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Leich Convertible Set on Ebay

Started by WEBellSystemChristian, July 31, 2015, 04:43:25 PM

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G-Man

#15
I have since been given the go ahead to repost my original comments:

Probably not long after the following article, someone at Gen Tel/A.E. probably decided the solution would be to emulate Western Electric's 5302 by having their Leich division manufacture new plastics (some in colors) to retrofit these older North Electric sets.

Shown below is General Telephone's take on the above. It also illustrates that sets were being repaired in the shops of their own operating companies and not being sent to their parent company's Autelco division.

From the TCI Library....

GENERAL TELEPHONE NEWS 

Drive to Slash North Instrument
Surplus is Underway in Company


A full scale company drive is now underway to reduce a large surplus
of black North Electric telephone instruments. Plant and Commercial personnel
are concentrating on installing these sets, all in top working condition, in all
cases in which the North instrument can be used.

This problem was re-emphasized in a
recent meeting of representatives from
Plant, Commercial and Engineering Departments
with Dean M. Barnes, operating
vice president. It was pointed out
that while the company has a large supply
of telephones in stock, the supply
of new Automatic Electric Type 80 in-
struments is rapidly dwindling. This is
due to greater public demand for the
new design of the Type 80 set.
"Rather than order more Type 80's
at this time," Barnes stated, "we must
meet customer needs by fully utilizing
the surplus instruments we have on
hand whenever it is possible to do so."

This oversupply of North Electric
instruments and undersupply of Type
80's has been caused largely by our
willingness in the past to install the
Type 80 whenever the customer indicated
such a preference. In many of
these cases the North instrument could
have been used just as well.

The choice of instrument for an installation
is determined primarily by
transmission requirements, Barnes explained.
The Automatic Type 80 can
suffice for almost any regular installation,
from a transmission standpoint.
The North Electric instrument, due to
different transmission design, is suitable
for many, but not all, installations.
"Instead of using the Type 80 for
any and all installations," he continued,
"we must use it only where the North
cannot be used. The North instrument
will then be installed wherever it can
meet transmission requirements. Thus
the North will be used in the majority
of our regular installations."

Barnes pointed out that, in addition
to the instruments in the storeroom, the
company has about 500,000 black North
Electric instruments currently in operation.


Because of our high station turnover,
these sets will come out of service
and rapidly accumulate on our shelves
unless we make every effort to use them.
"Although some of our customers may
indicate their preference for the newer
Type 80 set, it should be pointed out to
them that the North Electric set is presently
the standard instrument for the
majority of our installations," he said.
"We would certainly like to meet
every customer request in supplying instrument
models," Barnes stated, "but
it's economically impractical. We can't
discard thousands of clean, efficient instruments
simply because they've become
'last year's models,' then turn
around and buy thousands more of the
latest design. Since telephone instru-
ments are built to give many years of
useful service, we must make use of
those we have on hand for as long as
they are serviceable.
"And although the North Electric instruments
we have in stock are not the
latest style, they are still handsome sets.

Our instrument shop personnel have
taken great care to see that every instrument
that is made available for service
is new in appearance and in top
working condition."

Jack Ryan

Thanks for the reference G-Man; an interesting insight.

Jack