I saw this 302 type phone on eBay last week. What caught my attention was the dial card. The exchange card reads OLive2-6911. In the community where I went to high school and spent 30 years working with the police department, OLive1 and OLive2 were the two exchange names. Looking at the listing closer they also showed one of those plastic advertising rings that went around the dial. I have seen them more on the 500 series phones. But the advertisement was for a local drug store called Morley's Drugs. While I was in high school Mr & Mrs. Morley were killed in a small airplane crash. The business was sold to a local pharmacist who still owns the business. Anyway, with this home-town connection I bought this phone. I didn't pay much attention to the 332C model designation. I just wanted what appeared to be an original phone from Rochester (MI).
I got more than I bargained for by getting this 332C. I opened up the phone to find a lot of stuff packed inside. I didn't even realize until after consulting with Paul's site that this is a modulated phone.
Seen here: http://www.paul-f.com/we300typ.htm and here: http://www.paul-f.com/we332.html
The phone is extremely dirty and is now on my list of things to do. The mounting cord is a four conductor cord. It appears as though a 4.5 VDC transformer will be needed to adjust the volume. The volume adjustment is on the right plunger, marked L(ow), M(edium) and H(igh). I didn't even notice that until after I read it on Paul's site and then looked at my photos. The cords are actually in pretty good shape. I'm hoping they will be usable.
I will report back sometime in the future with a cleaner version.
By the way, based on the condition of the box I was lucky it did not get broken. That coupled with the fact that the body was not wrapped and only some shredded paper to protect the phone, it was amazing it was not broken.
Nice phone. I bet it is going to look great.
Dennis....this is a toughie to find at a rather inexpensive price. Post some pictures of the restoration. I have my fingers crossed the the volume control works. This is really nice!!!!.....Doug
Congratulations, Dennis!
I'd say "rather inexpensive" is quite the understatement!
Not only did you get an outstanding price, but you beat the odds avoiding shipping damage.
Doug, it was just dumb luck that I got that phone. I wanted it for the local history. I think I bid over $100 so I guess I was lucky to get it for $28.
Congratulations on the Mahogany 500 by the way. I thought those prices had started to drop, but that was a nice price from the seller's view point.
That's good to hear Paul, (that it was a good deal). I was noticing on your site that the C designation indicates Letters/Numbers. On your example it also shows a 332C but the dial plate is a Rural plate. I'm guessing it was just a replacement?
A real nice find Dennis. According to Paul's great site, 1954 was the last year that 300's were made.
If that phone was two months older, I would have to arm wrestle you for it as then it would be the elusive birthday phone that I've been looking for.
Dougpav
Quote from: Dennis Markham on April 18, 2010, 01:54:39 PM
<snip> I was noticing on your site that the C designation indicates Letters/Numbers. On your example it also shows a 332C but the dial plate is a Rural plate. I'm guessing it was just a replacement?
The suffix info isn't necessarily common across all 300-series sets, so you need to check the 332's BSP for details. (The list at the top of the page applies to the 302The first one I found only listed A-manual, and C-dial. There may be other BSPs with other codes or it's possible that they didn't bother with coding the dial plate type in a relatively low volume set and had another mechanism to handle it on an order.
Very nice find Dennis. Now there are three known hearing impaired phones among forum members that need to go for a conference call. Let's see who can use the least amount of volume. ;D ;D ;D
Great find on a special local phone! You sure get some dandy boxes from the postman. I bet he was tip toeing away again ;D Glad it arrived in one piece!
Quote from: Dennis Markham on April 18, 2010, 01:53:16 PM
Congratulations on the Mahogany 500 by the way. I thought those prices had started to drop, but that was a nice price from the seller's view point.
Thanks Dennis.....We were pleasantly surprised at the selling price. Considering I didn't do a thing to it but take pictures, this was a sellers dream. Janet found it at a flea market and I was tempted to keep it, but space it an issue.....good luck on the 332....Doug
Thanks Paul for the updated information.
I was mistaken, the mounting cord is a five conductor cord. One of the leads had been taped back. The leads are in very good condition.
Jorge, right now the set I have has the lowest volume. :)
Craig, you're right. As I walked toward the front porch to get the box (I could see the tear from the street as I pulled in---trained eye) the mail truck was peeling rubber headed to the next house.
