AE 50 Restoration Help Needed: Dial Servicing, Noise, Correct Parts, Ringer Vent Screen

[AE_Collector]

Seeing the Z added to the other two letters is a new one for me. And it looks as though the Z was stamped on at the same time, not years later possibly at a refurbishment.

The brass fingerwheel looks to me as though it has been painted or plated. Might just be my iPad. Does it look like polished brass that then has so thing coated on it to keep from tarnishing?

Terry

[KaiserFrazer67]

Seeing the Z added to the other two letters is a new one for me. And it looks as though the Z was stamped on at the same time, not years later possibly at a refurbishment.

The brass fingerwheel looks to me as though it has been painted or plated. Might just be my iPad. Does it look like polished brass that then has something coated on it to keep it from tarnishing?

Terry

No idea what the black letters mean.  I'm sure "D-38309 B" is AE's part number for the transmitter.  My newer AE 80/90 ones are stamped "D 38379-A".  The ones in the two beige 80s are AE, the white 90 wall phone's is stamped with the GTE logo--if I remember right, Mom and Dad did wind up having the transmitter replaced at one point on the kitchen AE 90 due to some trouble or other.  Oddly enough, they will interchange with the one which came in the 50.

I took the time to take the 24A36 dial back out of the 50 and take it apart, including removing the porcelain number plate.  Here are the photos of it; they seemed to come out better without flash.  I scraped a couple small areas of the backside of the fingerwheel and the inside of the finger stop with an X-Acto knife; they did not appear to be plated, so I then polished a small area on the back of the fingerwheel with Brasso.  It brightened right up.  I then tried the Brasso on the front center of the fingerwheel (which would be covered by the dial card anyway); no change, so it must be clear-coated.  So it appears to me that either someone did indeed clean the paint off the fingerwheel and dial card ring, and took the chrome off the fingerwheel, polished them up, and clear-coated the fronts of the parts, or this was done to them before they were painted/chromed in the first place.  Not sure what to make of it all.  Not sure why Mark would describe them as he did, either...     In any event, I still got a very nice-looking, perfectly functioning 24A36 dial for less than $40 which can't be too bad.  Both he and Oldphoneworks sell the regular ones for around $50, so I think I still got a pretty good deal, comparatively speaking, anyway.

The other idea I have is to get a good deal on a junker AE 40 or 50 sometime with a fairly decent dial in it.  I have a 24A36 dial repair manual now (AE Bulletin 528), so getting a couple mediocre dials on which I can learn and practice repairs might be a good idea.

[unbeldi]

D-38309 is indeed the part order number for the transmitter. I am not sure I have seen the D-38309 B, with suffix B, but D-38309 A is the number listed in the (earlier) catalogs. It is common to find Type 81 transmitters in 41-type handsets after 1955, after the phones had been refurbished.  Later, I believe after the move to Northlake, all Type 41 handsets used Type 81 elements when new. The evidence for this is that the two-letter codes on the elements match those on the base, capacitor, and dial.

The brass of your finger wheel looks like it has oxidized just slightly before the clear coat (if so) was applied.  The sheen can change dramatically in just a few hours after polishing, as just the slightest of oxidation develops.

[poplar1]

This  finger wheel is probably the same unpainted type used on a customer-owned Deco-Tel phone with leased GTE parts.

[KaiserFrazer67]

This  finger wheel is probably the same unpainted type used on a customer-owned Deco-Tel phone with leased GTE parts.

Interesting... so he's passing off a bogus dial as original?    It's pretty obvious from the photo of the dial interior I posted that the finger stop had been swapped out at some point (from the chewed-up screw slots).

[poplar1]

Interesting... so he's passing off a bogus dial as original?    It's pretty obvious from the photo of the dial interior I posted that the finger stop had been swapped out at some point (from the chewed-up screw slots).

It appears to be an old dial with a newer finger wheel, in my opinion.

[rdelius]

If it replaced? why is it a bogus fingerwheel.The older fingerwheels had a flat front surface and a thicker rim.That stick has a fingerwheel that has a curved front and a shallower rim.The change most likely in the 1950s.Even later fingerwheels have pressed dimples to hold them on the shaft

[HarrySmith]

Other than the finish that looks like the same fingerwheel I have had on a few different AE phones.

[poplar1]

If it replaced? why is it a bogus fingerwheel.The older fingerwheels had a flat front surface and a thicker rim.That stick has a fingerwheel that has a curved front and a shallower rim.The change most likely in the 1950s.Even later fingerwheels have pressed dimples to hold them on the shaft

I withdraw the comments. Sorry for the wrong information. When were the triangular cutouts added?

[HarrySmith]

The cutouts are for the retainer, so I guess they6 would have come out when that style of fingerwheel did. I believe there were several different fingerwheels but I do not know the dates.

[AE_Collector]

D-38309 is indeed the part order number for the transmitter. I am not sure I have seen the D-38309 B, with suffix B, but D-38309 A is the number listed in the (earlier) catalogs.

I have records of a fair number of D-38309-B transmitters in phones. No idea what the difference is from the -A models.

It just looks to me as though the paint was either stripped off the FW and number card ring OR they were newer brass stock from the decorator phones. Someone clear coated them to keep them shiny. Looks quite nice. The fact that there is no black paint residue on the FW in the number card area or on the back of the number card ring makes it look more likely that they may never have been plated or painted. In any event, I don't see anything that I would classify as bogus.

The transmitter capsules remained physically and (likely apparently) electrically compatible between the type 41 handsets on the AE 40 series and the type 81 handsets used on the AE 80 series of phones. I say apparently because we don't know if there are any electrical differences between transmitters with the two (or 3 really including the -B model) different part numbers but as Unbeldi stated, the newer model was equipped in late AE 40 series phones.

The receivers in type 41 handsets were the same in the initial version of the type 81 handset as well but then a newer style receiver with screw terminals and without the exposed magnet on the back was designed which began to appear in type 810 handsets on the 80 series phones. Type 810 handsets look the same on the outside but are slightly different inside where the receiver goes in though I think the newer style receiver capsules can be put in the older type 81 handsets by removing the brass contacts and attaching the cords spade lugs to the screw terminals on the newer capsules.

Terry

[rdelius]

The pressed dimples were added when the main shaft center hub became round.The fingerwheel would fit all AE dials from type 24 up.However, the older fingerwheels will just spin on the round hubs.The change most likely  happened in the mid 1970s when the type 80E was introduced with cheaper simplified dial parts. The plastic fingerwheels on these sets had one hole to mount them and were made to fit all dials but the older plastic fingerwheels would not fit the newer dials.Metal fingerwheels with the dimples were used on decorative sets and 120 series rotary paystations.Has anybody asked Kotke/Kleenax wht he uses for the screens in his creations?

[poplar1]

Metal fingerwheels with the dimples were used on decorative sets and 120 series rotary paystations.

Do you agree, then, that the finger wheel Tom received on the 24A36 dial he purchased is much newer than the dial? That's what I was originally trying to say. I looked for a photo of a decorator phone with that finger wheel, but the Deco-Tel candlestick I chose does not have the dimpled finger wheel, correct?

[AE_Collector]

I asked Ray. He uses Mosquito Netting for AE Screen.

Terry

[rdelius]

Yes that fingerwheel is newer than the dial it was removed from.40s-50s dial and mid 70s-80s fingerwheel