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GPO No.5 dial card stamper

Started by gpo706, August 07, 2011, 03:29:51 PM

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gpo706

Three of these turn up at once  :D

First I got for £21 - pic 1,  item 3 - pics 2 & 3, item 2 - pic 4.

1 - £21 winning bid
2 - £23 (no bids as yet)
3 - £5 (current bid)

Description of 2:

"Up for auction is this lovely original GPO No 5 telephone label stamper, complete with its original box, what's left of a tube of ink and a wooden peg.

Later versions had a plastic peg...not as nice! The peg is used to move numbers to the desired position ready for stamping. The ink pad can also be held away from the numbers cylinder by a small metal 'slider' on the reverse side of the stamper."

What's the Bell system equivalent?

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

cihensley@aol.com

A Homs stamp machine that looks a lot like yours.

Chuck

gpo706

Thank you for that Chuck.

More sophisticated than the GPO version, with wheel adjusters, the GPO you use a little pick it seems.
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

MAin 0-2368

#3
Bell System also used a numbering machine made by Samuel H. Moss Co.

Here's the BSP.

MAin 0-2368

Here's the BSP and patent for the Homs numbering machine.

gpo706

That's fascinating, now I know why patent lawyers make so much money  :D

Thank you very much for the links.
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

cihensley@aol.com

For those that like to print number cards, notice that the BSP posted by MAin 0-2368 for the Moss stamping machine states that each character is 5/32" in gothic style. 5/32" is 12 point type and gothic comes in multiple variations. But it is a pointer. Most number cards, even those printed by the field technician, had pre-printed prefixes (in whatever size and style) so the gothic would show mostly in the four digit directory number.

Chuck

MAin 0-2368

#7
Here's one I just got that was used by the C&P Tel. Co..
Can't find any reference to it as being used by the Bell System in any BSPs, but the seller was a retired phone company tech. that used it for stamping dial cards.

Anyone know about the history of dial cards and when the different styles would have been used? Anything in BSP documents?