Found a 1950 500!

[RotarDad]

I found a rather unattractive 500 last week on Ebay.  However, the pic of the bottom revealed a vintage base with the remnants of a "500" stamp near the lower edge.  For $24.95 I took a shot at it.

It just arrived today.  Mostly refurbed, but I was quite pleased with the network date: June 1949!  It also has a Nov 1950 date on the equalizer, and a 426A tube.   The dial is a 7A from '52 as is the handset.  Other parts are later including the '54 ringer and '57 shell.  I'm guessing a mid-fifties refurb and then field part replacement later including the cool ivory handset cord and plastic mouthpiece cap.

It is very, very dirty inside and out, but it will clean up nicely.  I've got a straight handset cord to add also.

[poplar1]

Good find! That one was a real sleeper!

Do you think it could be a 1949 set even though the equalizer is 1950? Do you see a date near the old "500" stamp near the front edge?

[AE40FAN]

Very nice find!  Be sure to post after pics of it clean.

[RotarDad]

Poplar1, the only way it could be from '49 would be an equalizer replacement sometime after Nov '50.  Studying Paul-F.com pics of early 500s shows the "real" 49er would have had a smaller font full date stamp with no "500" model number and also no "LOUD" near the ringer.  Also the 49er pics indicate a white metal (aluminum?) dial mount, and mine looks more like the later yellowish metal.  I've seen other '50 models on the forum which have '49 networks.  I don't think I've seen one as old as mine (June), but they are probably out there.  I've tried to determine with light and a magnifier what the date was on the bottom of mine, but the paint is just gone, unfortunately.

I'll be sure to post pics when I've cleaned it up.  As everyone here knows, no matter how old or dirty or beat up these 500s are.... of course they work perfectly!

[paul-f]

Congratulations on your find, Paul!

Based on what we've seen so far, I agree with your analysis.  I'd feel more confident if we had more complete 1949 sets to study - especially for things like the bottom stamping format.

It seems normal for early 1950 sets to have "mixed date" components.

Each component was probably made on a separate production line and it took a while to get the production rates of the final assembly line coordinated smoothly with the component lines.  Even years later when they were turning out tens or hundreds of thousands a month, it was common to see date variations of a month or two in finished sets.

[RotarDad]

Thanks, Paul.   I was very surprised to see almost a year and a half span between the net and the equalizer.  It is too bad there weren't more original parts on this one to get a better picture....  Oh well, we'll keep looking.....

[RotarDad]

Here's a pic of the completed phone.  I had a '53 straight cord and an all-matching handset from Dec '52.  The line cord is from '54 and I also had a nice dial card with a 6-digit number for that early vibe.  Lot of scratches and marks still show on the plastics on this one, but the "worn" look is also nice in my opinion.

[WesternElectricBen]

I agree with you, I can never get all the scratches out of black phones, possibly why I like to collection stuff from mid 50s to 70s..

Ben

[Phonesrfun]

Hi gang!

Life has been busy lately, so I haven't had a moment to gather things together since last week's Seattle show.

One of the things I was able to buy from another collector at the show is a 1950 500 with all the early trimmings.  It is missing a few small things.  It is missing a handset and I need to do a little repair on the handset cord, or find a working handset cord.  It appears that the handset was chopped off right where the cord enters the handset.  The conductors of the cord inside the phone look a bit rotten and crumbly, so the cord might not be repairable.  I haven't tried to see yet if it will work without static.  The cover has a little paint splatter on the front edge, presumably from not being covered while someone was painting a room.

Other than the missing handset and the handset cord issue, it is missing the original base screws, which I should be able to find pretty easily and it is missing a line cord.

It was missing the plungers for the hook switch but Zaphod01 came through with a pair of those for me, and I thank him very much.

All dates are from 1950:

Cover 6-20-50
Ringer 8-50
Handset cord strain relief III 50
425A Network 6-50
Base 9-50
311 A Equalizer Aug 10 1950
7A Dial 9-50

The dial face is one of the earlier ones with the distinctive "U" shaped "Operator" that looks a bit like a smiley face.

The stamping on the back just says 500 along with the date near the front screw.  No A/B designation.  The word <--LOUD--< is stamped under the ringer loudness thumbwheel.  A small number 28 is stamped at the left-hand edge near the front.  All stampings are in white ink on the black base.  I don't know what the 28 means.

Here are some photos

[WesternElectricBen]

Poplar1,

How do you adjust the speed on a 7A dial, I don't want to break mine on my 500T. Thanks,
Ben

[AE_Collector]

Don't most of these early 500's with equalizers seem to have equalizers that are a bit "newer" than other parts in the phones? Implying that either phones were being manufactured probably slowly even though the equalizer wasn't ready or maybe a change to the equalizers was made after the field trials which led to the equalizer been swapped out after field trials to a slightly newer one?

I haven't really kept up with the discussions and findings on these early 500's but I thought that there seemed to be quite a date spread on the parts in the 49/50 dated sets.

Terry

[paul-f]

Terry,

Scroll up.   

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9950.msg105858#msg105858

[RotarDad]

Bill - That's a real beauty, and very clean as well!  You'll be on the hunt for parts to complete that one!

Paul - Any thoughts on dating 426A tubes?  The one in my '50 looks a bit different than others I have.  This one has the "426A" stamped in yellow on the black-painted glass, along with "Western Electric made in USA" whereas others I've seen only have the model number stamped on the plastic frame.  I'm wondering if the tube might be original - an early 501.

[RotarDad]

I believe I have the answer on the 426A tube date.  From some web searching: Western Electric used a 3 digit date code (YWW)on tubes until '56 when they went to a 4 digit code (YYWW).   The tube in my '50 is dated 113 which means 13th week (1st quarter ?) 1951.  I also have been able to discern that the original bottom code on my '50 is indeed 500, not 501, so the tube was not factory installed, but probably added soon after.   For comparison, I have a 3/52 501T.  Its factory-installed tube date code is 213 or 13th week '52 which makes sense.