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Help identify this intercom system?

Started by CMGeorge, December 04, 2015, 11:36:47 PM

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CMGeorge

I work for a university. In one of our buildings, built in 1963, we have a large auditorium. Within that auditorium, we have an intercom system that appears to be original to the building. We're hoping someone on this forum can help to identify the system, and possibly help us figure out a problem we're having with it.

The following are a few photos of one of the intercom stations:



The only identifying marks we've been able to find so far include "Kellogg IT&T" on the handset:


and it seems to use an LM Ericsson BMN-2011 "Battery Eliminator" for power:


Using the system to talk seems to work, but buzzing the stations doesn't. Also, many of the lights will need replacement.

Part of the problem is that the transformer in the BMN-2011 appears to have failed at some point, and was replaced with another transformer, one that may not be the correct one for the system.

What we'd love is if we could find a complete schematic for this system, but at this point, we'd take any information about this system we can find.

AE_Collector

#1
I dont think you will find anything about the system or manufacturer. It is a custom made system to meet the particular requirement. But, if the taliking part is working that is good, the rest is likely just buttons and buzzers to get the attention of someone at another station so they will pick up to talk.

I think you need to find someone with basic low voltage electrical skills. It will likely help to have them put together a schematic diagram of the system once they investigate it so that others in the future can more easily maintain it.

Others here will likely have more suggestions for you as well.

Where is the the system located (on the off chance that someone here is close to you and willing to help you out)?

Terry

CMGeorge

#2
As best as we can tell, the buzzers themselves probably work fine, but just simply aren't getting enough of (or the right kind of) power to actually buzz. We're fairly confident that if we could refurbish the Battery Eliminator properly, the system as a whole probably would work fine.

We have someone from our regular electrical contractor doing us a favor and looking at the system, but so far, nothing yet.

We're located in southeast Wisconsin. If someone is in the area, PM me for more details.

We found this forum when we stumbled across this Automatic Electric intercom system discussed earlier, and thought the buttons looked unusually similar to ours, so we were hoping that perhaps ours might have been some sort of descendant of that sort of system.

G-Man

This system is very basic and you should be able to find a comparable schematic in the TCI Library for manual Western Electric key system intercoms used in small offices. There are other diagrams from other manufacturers, for similar systems. The photos do not show enough detail but it appears that it has a few customized details such as jacks for headsets, and audible/light signaling.