What is this, Stromberg Carelson

[poplar1]

Ben, have you opened the phone up yet to see what the ringer is---straight line or harmonic. If harmonic, do you see a number like 30 or 16? A pictureof the ringer would help.

[Birdman115]

My assumption is that since the case is metal, it was produced after WWII.  The early WE 302's had metal cases, but with the outbreak of WWII, metal was saved for the war effort, and what phones WE did produce were thermoplastic.  Apparently that worked out so well that WE never looked back.  For some reason, S-C used metal.  I am reasonably sure that these phones were produced after WWII, but I may be wrong. 

[WesternElectricBen]

Ben, have you opened the phone up yet to see what the ringer is---straight line or harmonic. If harmonic, do you see a number like 30 or 16? A pictureof the ringer would help.

I see what your saying, in going to open it up tommarow.

[WesternElectricBen]

My assumption is that since the case is metal, it was produced after WWII.  The early WE 302's had metal cases, but with the outbreak of WWII, metal was saved for the war effort, and what phones WE did produce were thermoplastic.  Apparently that worked out so well that WE never looked back.  For some reason, S-C used metal.  I am reasonably sure that these phones were produced after WWII, but I may be wrong. 

I actualy knew that about the 302 though I didn't know other company's switched back. I guess western electric wanted to move forward..

[G-Man]

Actually Rochester Telephone Corp. (RTC) was not a Stromberg subsidiary (or vice-versa) during that timeframe. Instead it was owned by General Dynamics, primarily a defense contractor which by the way, also manufactured the submarine ride at Disneyland.

While RTC used mostly S.C. instruments, they also used Western Electric No. 5 Crossbar and transmission equipment in their main central offices.

There were still a lot of 1243 and 302 instruments in service throughout the 60's and 70's.
They were both of good design and if used not too far from the C.O. they provided good transmission and service.

During this period telcos were scrambling to finance new construction to keep up with the demand for service so why would they wantonly squander cash by purchasing new instruments with the goal of replacing perfectly good sets while more important projects were wanting?

This phone is a S-C 1243, and was ubiquitous in the late '40s through the '60s where I live - Rochester, NY.  Rochester Telephone used S-C equipment exclusively as S-C was a subsidiary of Rochester Tel, much like Western Electric was a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone System.  These phones, however, were bought by many independent phone companies across the nation.  Indeed, when I first started teaching in rural Central New York in 1970, one of my students invited me to his home and there on the phone stand was a 1243, which I thought old fashioned at the time, compared to the 1543/500 series popular in the late 50's and 60's.  This just goes to show that the equipment was very durable.  I have one myself and it still works like a charm.