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NE payphone info (N233H)

Started by sebbel, February 26, 2012, 12:35:32 PM

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sebbel

Does anyone know what model this is?
Seb.

DavePEI

Quote from: sebbel on February 26, 2012, 12:35:32 PM
Does anyone know what model this is?
Hi Seb:

Easiest way to tell is to look at the number printed on the back of it. There is a whole series of very similar looking NE phones.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

sebbel

#2
So how do I  take that one off the board? Note i have no key...
Seb.

DavePEI

#3
Quote from: sebbel on February 28, 2012, 04:59:39 PM
So how do I  take that one off the board? Note i have no key...
Hi Seb:

That complicates things. There are two places they are marked, One on the back of the phone (yes, stuck between the backboard and the phone), and the other inside, just under where the handset cord enters. Once again, you have to be able to open the phone.

To get it off the backboard, you have to be able to get inside the phone to undo the bolts! Definitely a Catch-22 situation.

You will have to get it open to do anything with it. Know any locksmiths? There are a number of ways to get into them, but you would have to get into it. Have a look at the NE Payphone files (233, QSD-3A) on my sites - there are some notes on getting them open. The top keys are keyed in common.

Now, it you own the phone, and are feeling adventurous, you could gingerly insert a couple of screwdrivers in between the top section and the coin section and very carefully pry. You will have to be very careful to avoid cracking the metal. With luck, the tongue of the lock will pull out of the lower section so you can open it. But with this method, there is the possibility of cracking the metal. Note: This isn't a method I recommend, but if done very carefully, it will work.

If it were summer, I'd suggest that you bring it over to the Island, and I could use my top key to open it. In answer to your original question it is more than likely a QSD3A  or an NE-233 though there are a couple of less common models it could be.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

sebbel

Quote from: DavePEI on February 28, 2012, 06:13:12 PM
If it were summer,

Just love that comment. :) You are right I have no desire to go to PEI in Winter.

That is going to be a long term project anyway so I have ample time to think about it. It seem to be working good so it'll be purely  bodywork project. Look like it past owners did more damage to it than anything else. Look like their attempt to get it involved a blowtorch.

Plugged it in a got a dialtone. So I assume the subset works. I'm just waiting for someone to call.

A few question about the coin. 0.25 make a kind of springy noise. 0.10 2 clear bells and 0.05 doesn't get accepted.  What sounds is it actually supposed to do? and has the nickel change in the past 50 years?



Seb.

DavePEI

#5
Quote from: sebbel on February 28, 2012, 06:37:04 PM
Quote from: DavePEI on February 28, 2012, 06:13:12 PM
If it were summer,

Just love that comment. :) You are right I have no desire to go to PEI in Winter.

That is going to be a long term project anyway so I have ample time to think about it. It seem to be working good so it'll be purely  bodywork project. Look like it past owners did more damage to it than anything else. Look like their attempt to get it involved a blowtorch.

Plugged it in a got a dialtone. So I assume the subset works. I'm just waiting for someone to call.

A few question about the coin. 0.25 make a kind of springy noise. 0.10 2 clear bells and 0.05 doesn't get accepted.  What sounds is it actually supposed to do? and has the nickel change in the past 50 years?
It should accept a nickel. Yes, the nickel has changed several times in the past 50 years. They used to contain much more nickel than now. They also had a more octagonal shape than today's pure round.

Try a US nickle or a 50's CDN one  if you can find one.

But I doubt that is the problem. I imagine inside the front, the coin assembly is slightly out of adjustment or stuck.

A Quarter makes a gong sound, a dime, two dings, and a nickel, one ding.

Photo below of QSD3A coin channel showing coin bell and quarter gong.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

DavePEI

Quote from: sebbel on February 28, 2012, 06:37:04 PM
A few question about the coin. 0.25 make a kind of springy noise.

Oddly, your description of the quarter gong makes sense. Though we usually call if a gong, it is actually generated by a coiled bronze gong located on the front in the path for quarters on the acceptor. It is similar to the gong in some old style clocks.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

Russ Kirk

I also collect US and foreign coins and it never dawned on me to ask this question.

Did the 12 sided Canadian nickels (1942-1963) cause any problems with the coin chutes in pay stations?   

And what about the steel and Tombac/zinc nickels made during 1942-1945, did they work without problems?   
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

DavePEI

#8
Quote from: Russ Kirk on February 28, 2012, 07:25:33 PM
Did the 12 sided Canadian nickels (1942-1963) cause any problems with the coin chutes in pay stations?  

And what about the steel and Tombac/zinc nickels made during 1942-1945, did they work without problems?  
I would suspect that in the more recent coin collectors that they would.  Modern acceptors would have  more of a problem with them than the older ones. The differing weight alone would cause problems, as would the magnetic content of the coins.