Dennis, you dog! That is an exquisite find! Hope to see more of it when it's had a bath and gets all dressed up.
Dennis:
Are you going to try to find out how and why the phone left Rochester and ended up in TN? That should be an interesting story all by itself. You should be able to locate the previous owner by the phone number.
Jorge, I have had no luck in tracking down the phone number. The current number is unpublished but still in existence. According to the seller he bought an Estate "near Pontiac" (MI). Pontiac is only about ten miles from Rochester. I thought I would visit the Rochester area library and see if they may have a telephone directory from 1954. The area was very rural in 1954 so there should not be too many numbers to weed through.
Dennis;
Great find, $28.00 is still a good price for a plain 302. Let alone what you got as a bonus.
Doesn't it feel great to step in it and still smell like a Rose ?
D/P
D/P: Are you suggesting Dennis smells like Doug? (Or a different Rose.)
Quote from: paul-f on April 19, 2010, 12:51:49 AM
D/P: Are you suggesting Dennis smells like Doug? (Or a different Rose.)
Maybe Richard?
I don't think he has found us yet. I should send him an invite.
Jim
Jorge and I have been talking about this phone and how I will ultimately connect it to a power source to utilize the amplifier. It is Jorge's belief that the polarity of the amplifier is important to avoid damage. The schematic simply indicates where to connect the blue and black wires with regard to the power source.
Looking closely at the amplifier and the terminal where the blue wire is connected, there is no evidence of any markings indicating polarity.
My question is............Is polarity important in order to avoid damage to the amplifier.
Attached is a portion of the schematic. An arrow points to where it reads that the black and blue leads are to be connected to the 4.5 volt battery. I was hoping to locate a 4.5 volt wall wart for this.
Second photo is of the front of the amplifier.
Third photo is of the back of the amplifier.
Last photo is of the terminal where the blue wire connects.
Is it safe to assume that the black wire is "negative" like with many electrical connections??
Also, does anyone know what 111B indicates on the back side of the amplifier?
I also added the schematic below the photos.
Quote from: paul-f on April 19, 2010, 12:51:49 AM
D/P: Are you suggesting Dennis smells like Doug? (Or a different Rose.)
Hey...I resemble that!
Paul....glad to see you aboard.....Doug
Dennis....where are the pictures of your refurbished WE 332C? We have been patiently waiting....Doug
Doug, that phone is sitting on the sideline. I have been busy with a project I started previously started. It's on the top of my list of things-to-do.
Dennis;
Is it possible that the Black and Blue leads are just connected to a coil, then polarity would not matter.
Boy Paul, gotta be careful how I handle that one....
D/P
According to the schematic:
"The black and blue leads of the mounting cord shall be connected to the 4 1/2 volt battery."
332 AW & CW Tel. sets Issue 2, note D, found in the TCI library.
111B is the Western Electric model for the amplifier. I do not think the polarity will matter to power the amplifier .I believe the amplifier is a modern shreive repeater, basically a back to back transmitter and receiver. I have a 334c -the 4party version.Mine was wired to boost the transmitter so I rewired it.I would not recommend a wall wart power supply. It might have to much hum.
Robby
rdelius:
That is really an interesting concept. I guess the physical construction of the transmitter and receiver dictate the gain of the system. Can you point us to where more technical information of this type of amplifier can be found?
You might find something in the books A history of Science and Engineering in the Bell System or Bell System technical Journal.I used to access them at Duke university but they closed the engineering library and they are stored off site.I think Western Electric made a hearing aid with a similar device. They were used for long line repeaters before the vaccum tube.
Robby
rdelius:
Is the spelling in shreive repeater correct? Google and Bing seem to try to steer me in other directions.
I checked on the internet and found this
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/mechamp/mechamp.htm
I hope I am allowed to link.
Robby
Robby:
I did another search, this time using the inventor's last name and a Google book, with a chapter dedicated to the amplifier (or repeater) showed up.
http://tinyurl.com/2fj4en3
Check page 399. I guess, based on these pictures that polarity does not matter.
I have to say, you learn something new everyday. Thank you very much for sharing this with us! :)
Thank you Jorge & Robby for doing the research. So I've learned that polarity does not matter and it's best to use a battery as opposed to a wall wart.