Installing a dial in a 553A wall phone

[Rigger1]

I have had this 553 sitting around for a while. I bought it from a guy out in Washington state who had it posted on craigslist. The phone did not have a dial in it when I bought it, so I decided to put one in. I have a decent 4h dial installed in the phone now. Installed, but not wired. I can't make heads or tails out of schematics. I was wondering if someone might be able to help me out. Sadly, what I need is: this wire goes from here to here, something like that. I did see those great color diagrams for the 500's and I was also wondering if one would apply to the 553. This is not something I need to do right away but it would be nice to gather the information. Thanks, Bill

[bingster]

This diagram may be easier to decipher than the one inside the phone or in the TCI library.  The note at the bottom may be helpful in figuring out where the dial leads are, too.  This comes from AT&T's 4566, February 1926.

(Sorry for the quality, I don't have a scanner.)

[rdelius]

You will find some if not all the wires will be there. They would tape the ends of some of the wires and would also put others under screws to complete the circuit. The wires would be neatly put in the wireing harness..Nice telephone
robby

[Phonesrfun]

Rigger:

Here are the instructions.  The biggest problem is to identify the colors of the wires, since these fabric wires that were also coated with a waxy coating fade and turn kind of a brownish color over the many years, and are sometimes hard to tell apart.  You should be able to do it if you can get over the color issue.

1.  On one of the transmitter "Trans" terminals one will have more wires running to it than the other.  On that terminal there is a supposed yellow wire that comes from the L2Y terminal on the main terminal board in the back of the phone through the wiring harness.  Unscrew this wire from the TRANS terminal, and route it over to the dial and connect it to the "Y" connection on the dial.  I say "supposed", because this wire is very prone to discoloration in my experience.

2.  On that same TRANS terminal, there will be a black wire that is both soldered to that TRANS terminal and then loops back and connects to itself with a spade tip.  Unscrew the spade tip from here and route the wire over to the dial and connect it to "B" on the dial.

3.  On one of the REC terminals, there are a bunch of wires on the lower terminal.  One should be a Brown wire with a double blue striping coming from the hookswitch with a spade tip.  Unscrew this wire from that REC terminal and route it over to the dial and connect it to "BB" on the dial.

4.  On that same REC terminal, there should be a white (again supposed white) wire that is soldered to the terminal on one end, then loops back and connects with a spade tip to the same place.  Unhook the spade tip from the REC terminal, route it over to the dial, and connect it to "W" on the dial.

On the two terminals that you have loosened to remove wires, make sure the remaining wires are still connected and tighten them back down.

When wiring terminals to the dial, make sure that each wire does not touch any of the others, otherwise it won't function properly.

I notice from the photos that your dial is missing the screw for the W terminal, these screws are kind of hard to find, so you can "borrow" one from the "R" terminal of the dial which won't be used for this application.

That's all there is to it.  Like I said, identifying the wires is the tricky part.

Good luck,

Bill

[Phonesrfun]

A couple more notes about this phone.

You need to move the Red ringer wire to L1, and the black is properly connected to C on the main terminal board in the back of the phone.  If you do not do this, it won't ring.  

You will connect the phone line red to L1, and the green to L2Y.  If your line cord has a black and a yellow, don't connect them, but just put a piece of black electrical tape over each to keep them from touching something else.

These metal phones are noisy.  Because the transmitter is connected ridgidly to the metal housing, any tapping or vibration on the metal housing will be mechanically conducted to the transmitter and you will hear it, and so will the person on the other end of the line.

Because of the above, you will notice that after each digit dialed, the dial governor still spins for a second or so after run-down.  When the receiver is switched back into the circuit at the end of each number dialed, that spinning noise will also be conducted through the metal case to the transmitter, then to the receiver, and you will hear it.

With the older design of the single condenser circuit, you may hear a pop at the end of each dialed number too.  If this is a problem, a capacitor can be bought at Radio Shack to eliminate this, but that's the subject of another post.

The transmitter is the older "solid-back" design, and they sounded very tinny.  People you talk to will comment about the sound as if you are in a tunnel.  The solid back transmitters were also position-sensitive.  They work best when the phone is upright, and will work lousy if the phone is resting on its back on a table.

There is also no circuitry in this phone to reduce the loud pops and clicks that may occur if someone hangs up their phone on you and you still have the receiver up to your ear.  Modern phones have eliminated this annoying "feature".

All of the above things are not a part of the experience of using a phone these days, but were very much a part of it in days past, so there is nothing wrong, but just a taste of the past.  It is probably best not to hold the reciever up to your ear while dialing.

Enjoy.

[Rigger1]

Hey Guys...Thanks so very much.. before it is all over i am going to the community college and taking a class or two and learn how to read those schematics. I will report back on the progress I make with the phone.  Bill

[Doug Rose]

Here is the WE 553 that Janet found at a Flea Market this summer. These are just wonderful looking phones. You got yourself a beauty which look like it might be copper plated....Doug

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3176.0

[marty]

Hi All;
Great phone... You will find that Reading Schematics is alot simplier than you might think, So taking the Class should prove very Interesting and very Rewarding for You... Hope you enjoying using your "New" Phone...
I am Just Amazed at How Helpful, Everyone is in the Group... So, I want to say an Extra THANK YOU to everyone for all of their Helpfulness and Coutersey to Everyone.. You have a Great Group of People here.
THANK YOU Marty

[Rigger1]

Hey Doug...What a great looking phone. You mentioned copper plating. I can see the copper color under the paint where it has worn. What was the purpose of this, a rust inhibitor or something like that?   Bill

[Rigger1]

Hey Marty...I agree with you 100 %. The forum has really great people that are willing to go out of their way to help.

[Doug Rose]

Hey Doug...What a great looking phone. You mentioned copper plating. I can see the copper color under the paint where it has worn. What was the purpose of this, a rust inhibitor or something like that?   Bill

Bill...it was a rust inhibitor when applied over metal. Put a magnet on yours to see if its plated or is copper. I have one that is copper, and does not attract a magnet. You "might" want to try to bring yours down to copper. They look really sharp that way. Only drawback is sometimes in removing the paint, you can remove parts of the copper plating going to bare metal. Check out the link of a few of my copper WE phones...Doug

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2108.0

[Rigger1]

I checked and my 553 is a ferrous metal, so it must be copper plate. Still very interesting. Doug,  those are really sharp looking taken down to the base.

[Rigger1]

A quick update... I followed Bill Geurts directions this afternoon and I now have a working 553 that dials out! I will now use the phone and instructions to try to educate myself on the schematic. A big thank you to Bill Geurts and to Bingster for their help. I have been wanting to do this for some time and had no idea how to do it.

[Phonesrfun]

Excellent,

Most of us are happy to help out.

[Greg G.]

Hey Guys...Thanks so very much.. before it is all over i am going to the community college and taking a class or two and learn how to read those schematics. I will report back on the progress I make with the phone.  Bill

Something I thought about doing too.  But...all the classes here are geared for digital electronics, not to mention pricey, even for a CC.  The folks here have been pretty helpful in just telling me which wire goes where.  

Here's my 553.  I'm starting to think I like the looks of the cone style transmitters with that little plate underneath better than the bulldog transmitter.