eBay item number:111661506292
UNKNOWN western electric BELL System Telephone # F-52937 WALL Phone NO DIAL 1958
The seller also has a Schmoo phone listed!
I don't know how to show pic's of the listing
Zapper
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EDIT: upgraded topic title
I saw that listing. paul-f's site has it as a "1960: F53397 5/60 - "Compact Wall" or "Slimphone"
http://www.paul-f.com/weproto.html
Scroll down about 1/4 of the page.
eBay listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111661506292
I'm not sure if it is the same thing. I assume there are no workings inside it, unlike the one on Paul's sight which does. I say this because the technology of the time wouldn't seem to allow at least a network (or possibly a ringer) to be placed inside.
Ben
Well, two big hitters are bidding on it so it is now an Auction Contest.
This one seems to pre-date the one on paul-f's site.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14304.new#new
I like it, reminds me somewhat of the GPO 713 "Pendant" phone:
http://britishtelephones.com/t713.htm
Presumably, like the 713, this one requires a separate subset & dial to work as a full telephone, rather than just as an extension with no ringer... :)
There is a more detailed presentation of the phone at paul-f's site at this link.
http://www.paul-f.com/wecw.html
These are not the same phone, but similar. The one for sale now pre-dates the one on paul-f's site, it's a design in a series of at least one "prototypes" leading up to the one we see on Paul's site.
The one for sale does not have a dial and has a 554 type hookswitch. Seller did not say anything about the insides so who knows what lurks under the plastic. Might be some member has personal knowledge of this phone.
As noted above, the ebay set is not a Slimphone -- but is most likely a working manual phone. Try looking here:
http://www.paul-f.com/wef.html#Manual_Wall_Set (http://www.paul-f.com/wef.html#Manual_Wall_Set)
The set would be much more impressive if it had the dial-in-handset, rather than a standard G3.
From similar phones found, I suspect many were in the field with dials, but had the handsets replaced after they were returned and were used for displays.
Clever design that, everything bar the ringer in one slim package, neat... :)
Quote from: twocvbloke on May 04, 2015, 08:57:08 PM
Clever design that, everything bar the ringer in one slim package, neat... :)
They may have been experimenting with a tone ringer, using the receiver in the handset as the sound source, as was done with the bedroom set at about the same time.
http://www.paul-f.com/webr.html#Internals (http://www.paul-f.com/webr.html#Internals)
Sounds similar to how the GPO developed the tone ringer for the Trimphone, only they used a receiver element in the base rather than use the one in the handset, but the electronics they used were far more cumbersome in the prototypes... ;D
Quote from: paul-f on May 04, 2015, 05:18:57 PM
The set would be much more impressive if it had the dial-in-handset, rather than a standard G3.
From similar phones found, I suspect many were in the field with dials, but had the handsets replaced after they were returned and were used for displays.
Paul, could this item from the same seller be the original handset to this phone? I don't remember ever seeing one with a colored plastic fingerwheel before. It seems to be light beige like the wall phone. I hope whoever gets one gets the other. They both have plenty of bids.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121642552367 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/121642552367)