AE 40 with lever

[wds]

Picked this up a couple days ago - I was intrigued with the lever by the plunger.  It appears that when the lever is engaged, the plunger only raises half way up.  In this position, the ringer doesn't ring.  However the lever must be released to answer the phone, or make calls.  I've never seen one like this.  I assume that the handset will have to be off the cradle to use this feature.

[jsowers]

That's the party line switchhook. We had one many years ago in the 1950s and 60s and so did my aunt and uncle. When you lift the handset, you get sound through the receiver but the transmitter is turned off. This is so you don't interrupt the parties on the line, though I'm sure a lot of parties used it for snooping. The same thing could be accomplished by just taking out the transmitter capsule on a phone without the switch.

When you squeezed the switch, it enabled the transmitter and you could speak. The switchhook had two positions and you could hear a low hum when you lifted the handset and then you got full dial tone when the switch was released. Which means you had to press that switch every time you answered the phone or made a call. So our dial tone was kind of a two-tone thing.

The AE50 wall model also had a switch like that, but my grandmother's AE50 didn't have it even though she was on a party line with us next door. I haven't ever seen a party line switchhook in black. All the ones I ever saw were chrome. The right-hand switchhook button is tapered so it engages the lever. A very unusual design.

[wds]

I'll test it tonight to see if that's how this one is set up.  I did test the ringer and it did not ring when the lever was engaged.  The more I think about that feature the more I like it.  If this phone were used in a bedroom where you might not want to have the ringer wake you up, just remove the handset and set the lever.  You would know the phone is disabled simply because the handset was not in the cradle. 

[jsowers]

I think you may find that the phone is off-hook with the switch engaged and none of your phones will ring and the calling party will get a busy signal. But we never had an extension in the party line days, so I never was able to experiment with that. You also may not get the two-tone dial tone since that was in the days of mechanical switching equipment and party lines. Let us know what happens.

[wds]

I've already tested the ringer, and the other phones in the house rang.  I answered a different phone - this ae40 had no affect on the other phones with the lever engaged.  As far as the lever being black, this phone does have some remnants of black paint - I'll check to see if the lever was been painted black over the chrome.

[paul-f]

Does it have a model number on the bottom?  It would be a good one to add to the survey of AE40 variations.

[Doug Rose]

Very cool phone Dave...Doug

[poplar1]

"Push lever to dial or talk" or something similar.

Until you push the lever, picking up the handset won't keep another phone (extension in your house or another party) from dialing out and it won't stop the  ringing on your phone or any other. That was the point: that you wouldn't interrupt another person dialing and wouldn't trip ringing when it wasn't your call. Without listening first, you wouldn't know that another party's phone was ringing because your ringer did not respond to the frequency sent to other parties on the line. You also wouldn't know if someone else was dialing without listening first.

[wds]

Yes, I will add this one to the AE Survey.  ZN 4020   SS1.  The black ink on the bottom of the shiney non metalic  base is very light and faded.  As far as the lever, I've checked it again tonight, and when the handset is on the cradle the phone rings and functions normally.  If I remove the handset and activate the lever, the phone does not ring.  The handset is dead, and when talking on another phone, you can't hear nor talk on the handset.  The only thing the lever does is kill the ringer.  It's possible that something may be wired incorrectly, but everything on the inside seems identical to my other AE 40 phones. 

It appears that the carry bar, plungers and lever have been painted black.  The dial is chrome - everything will match once I strip the black paint off.

[poplar1]

AE 40s disconnect the ringer when going off-hook. I'm not sure about the sequence of the contacts, but this could explain why even with the plungers halfway up, the ringing stops.

Do you have a "monitor" condition with the transmitter out? That is, you can hear dial tone only when another phone goes off hook? You should also hear dial pulses, conversation, and incoming ringback through the receiver. If not, the talking capacitor may be bad or miswired.

[wds]

No, the handset appears to be dead when the lever is engaged.

[poplar1]

What about if you push the lever to get dial tone, and then remove the transmitter? Is it then no dial tone or  monitor?

[wds]

Ok, if I remove the handset from the cradle, then remove the transmitter the phone appears to go dead.  If I spin the dial, I hear clicks and a momentary dial tone.  Then, I called my phone, answered another phone, and I can hear conversation on the ae40 handset.  So by removing the transmitter I can eaves drop on the phone line.  So what does that mean in terms of the lever?

[AE_Collector]

Yes, I will add this one to the AE Survey.  ZN 4020   SS1. 

That is a different code. I have no codes on my list so far beginning with Z though the N4020 is very common on AE 40's. I haven't seen the SS1 so far either.

Terry

[poplar1]

Ok, if I remove the handset from the cradle, then remove the transmitter the phone appears to go dead.  If I spin the dial, I hear clicks and a momentary dial tone.  Then, I called my phone, answered another phone, and I can hear conversation on the ae40 handset.  So by removing the transmitter I can eaves drop on the phone line.  So what does that mean in terms of the lever?

This means that the secondary circuit is working, which you just tested. If you don't hear the same way with the transmitter in but the plungers only half way up, then there may be a wiring problem. This assumes that the lever is designed for the same function as the "lift plunger to dial or talk" on a WE 302AA or 302AC.

I have an AE 50 with a similar lever that I could check but don't know where it is right now. Does anyone else have an AE 40 or AE 50 with the lever?