Talking to my brother who lives in Battleground, WA the other day, he told me of a friend of his who has an antique switchboard that came out of a hotel that's sitting in his barn collecting dead bugs and cobwebs. I don't know why I said I was interested, where am I going to put it? I told him to get some pictures. Not sure when he's going to do that, but now he's got me curious. Knowing my bro, it won't be any time soon, so I'll probably make a trip down there in the near future.
briny, it is not MADNESS :D you (we) are relentless in preserving HISTORY. :) ;)
i for one am very interested in pics of the the switchboard.
It is madness, it truly is. Think of it this way. You could always resell it on craigslist if you don't have time to fix it. That way you are preserving history, like Donna said.
Briny;
Whatever you do, don't let it pass. If you don't want it, or can't take it. One of us surely can.
D/P
Quote from: Dan/Panther on November 01, 2009, 02:18:03 PM
Briny;
Whatever you do, don't let it pass. If you don't want it, or can't take it. One of us surely can.
D/P
That's pretty much what I had in mind. Even if they said to haul it out of there, I would, and worry about getting it to a good home later. I hate to see vintage artifacts of any kind sitting around in barns where moth and rust doth corrupt.
I called bro the other day and he happened to be at his friend's place where the thing is at. Pictures are forthcoming w/in a few days. In the mean time, the description he gave me is that it isn't very big, about the size of an upright toolbox, a little over waist high and an arm length wide. He said it was "kinda cool looking" and still had a headset and a "rotary dial thing". He mentioned he saw the word "Bell" and "Western Electric" on it, although he didn't see a manufacture plate or date. Belonged to a retired phone man who passed away. It's been in a dry area for many years, although it is a barn and so no guarantee of rodent damage.
Friend doesn't have an asking price, but since it's burried amongst other stuff and would take a couple hours to dig out, friend wants a ball-park offer he can go by to see if it's worth his while to dig it out. That will depend on the quality of the pictures when I get them. I assured him that even if I didn't want it, I could definitely find a good home for it.
Greg:
The description is not a lot to go by. Generally, it sounds like a small 555 board if it was used in a hotel. A 555 is generally pretty useable provided all the relays in the back have not been gutted out and/or the cables have not been whacked off too short. One almost needs better information even to get to a ballpark figure. Sounds like it is pretty well buried though. Is is possible for it to be at least uncovered to the point of getting an idea as to what it is or its condition?
I have seen switchboards on e-Bay that only have the cords and the jacks and do not have the cord circuit boards or the relays. In that case, it is mostly just for show.
A link to one that it may be like is at the telephone museum on Prince Edwards Island and is in the 4th picture down with the three rotary phones sitting on top. That is a small 555 that would have been in a hotel or small business.
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Here are the pics, just two, but they're fairly good ones and I guess because it was tucked away these were the best angles. You can get a good idea of the size by the chair next to it. I looked up that zip code printed on the red label - 67066 is Luka, KS.
The physical dimensions are right, but aesthetically it's not something I'm particularly interested in. This belongs to someone who has the shop space, skills and desire to restore and display it. I'm still very interested in seeing that it gets to a good home and willing to act as a go-between.
I'd take it ;D Actually can't, live WAY to far away and shipping would be a fortune. I'll stick to my Monophones. You must make sure it goes to a good home though, you will NOT let it go to a landfill.
No danger of it going to a landfill, from what my brother said it'll just sit in the barn. But even then, I don't want to see it slowly waste away sitting in a barn either. One way or another, I'll get it out of there if I have to take it myself. But I have to get an idea of what somebody would offer for it, which means more info, such as a view of the backside to see if it's been gutted or not.
I emailed the owner back and gave him a low-down based on what Bill/Phonesrfun told me. I also asked him to try to get a shot of the backside if possible, but from what Bill said, they are heavy sob's!
Bill, I hope you don't mind my posting your 552 pics:
No Problem. :)
-Bill Geurts