for a couple of hours.  That will usually loosen the paint enough to rub it off.

Larry

[Nick in Manitou]

Thanks!  I'll let it soak over night and see how it does! 

[HarrySmith]

Welcome Nick! I let mine soak overnight in warm water with Oxi-clean. Yours is not bad, that paint should rub right off.
Let me be the first to warn you, these old phones are very addictive. There is no known cure for "Phonitis". Soon you will be searching for an Ivory 354 to go with the Black one, then more Western Electric phones from that period, then earlier or later ones, it just goes on & on

[Greg G.]

Welcome to the madness!

Yes, I back the Oxiclean suggestion.  You can find it in most grocery stores.  Oxiclean is a brand name, so other companies make the same stuff with different names, e.g. I'm using some Clorox Oxi-Magic, which is the same thing.  My sop for dirty phones is to put all the non-electronic parts in a bath of hot water and Oxiclean.  Be careful of any date stamps though, cover them with a coat of Vaseline before the soak.

[Nick in Manitou]

I did soak the 352 case overnight in soapy water and it did seem easier to scrape the paint off today.  I used fingernails and Bon Ami.  The result is good.  I will pick up some Oxiclean or equivalent and try it on some other parts that are pretty dirty.

Thanks for the suggestions!

And thanks for the welcome.  I have to admit that although I am new to the forum and new to resurrecting/restoring telephones, I have gotten a bit of a running start at it...

Without knowing anything about what I was doing, I have ended up with quite a few for a beginner!

I have attached a photo of what I have at this point.  It is my intention at this point to not collect TOO many more phones before making all the ones I have clean and functional.

I like the idea of having several vintage phones around to use.

Currently the S.C. 1443A is the only one in use, but I want to make several other functional as most of our furniture is antique and old phones just look better!

I picked up the payphone by accident when a phone booth and it were going too cheap at an auction!  Eventually I sold the phone booth for a nice profit and the phone remained with me.

Anyway, I am now working on getting the W.E. 352 cleaned up and will need new cords (at least) for it.  Where would I ask questions about that phone...on this topic, or another one?  By the way...what is the difference between a 352 and a 354?

Thanks again for the information and the welcome.  I look forward to learning a lot from you folks.

Nick

[poplar1]

I've never seen a Western Electric 352. Rather, they made 354s, 356s and 357s.

Northern Electric did make 352s (M1).

The 354 (M3) contains a different induction coil (101B instead of 101A), different ringer (B2A instead of B1A), and an extra pair of contacts on the hookswitch. This allows it to be used for single lines or flat rate party lines or message rate party lines.

The 356, with its B3A polarized ringer,  is used on 4-party selective lines (where all 4 parties are rung individually) or 8-party semi-selective lines.

The 357 is used on long loops (local battery talking, common battery signalling).

BSP:
C32.578/C63.432 Issue 1 10-29-48 Telephone Set Mountings, M-Type--Maintenance
C63.433 Issue 3, June, 1954: Telephone Sets, 354 Type, Connections
C63.434 Issue 2, June, 1953: Telephone Sets, 356-Type, Connections
C63.435 Issue 2, June, 1953: Telephone Sets, 357-Type, Connections

[Greg G.]

Nice start, and nice catch on that 2-piece payphone!  I'm going to have to check out auctions more.

[TelePlay]

Proof that this site has a viral, very contagious bug - phonitis.

Nice two piece pay phone. And, welcome to the ward.

[Nick in Manitou]

Thanks for the comments!

Poplar1, I will take a look at what I have and try to identify it correctly.  I took someone's word for what it was and assumed that there was no question.  Thanks for the feedback!

I have not been too involved with the "two piece" payphone for several years, but when I got it and was working on making it functional, I believe I was informed by someone who saw photos of the inside that it was actually a more recent phone that had been modified to appear to be older.  If someone knows what I should look for to identify it, please let me know.  (When we saw it (and the phone booth) at an auction, we were in the process of renovating a one room schoolhouse on the ranch we lived on.  We restored the derelict building to look like an old school room and installed an oriental carpet, a pool table and the phone booth - it was a fun place to hang out!)

I should get off the computer now and go polish up the case of that 352 (or whatever it actually is)!

[Nick in Manitou]

I didn't get very far with the polishing because I found I didn't have the finer sandpaper I thought I did.

So, on to trying to figure out what phone I actually have.

Poplar1 pointed out a few things that would help determine what phone this is.

The first thing I saw is that, yes, it does have a 101B coil.

I then tried to determine which ringer I had.  I did a quick check on the web to see what the differences were between the B1A and the B2A and now I have the impression that I have a B1A ringer because it seems to have only a red and black wire coming out of it instead of 4 wires.

I took some photos of the base of the phone with the ringer, etc.  I also took some photos of all the parts laid out and of the markings inside the phone.  The only marking cast into the case is "1B" at about 7 o'clock (when seen from the inside) below the hole for the dial.

The date stamp inside the case is yellow and reads, "5 22 51 1".  There is also an orange stamp of, "M3" with three horizontal lines following the "M3".

Since all the dates are between 5 and 7 of '51 I would assume that the components are probably original to the phone.  The only thing that I notice that indicates that the phone has been opened before (being a newbie I certainly might be overlooking something) is that there is a greenish solid core wire wrapped around one of the "L2" terminals and then cut off within one inch.

If anyone can assist in identifying what this phone is (and perhaps what I should do in the process of trying to restore it), please jump in.

Thanks!
Nick

[poplar1]

M1=352
M3=354
M5=356
M7=357

[Nick in Manitou]

Now I get it! I saw the (M1) and (M3) in you previous post, but didn't understand what they referred to.

So that takes care of what phone it is...now, can you tell if the ringer assembly is a B1A or B2A.  Is is possible/likely that a 354 would have come with a B1A ringer (if they had some left over)?

And can you tell from the photo if the hook switch is correct for the 354?

Thanks for your help!

[Nick in Manitou]

I think, from looking around at schematics I can find on the web, that the 352 hook switch would have only 4 contact whereas, as you indicated in your earlier post, the 354 would have had 6 contacts.

As this phone has 6 contacts on its hook switch, I would assume that it is the correct one for the 354.

[poplar1]

The model number of the ringer should be stamped on the ringer frame.

It is a mystery why they would use a B1AL instead of a B2A. The fact that the dates match suggests that this may have been done at the time it was manufactured, and not a field replacement.

However, the extra leads were needed only when the phone was used on certain party lines (Tip party identifying ground). Unlike the desk phones where there were two different models (302 and 304) for different classes of service,  the 354 served both purposes, just as later the 500D did.