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Centenary Neophone

Started by LarryInMichigan, February 26, 2014, 07:09:45 PM

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LarryInMichigan

I just finished reassembling my Centenary Neophone which I bought last week from a craigslist seller who told me that it was sent to him by a friend in Hull, England.  I bought it because it is quite a rarity around this part of the world.  This phone was made in 1960.  The "AEI" logo is molded into the back of the shell.  The internal parts are mounted on a PC board which has "Siemens Edison Swan" on the bottom.  The ringer leads extend through to the PC board and are soldered on the bottom.  One of the leads was bent a bit and did not extend far enough through the PC board, so it was not actually soldered.  I straightened the lead, pushed it through the hole, and soldered it, so the ringer now works, possibly for the first time in 64 years.

The dial is a GPO no. 12 with a plastic number plate.  The shell and handset are made of a type of low density fragile plastic which wears very easily.  The plastic was severely worn in the cradle area and area of the handset, and the plastic needed an enormous amount of sanding to make it look at all presentable.  The shell is held to the steel base by two screws which screw into metal clips inside the front and rear of the shell.  The clips originally gripped plastic ribs inside the shell, but the plastic had broken off, so the clips were no longer attached.  I reattached them with generous amounts of super glue.  Around the dial is a plastic bezel with lettering which is attached to the shell with six rusty rivets.  The bezel is in poor condition with a few chunk missing.  The phone was very dirty when I received it, but it has been cleaned up and does work, though the sound quality from the transmitter is less than good.  The transmitter is a GPO no. 13 (the same type as in GPO bakelite handsets), and the receiver is the same type as in the GPO 700 type phones.

Larry

LarryInMichigan

As far as I have read, these phones were used on the public network in the UK only in the city of Hull, but I was told earlier today by a collector in Ireland that they were also used by the Post & Telegraphs there.

Larry

paul-f

Great phone, Larry.

There's some reference info with links and a wall version here:

  http://www.britishtelephones.com/siemensb/cenneo.htm

and some photos from the internet
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

LarryInMichigan

I really like the look of that ivory and red one.  The wall model looks rather ugly though.

Larry