Hi All,
Just was browsing Ebay and spotted this ad for Tenite from 1938. Does anyone recognize this phone, or is it "generic" for the ad?
Jim
The set in the ad is an SC 1191.
The "dial blank" is also the gong for the ringer! It's a neat design -- and one of the phones that got me "hooked" on phone collecting.
Quote from: paul-f on December 06, 2013, 02:25:52 AM
The set in the ad is an SC 1191.
The "dial blank" is also the gong for the ringer! It's a neat design -- and one of the phones that got me "hooked" on phone collecting.
Really cool! I didn't know that existed! I suppose the dial model had an external ringer. And amazing. How many color were available in 1938! Thank you for sharing!
There are good ads and other information in old Modern Plastics Magazine.Both Duke and NC State have these on file unless they discarded them since I went through them years ago.
can a person make a better picture than this or improve it please ?
(http://i56.servimg.com/u/f56/16/43/78/89/stromb11.jpg)
Quote from: Contempra on December 06, 2013, 10:09:11 AM
can a person make a better picture than this or improve it please ?
Not necessary, workup of the version in the TCI library:
thanks unbeldi..TCI Library has a lot stuff but in pdf... I don't see the pictures. ;)
That ad should be photoshopped to say:
"Tenite; Cheese it's good!"
Quote from: paul-f on December 06, 2013, 02:25:52 AM
The set in the ad is an SC 1191.
The "dial blank" is also the gong for the ringer! It's a neat design -- and one of the phones that got me "hooked" on phone collecting.
paul-
that is one fabulous phone !.................is there any info on this model on yr web pages ?
i can't see any........+ am v curious to see the dial blank, gong set-up.
david
David,
Adding SC to the site is on the to do list, along with too many other things. I did start out collecting SC phones, so have some good examples to highlight. I just need more hobby time. The way things are going, it won't be any time soon.
In the meantime, check out the forum for other threads. There's good info here:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3041.0
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3931.0
and you'll find more with a search.
Quote from: twocvbloke on December 06, 2013, 11:35:19 AM
That ad should be photoshopped to say:
"Tenite; Cheese it's good!"
I don't think that is fair. The Tenite used for these housings did not smell. It was cellulose acetate, Kodak called it Tenite Acetate in trade. This is a different material than the Tenite used in the 500 sets of the 1950s.
The Tenite of the 500-series, that after 50+ years smells so badly, was Tenite Butyrate, or cellulose butyrate, a different derivative of the cellulose material, which contains a little larger monomer molecule. The reason it smells is because the butyrate breaks apart and forms butyric acid, which cases the smell. It is the same substance that accumulates in rancid butter causing a similar odor. Butter <---> butyric acid <---> butanone <---> butane, that is the historical naming connection. Butane is a chain of four carbon atoms, the basic backbone building block for all of these.
Tenite Butyrate appears to have one advantage over Tenite Acetate, it does not decompose as much as the acetate. Products from cellulose acetate have always had this problem shrinkage.... the celluloid dial card windows, the cellulose acetate dial number plates, etc... Acetate has a carbon backbone of only two molecules and disassociate from cellulose apparently much more readily than the longer chains. This is the reason for the shrinkage of the Tenite 302 telephone housings. The acetate simply decomposes into water vapor and carbon dioxide which just diffuse out of the plastic. Ergo, the plastic shrinks over time.
The butyrate does not break down to water and CO2, and therefore does not escape the bulk of the material by diffusion, it is too big a molecule for that. Therefore the material does not shrink, but does become more brittle after decades.
Eastman Kodak also made a Tenite version with the intermediate alkane chain, Tenite Propionate, which has three carbon atoms in the chain, and should probably have properties somewhere in the middle between the others. I don't think it is known whether this was ever used for the manufacture of telephones. It certainly seems like that Bell Labs, or somebody, would have run tests.
Quote from: paul-f on December 06, 2013, 12:24:33 PM
In the meantime, check out the forum for other threads...
thank you for those links paul.
this SC is new on me.........some v informative stuff in the previous threads - even a wav file of the phone ringing.
Quote from: paul-f on December 06, 2013, 02:25:52 AM
The set in the ad is an SC 1191.
The "dial blank" is also the gong for the ringer! It's a neat design -- and one of the phones that got me "hooked" on phone collecting.
I was lucky enough to pickup one of these beauties on eBay this week, not an Ivory but a black one. One of our fellow Forum members had it for sale and when I saw it, I wanted to try to take the ringer out to put in a Manual WE 202 or AE 1A. I thought it was a dial blank in the auction.
It came today and as soon as I saw it I remembered Paul's Tenite thread. It is a gong and not a dial blank. This was in great structural shape but had some crud all over it. My Brasso, fine steel wool, Avon skin so soft and Howard's liquid wax routine made it look like new. I had a SC dial card with the hard to get celluloid cover and the push pin that locks it.
I wired it to jack and it works!! What a great ring it has. I had never seen one in my years of collecting. Not the cool Ivory one, but really different just the same.
It was getting dark so the pictures are not the best. Always great to find something that you never knew existed....Doug
It's a really cool, clever phone, and the colors make it all the more interesting.
inside
Those are neat phones. I'll take one in each color. How common are the purple ones???
Quote from: Sargeguy on December 17, 2013, 03:12:02 PM
Those are neat phones. I'll take one in each color. How common are the purple ones???
I'm with ya Sargeguy...I'm not much for purple
anything, but I sure like that purple one!
Jim
None of the colors (non-black) are plentiful, but lavendar is one of the scarcer colors.
Most found sets have cosmetic problems including stains or serious shrinkage.
There are a few more photos here:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3931.msg51808#msg51808 (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3931.msg51808#msg51808)
These a really great phones, unfortunately I have never seen one that was not discolored or warped beyond use. Happy as all get out with my black one....Doug
Hey there!
These are really cool phones! And as I see, there were some variations and models.
I used a program to get the ad color back to live, I hope you enjoy it ;)
Iñaki
Hello,may I share these photos of the tenite SC's on my FB page?Its called Classic North American telephones...
Quote from: Chad Soard on November 11, 2014, 02:01:56 PM
Hello,may I share these photos of the tenite SC's on my FB page?Its called Classic North American telephones...
Hi Chad and welcome to you ;).....I guess so but ask an admin or a moderator
Thank you very much :) and I will do that...
I just found out that they made these in those colors...lol
Yes, you may use this page for your Facebook page.
~Dennis
Quote from: Chad Soard on November 11, 2014, 02:01:56 PM
Hello,may I share these photos of the tenite SC's on my FB page?Its called Classic North American telephones...