Hello and help with a WE202 for a complete newbie

[andre_janew]

I noticed that this subset uses a 425E network and a C4A ringer.  Is this typical for the type of subset mentioned?

[poplar1]

I believe the 425E network has a screw terminal for "C." If the wire is soldered, it's a 425B. Either of these may be present, along with the C4A ringer, in a 685A subset.

[oyang]

Thanks!  I'm very prone to collecting addiction, especially when it has an element of tinkering. I will have to be careful, as I plan to be "finished" with my phone collecting when I have restored a rotary candlestick.  We shall see....

[HarrySmith]

Welcome. As far as being "finished" with your collection, it will never happen. Phoneitis is a progressive, incurable disease. There will always be another model or another color or maybe a special tool for that phone or a sign or a booth, it never ends!

[oyang]

Ha ha!  You may be right.  I have the "collecting gene."  I have over 300 vintage fountain pens (1890-1920 being my collecting focus).  I have 12 phonographs, which I stopped collecting only because my home and office are full. The combination of utility, tinkering (restoring pens with new ink bladders etc, replacing springs in phonographs), sculptural/design beauty.... make items like phones irresistible.  It's interesting to me that pens, phonographs, and phones (as well as automobiles, which I'd collect if I had money/space/time) all parallel each other in history. They were all three innovated in the USA around the same time, with the USA being the dominant producer, with a diversity of designs evolving in the early 1900s.

My collecting plan is to restore a candlestick rotary (I just posted asking for help with it), and a Gray paystation. I'm on faculty at a university, so I plan on putting the paystation in my office and having people deposit a nickel for every question they ask me!

Otto

[unbeldi]

They were all three innovated in the USA around the same time,

... as long as you don't mean invented.   

[jsowers]

Otto, I have a Parker just like the one in the front of your 202. My mom, a veteran auction-goer who passed the collecting gene to me, got it in a lot of old pens many years ago and I admired its design then and now. The concentric rings with mother of pearl, or whatever it is in between, is fascinating to look at. Mine is a little yellower or browner looking, as I recall, but I haven't seen it in a long time, so I'd better look around for it. If I find it, I may be back in touch with a PM to get some restoration supply advice.

Many of us collect more than just phones. Old radios are another rewarding thing to collect. I would love to collect old cars too, but space and cost are prohibitive. I liked the cars of the 1950s when they were still a common sight in my childhood and have ever since.

Welcome to the Forum, where you will find many with the "collecting gene."

[oyang]

I don't know phones, but I DO know pens, so anyone around here who wants advice on value and restoration, feel free to ping me.  I've been collecting about 25 years, and unfortunately the pen collector crowd is not nearly as nice as the phone crowd.  There are many great people in the hobby, but also a lot of sharks since pens can be big money.... the rarest vintage pens can go tens of thousands of dollars.

The pen you have, if it is like the one in my picture, is a Parker Vacuumatic from the late 1930s. The plastic is layered celluloid, and the pen was lathed from a block. If it is the standard size, I have the right tools to restore it. Filling is via a compressible diaphragm, pushed by a plunger that is exposed when you remove a blind cap at the end of the barrel. That bladder hardens over time and will need replacing if it is old, but the good news is that usually that is all that is needed to put the pen back in fully working order.  Like phones, old fountain pens are wonderfully complex simple items, that don't need repair after being fixed.

As far as "innovated" versus "invented," I think the latter term would apply to fountain pens (people tried unsuccessfully for centuries to make fountain pens, i.e. pens holding their own ink supply, but were unable to get around the problem of controlling ink flow out a closed reservoir until a patent by Lewis Waterman in New York circa 1880) and phonographs (Edison and Berliner).

Thanks for the warm welcome, and I hope I can contribute something other than requests for help to these boards.

Otto

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Nice D1!

Phones are a convenient exception when it comes to collecting appliances and electronics. They're easy to find, the desk sets have a small surface area (perfect for display; make room for more of 'em) and, if you know what you have, can make a great profit from valuable phones found for dirt cheap!