C 4 ringer with one gong

[m1898]

I have a WE 500 C/D built 3-59 that only has one gong on the ringer. It is on the non adjustable side. The adjustable side looks like it has never had a gong on it. It doesn't even have the volume control mechanism on it. The wire from the ringer that goes to L1 was hooked to the G terminal (the one for the yellow line wire). I moved it to the L1 and now it rings. While the phone had been refurbished by bell and converted to modular, I believe it originally came with only one gong. BTW the number on the gong is 55A. Anybody have an idea why this only has one gong? I have seen nothing in any BSP about this. Thanks, Jim

[southernphoneman]

I have a WE 500 C/D built 3-59 that only has one gong on the ringer. It is on the non adjustable side. The adjustable side looks like it has never had a gong on it. It doesn't even have the volume control mechanism on it. The wire from the ringer that goes to L1 was hooked to the G terminal (the one for the yellow line wire). I moved it to the L1 and now it rings. While the phone had been refurbished by bell and converted to modular, I believe it originally came with only one gong. BTW the number on the gong is 55A. Anybody have an idea why this only has one gong? I have seen nothing in any BSP about this. Thanks, Jim

if you need one I have extras pm me if interested, let me know also if you will need the little muffler type deal that goes behind the gong-its either plastic or tin depending upon the age of the ringer, Gregg

[HarrySmith]

I doubt it came with only one gong, it was probably a previous owners attempt to quiet the ringer down. Something along these lines: "That f***ing ringer is too darn loud!! Let me move this volume lever over, nope still too loud, can I move it further, s**t, it broke off. Now it's rattling around in that bell. Let me open it up, OK I can just remover the bell and the broken lever, now it sounds good!"
You will need the 55B gong to complete it.

[G-Man]

There is at least one BSP that covers this, and no, it is doubtful that it came from the factory like this: instead, would have been removed at the installer-level.

And the "muffler thing" is called a resonator.

The (capitalized) Bell System's supply and manufacturing division, Western Electric did ship C-type ringers with only one gong but those were in keysets to provide mounting space for intercom buzzers.

[m1898]

Harry, you might be right. Even looking at the thing through an optivisor I can't see traces of one ever being there, or one being removed. I think it might have been an extension and they wanted it to sound different. I have posted a couple of pics.

[Contempra]

cool phrase from a country song m1898 

"Oh lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, I get better looking each day"
in french

Oh Dieu que c'est dur d'être humble. quand t'es parfait de toutes les façons, chaque matin j'me regarde dans la glace(miroir), ah c'que j'peux être beau garçons !......

voila.

[m1898]

I thought the song was written for me. People are always telling me that I am a legend, in my own mind anyway.

[m1898]

G-man, it makes sence that an installer might have did this. Judgeing from the discoloration and age on the cast piece, makes better sense.

[paul-f]

The (capitalized) Bell System's supply and manufacturing division, Western Electric did ship C-type ringers with only one gong but those were in keysets to provide mounting space for intercom buzzers.

The ringer you're thinking of is the H1-type.  From 501-254-100, issue 2:

2.01 The H1-type ringer is a single-coil,
high-impedance ringer with a two position
bias spring adjustment. It is equipped with a
single 54B gong and a bracket to mount a KS-8109
type or KS-20419L1 buzzer.

[G-Man]

The H1-type ringer is a modified C-type ringer where a bracket has been added to where the stationary gong was located. The H1A has a dual-winding coil and the H1B is equipped with a single-coil.
Now that a photo has been provided we can see that the post for mounting the movable gong has been removed.
This would not have been done by the manufacturer nor by a telephone company employee; there would not have been any reason to do it when a single screw could have been removed to eliminate the gong.

This would have allowed the telephone company to easily change it back to its original state to be reused if the subscriber's was discontinued for any reason.

In its current state there is no loudness control and if it was desired to prevent it from being adjusted, installers were instructed to simply install the ringer without the linkage lever protruding through the movable cam on the ringer or in the case of a 685/687 ringer, there was a removable rivet that could  be pushed though the holes in the linkage lever and baseplate.

Some unknowledgeable person must have thought they had to remove the entire assembly to keep the volume from being adjusted.

[paul-f]

The H1 ringers were derived from the C-type design - retaining the motor and adjustable gong - but were coded H1 due to the substantial difference in the casting and added components for mounting the buzzer.

A close look shows that the H1's buzzer mount also includes a flat surface for the clapper to hit.

The adjustable gong assembly on both models includes a casting with the gong mounting post that is held on by a rivet that is seen in the center of the spring.  The rivet is not intended to be removed, and not designed for heavy use.  

I have refurbed sets where the adjustable gong assembly was quite loose.  If too much pressure is put on the rivet (made of soft pot metal), it will bend or break.  It "may" be possible to tighten the rivet a bit by tapping on it.  If broken, only the frame is left, as in the subject ringer shown at the beginning of the thread.

[G-Man]

I've borrowed Paul's photo to show the swaged mounting post that was removed from m1898's ringer.

Once the swaging has been either drilled-out or knocked-off, the entire movable post is easily removed.

The mystery is why anyone would go through this amount of trouble when simply removing one screw will allow the 54A gong to be detached from the post.

[Matilo Telephones]

Perhaps that is an argument for the possibility that it was never there.

[G-Man]

Perhaps that is an argument for the possibility that it was never there.

Most of those who are familiar with Bell System culture and mindset would doubt it was manufactured that way.

For one, it would be more costly in setting up an assembly-line plus the extra handling, shipping and stocking that would have been involved.

It would have made more sense to remove only one screw for accomplishing whatever was intended rather gear-up a production line for a very low demand product.

That is the other question, what was the intended purpose for it to be removed? If it was to lower the volume then that could have been accomplished by using the volume control.

If they wanted to distinguish its ringing from a nearby telephone, the Bell System provided a number of different sounding gongs for C-type ringers to accomplish that.

There are Practices in the TCI library that detail methods on how to change the tones and volume on these ringers without resorting to removing the mounting post for the gong.

[paul-f]

The mystery is why anyone would go through this amount of trouble when simply removing one screw will allow the 54A gong to be detached from the post.

My guess is that, as Harry suggested, someone without access to BSPs tried to silence the ringer by turning the adjustment knob all the way to the quietest setting and was disappointed that it wasn't totally silent.  Putting too much pressure on the adjustment to get to the off position could have caused a weak part to fail and the whole assembly came off. 

(Whoops!) 

Had they read the BSP, they would have known to bend the spring out of the way, so the adjustment could easily go to the off position.