I never heard of a problem with the Tombac coins and older collectors made in the 50s and 60s. Back then there were still some of them (wartime quarters, both Tombac and steel) in circulation - I remember pulling a few out of my change when I was young. Still have at least one around somewhere.

Anyone have more direct experience with this?

I have an interesting collection here from a retired (now passed away) Island Tel tech who gathered over the years various slugs, etc. he found in coin telephones. These range from French coins, to tiddley winks, to drilled quarters attached to mono-filament string (I guess so it can be recycled :-) to electrical box knock-outs, washers, hammered quarters, a test slug, and a Ureguay coin, TTC tokens, etc. Amazing the lengths people would go to to cheat!

Of course, none of these would work in modern phones - as phone companies became aware of the ways people tried to cheat the phones, they would devise ways to prevent it.

He saved them, and kept them in a 3 slot coin box. I have it in the museum now.


Dave

The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

sebbel

It's a 64 N233H the backboard is NE-144D-3 and the subset 685-A. I didn't break the lock. :)

The bad new is that the cost or the 2 lock + shipping will be more that I paid for it.
Seb.

DavePEI

Quote from: sebbel on February 28, 2012, 07:47:20 PM
It's a 64 N233H the backboard is NE-144D-3 and the subset 685-A. I didn't break the lock. :)

The bad new is that the cost or the 2 lock + shipping will be more that I paid for it.

Ahh, you took your chances and pried it off? It usually works, but can also break the metal. Later they added tubular cam locks beside the regular lock to make things more difficult and to prevent opening this way. I don't like recommending to anyone to do it this way just in case they damage their phone...

You should be able to order a replacement top key for it from Phoneco or from OldPhoneWorks (not listed in either catalogue but ask them - they do have them)

If you get the coin box lock off, you can send it to Jody Haralson - he can re-key it for you for much less than the price of a new lock.

http://www.islandregister.com/phones/keys.html

You must have gotten it for a really good price if 2 locks will cost more than you paid for it  :)

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

sebbel

Good price is relative. It's easy to convince someone to lower the price when there's a hole in the side of what you are trying to buy. Now depending on the metal I may be able to weld a patch. Otherwise I paid a fair price for the half of a phone  a backboard and a subset. :)

Has anyone tried welding on the bottom half of a 1960's payphone? Cast or plate steel or some alloy? 
Seb.

DavePEI

#12
Quote from: sebbel on February 28, 2012, 08:25:08 PM
Good price is relative. It's easy to convince someone to lower the price when there's a hole in the side of what you are trying to buy. Now depending on the metal I may be able to weld a patch. Otherwise I paid a fair price for the half of a phone  a backboard and a subset. :)

Has anyone tried welding on the bottom half of a 1960's payphone? Cast or plate steel or some alloy?  

Hi Seb:

Just guessing, but I think it is some type of alloy.... You might take it to a welder and he should be able to tell you for sure by looking at it...

Where is the hole, Seb - it doesn't show in the photo. If it is in the bottom section, I wonder if it much possible have been from an attempt to break in to get the coins? As Terry told me, in BC they used to get phones where people had cut up through the bottom to drain coins from the coin box. Imagine destroying an expensive phone just for a few dollars in change! Unbelievable what people will do.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

AE_Collector

Quote from: DavePEI on February 28, 2012, 07:44:09 PM
coins with holes drilled in them and mono-filament line attached, so they could drop 'em, then  yank 'em back out the throat of the phone!

I've found several quarters with holes drilled in the edge in payphones myself. Note the acceptors used in the AE 120B (and probably other payphones) has a stainless steel knife edge to cut strings attached to coins.

What key does the upper housing of a NE use Dave? AE is 29S. Is it WECO that is a 10B? Can't remember wha ta NECo uses.

Terry

DavePEI

#14
 
Quote from: AE_collector on February 28, 2012, 08:35:04 PM
Quote from: DavePEI on February 28, 2012, 07:44:09 PM
coins with holes drilled in them and mono-filament line attached, so they could drop 'em, then  yank 'em back out the throat of the phone!

I've found several quarters with holes drilled in the edge in payphones myself. Note the acceptors used in the AE 120B (and probably other payphones) has a stainless steel knife edge to cut strings attached to coins.

What key does the upper housing of a NE use Dave? AE is 29S. Is it WECO that is a 10B? Can't remember wha ta NECo uses.

Terry

Hi Terry:

If I recall correctly, the key is an NE-21B key, and for the bottom, an NE-22. The NE-22 bottom locks, of course are individually keyed.

Yup, if I were a payphone, I wouldn't want to have a coin yanked back up my throat! Gargggh! :-X

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001