Western Electric 307

[wds]

I've just become the proud owner of a WE 307 party line phone.  I thought I was buying a 302, but as usual, the intentionally bad photo's on Ebay disguised the odd components.  Mine does not have the lift plunger, but otherwise is a perfect 307, with matching dates of 3/47.  The body is stamped H7, and also has a stamp of 313.  My question is whether or not this phone can be used as a regular phone, or be converted to a subset?  I haven't found any discussions on this forum for the 307, so I'm guessing there aren't many of these phones around.  Can anyone help?  Do I have a real find, or just a lemon.

[Dan/Panther]

As of January 1 2010, it is federal law, you must post photos of every new phone you buy.
D/P

[HobieSport]

As of January 1 2010, it is federal law, you must post photos of every new phone you buy.
D/P

...Or the Phone Police will come a knockin' on your door, and all phones will be confiscated as evidence that you are not fit to keep so many phones...

[Phonesrfun]

The 307 was a local battery talking and common battery dialing and signaling phone.  It would take a bit of surgery to get it to be a 302 or even as a subset, so it is probably best left as it is.

Quite often the sellers on e-Bay will only know it as a 302 by its looks, and have no idea as to its functionality.

I may be wriong, but you could try hooking a battery supply up to the battery leads and see if it will work on the regular phone line.  I have not tried to study the circuit out, but just maybe it would work.  It might be worth the investment in a plastic battery holder from Radio Shack that will hold 2 "D" sized batteries and a couple of batteries just to try it out.  Here is a link to the schematic:

http://telephonecollectors.org/library/weco/307abcd.pdf

The battery connects to the black and blue line cord wires, and the phone line to red and green.  Polarity of the battery will not be important, and the 3 volts from two 1-1/2 volt batteries should be plenty for powering it up.

If you do this, let us know how it works out.

-Bill Geurts

[wds]

You mean I have to attach a battery to make this thing work?  Well, if nothing else, I got some great cloth cords I can use on another phone.  Here's the picture - was this new picture posting requirement a part of Obama's bail out package?

[McHeath]

The guts of your 307 look just like my 357, the wall version of the same thing.  With some tinkering around I was able to get it to work just fine, but none of the standard wiring diagrams I could find were helpful.  So I did my infamous touch this wire to that and see what happens method. 

I'll post some pics of the wiring I came up with later today. 

[wds]

There are 5 lines coming into the phone - Red - L1, Green - L2, Yellow - gnd, Blue and Black (battery).  I was able to get the phone to ring, and got the receiver to work by attaching the Blue line to L1.  I haven't figured out what to do with Black, and still can't talk yet.    Those pictures of your rewired 307 will help.   This phone is in the best shape of any of the 302's I've had so far, and I would sure like to get it to work properly.  The handset and base look almost unused - must have been stored away safely for a long time.  The brown cloth cords look like new. 

[McHeath]

Here is the picture of the latest configuration of my 357.  Now, a couple of things are missing that you have as I had to remove them in order to replace the ringer with a smaller unit from an early 2554.  That black gizmo is gone, as well as the original ringer, but the way it's wired in this picture is the same as it was when I first got it working so nothing changed.

Trace the wires coming in from the gray flat modern line cord, the red and green, and you can see where I finally found dial tone.  The handset cord is a 4 line job, black/red/white/white, and you can trace where they ended up as well to see how I got the G series handset to work on it.

It's messy, and I don't have a program to add nifty little colored arrows, but the phones works just fine wired this way.

[wds]

Your picture was a lot of help - thanks.  Your hand set was a 4 wire, mine is a 3 wire.  Yours, I guess is an E version, mine is an A version.  I ended up disregarding the incoming Blue, Black and Yellow wire, only connecting the Red (L1) and Green (L2).  I then moved the Black handset wire from the BK terminal screw, and placed it on the Coil C terminal, which is what you have done.  The phone now works perfectly.  I still wonder what the two Battery wires were used for, and whether not using those circuits will affect the performance any.  Now it's time to get to work on my Kellogg F257B subset and get it ready for a Kellogg candlestick phone that I'm hoping to acquire soon. 

[McHeath]

Gee that's great that picture was helpful to you!  That 357 was hanging in my garage for years before one day in June 2008 I pulled it down and took it inside to inspect it.  I literally had no idea what it was or who made it or when, I was that green to old phones.  On the web I eventually learned it was a Western Electric 354, but the internal wiring did not match anything I was finding.  So I just started touching wires around to see what happened, and after quite a while it worked.  Later, on this forum, I learned that it was a 357 with all the various specialities that entailed, and it's been a favorite phone since then, it even did wall duty in the kitchen for a solid year before it got rotated out.

[Babybearjs]

I have several 307's and was able to convert them all to CB the Jumper on the C terminal needs to go to C and to BL on the 104 inductor coil, the black reciever wire goes to the BK terminal on the dial or blank the Blue wire on the line cord doesn't do anything, so put it on the E terminal on the small terminal strip and the black line cord wire just stays were it is.. all other connections should be the same... your phone should work now... I had to compare the wiring schematics from both the 302 and the 307 to see the difference. it took me a while, but I did get my 307's to all work!

[GG]

Dave, I'd say it's worthwhile to keep it intact and un-modified, save whatever rearranging of wires on terminals will make it function for common battery transmission (since those mods can be undone later). 

One thing, you've got what appears to be some spots of lighter-colored mold or something growing inside the housing.  Do Not put that housing in a dishwasher, the sanitize cycle will cause it to warp, which as far as I know can't be reversed.  (I did that to a soft plastic 500 housing, and was "highly displeased" with myself for it.)   

Someone posted some special instructions on vanquishing mold from soft plastic housings.  I don't recall the instructions but it's worth looking them up and proceeding very carefully. 

[wds]

I'm surprised to hear that people are putting their phones in the dishwasher - I put one 302 housing in the DW because of those postings, and it ruined the housing.  Never again.  Unfortunately, at the time of the original posting, I didn't appreciate the significance of the 307, so I sold it.  I kick myself everytime of think of that phone - wish I had kept it. 

[Dennis Markham]

I've had good luck in "killing" mold by soaking the plastic in a mixture of bleach and water.  I don't do any exact measuring...maybe a cup or two of bleach in a sink full of water.  Let it soak for an hour or so.  Generally I clean the plastic first and remove it with polish and then soak the plastic to keep the mold from reforming.  I guess only time will tell if the long term effects are satisfactory.

[DavePEI]

I've had good luck in "killing" mold by soaking the plastic in a mixture of bleach and water.  I don't do any exact measuring...maybe a cup or two of bleach in a sink full of water.  Let it soak for an hour or so.  Generally I clean the plastic first and remove it with polish and then soak the plastic to keep the mold from reforming.  I guess only time will tell if the long term effects are satisfactory.

Some years ago, I got a large quantity of phones from New Brunswick. They were all badly mildewed and filthy. As I unloaded them from the truck, I pressure-washed them. Sounds terrible, but no bad consequences came from it, and the mold came off the bodies and off the cords well. After thorough drying, all worked.

Might have been an idea to use a mildecide or bleach in the soap solution, but again, it did the job. I would be very cautious about washing soft plastic phones in this manner but no ill results from using it on the phones I tried. The cold wash means no warping.

It isn't the method of cleaning of my choice, but this was a situation where all needed clean-up fast. Most of these phones are in the museum now.