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Found myself a Stromberg Carlson 1212 Fatboy

Started by Matilo Telephones, February 29, 2016, 05:22:37 PM

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Matilo Telephones

Well, you do not see these too often this side of the pond!
Visited a man yesterday with a lot of telephone for sale. He had a couple of 100. The were from his late father.

I had expressed interest in dial telephones so he had set these out for me. I bought a lot of them, but before I left I decided to go through the boxes of non-dial telephones.

Found some more surprises there, among which was this one. I recognised it as a Fatboy and it seemed in good condition. So I put it on the pile of phones I wanted to buy.

I was there by public transport, so I could only carry 6 telephones home. So I decided to take this one along. Arriving home, I did a little research and indeed it is a farboy, and complete and in good condition.
I will need to contact Gary Goff for a new gasket though.

I do have a couple of questions. The housing is not bakelite. Is in tenite?

Is that terminal box original?

I can't find a date on it. Or is that 142 stamp for januari 1942? Or week nr 1 1942?

I cannot unscrew the transmitter cap. Is it stuck or is there a trick to it?
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

Matilo Telephones

Some additional pics.

Please not the stickers with name and address. The top one, mr Dessart, is the father of the seller. The other person is unknown.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

unbeldi

#2
Looks nice, congrats.  They don't appear too often here either, but they do. Often with cracks.

I do think the black housings were made from a phenol resin. There were and are many types of phenol formaldehyde thermosets, perhaps it is not the standard Bakelite material with wood flour as a filler.

The colored versions of these were indeed made from cellulose acetate.  But I don't know whether they used the Tenite from Eastman Kodak company in Tennessee.

I do think that is a No.14 or 15 connection box, nice.  I don't have one from S-C.  They came with two or three terminals.

Jim Stettler

You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

LarryInMichigan

Arwin,

Congratulations on your find.  These phones are not so common, and yours is the even less common older type which used the older style handset.  The plunger is much longer on the later version, and the cradle might be shaped a differently.  Be very careful when removing the transmitter cap.  The spit cup is held by the very fragile outer ring which screws onto the handset.  These rings are very often missing or at least cracked.  You will probably need to hold the spit cap still while turning the ring.  Once you have the ring and cup off the phone, the transmitter capsule will need to be unscrewed (counter-clockwise).  Unscrewing it without damaging it can be a challenge.

It looks like your phone has a SL ringer.  These often have frequency ringers.

Larry

unbeldi

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on February 29, 2016, 10:16:49 PM


It looks like your phone has a SL ringer.  These often have frequency ringers.

Larry

That's true....  —ABZ stands for a biased straight-line ringer.

19and41

Good looking phone.  It ought to clean up well.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

Matilo Telephones

Thanks everybody! I'll try the mouthpiece later. Put some penetrating oil on it.

And do a bakelite test with a hot piece of wire.

Any suggestions for a production date or a place to look for a date stamp? There is very little info on the net on this telephone.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

unbeldi

#8
Well, the independent telephone makers were not very diligent about date stamping equipment, they really didn't need to, once sold the equipment was not theirs to maintain.

The 1212 were the successors of the 1190 series, I think, and those were still made in 1936, when the first 1200-series devices showed up, the 1201 handset telephones (similar to the WECo 211/G1).
So, I would put the live time of the 1212 between 1936 and the end of WW-II, if not earlier.  During the war, SC stopped production of the color versions of this, and by 1942 they already came out with the 1222 desk telephone, that was model after the WECo 302, and this was a very successful set, so that the 1212 was probably a minor sales item by that time.

PS: It is quite possible though that the 142 you found on your set is indeed a date.  My guess would be that it designates week 1 of 1942, because S-C later used a week-year labeling for many other items.  I have seen other such marking on my 1200 series phones.

Matilo Telephones

Thanks. I found a website stating this model was SC's reaction to the WE 302. Kate Dooners book says the same. So not earlier than 1936.

The telephone works. It rings, transmits and receives. Cords are in good condition.

And the housing.............is not bakelite. I thought it did not look, feel and smell like bakelite. The hot wire test reveals it does melt when heated.

And I still have not gotten the cap off.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

unbeldi

#10
Quote from: Matilo Telephones on March 01, 2016, 05:06:47 PM
Thanks. I found a website stating this model was SC's reaction to the WE 302. Kate Dooners book says the same. So not earlier than 1936.

The telephone works. It rings, transmits and receives. Cords are in good condition.

And the housing.............is not bakelite. I thought it did not look, feel and smell like bakelite. The hot wire test reveals it does melt when heated.

And I still have not gotten the cap off.

I think the 1222 was S-C's answer to the 302, not the 1212.
That appears factually just totally wrong.Those books have a lot of problems anyways.

The 1212 is a development that continues the design of earlier very similarly shaped telephones that required a separate subset.  The 1212 combined the (small) ringer into the base, which is the reason for the set's bulky shape, and why it is called Fat Boy by collectors.


unbeldi

Quote from: Matilo Telephones on March 01, 2016, 05:06:47 PM

And the housing.............is not bakelite. I thought it did not look, feel and smell like bakelite. The hot wire test reveals it does melt when heated.

And I still have not gotten the cap off.


That is really interesting. Is the handset from the same material?
I think this points to a late manufacturing date.

LarryInMichigan

I just grabbed by SC Fatboy from the phone room, and it's shell sure looks like bakelite.  I assumed that mine was a later model because it has the long plunger with the later style handset.

Larry

Payphone installer

Do not try and remove the handset transmitter ring it has shrunk tight as most of them did,it has about a 90% chance of breaking if you try and remove it and you will not find another one. Be thankful it is intact and leave it on. I have a whole Gaylord full of those handsets with broken rings. Jim

poplar1

How do you remove the transmitter? I know it unscrews, but is there a special tool?

Mark sells repro rings (currently out of stock):
http://www.oldphoneshop.com/products/stromberg-carlson-1197-telephone-transmitter-ring.html

"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.