The latest fruit of my labour, a Heemaf type 1931

[Matilo Telephones]

There, finished it last night. A Heemaf type 1931.

It is a licence built Siemens & Halske W28. Almost an exact copy, of the non-Deutsche post version.

Built in Hengelo, Holland. For the Rijks Telefoondienst. Therefor there is a logo with the letters RT on the side.

Nice almost original on the outside. Inside the electrics were taken out, so I replaced that with the innards of a 1950's version. Also replace the caps on the handset with older ones. And of course the cord and plug are new. The handset cord is original.

Cleaned, polished, calibrated. Saved from certain destruction. Lovely innit!

[dsk]

Great job

Some questions:

1) What is the differenc from the German w28?

2) The dial laying on the wall telephone, is it an Ericsson dial or??

3) Could you please post a picture of the mechanism in the dial mentioned in 2)

Thank you.

dsk

[Matilo Telephones]

1) Almost nothing, but it depends what you mean by W28. It is almost identical to the non-Reichspost version, the one that looks like the w28 without the sound slots. I think that one was the fg tist 66. The difference between that one is only the shields on the sides. The rest is the same down to the last little screw. The dial was actually made by S&H.

2) Even better. it is an Ericsson dial lying on an Ericsson dial fixed to a metal wall Phone from the 20's.

3)

[dsk]

Thank you!

I have a German W28 and did not know about the differences at all.

About the dial:
Thank you, it looks equal to the dial in this post: http://tinyurl.com/pqmrjve
I am not able to adjust it properly. the first pulse are not right as you may see, the only reason for OK dialing is a tolerant exchange

dsk

[Matilo Telephones]

Great, do you have a picture of your w28?

You can adjust this dial, after cleaning and oiling the right parts, by winding or unwinding the spring.

Winding the spring is a bit of a tricky job. So be careful that you don't let it jump out of your hands. Try a half turn at a time and try if it works correctly.

As most dials dial to slow when they age, my guess is that it runs too slow.

Try comparing it with a good working dial. Turn them simultaniously. Preferably one of the same type. Then you'll know if the speed is off.

Of course it is a lot easier if you have a herz-meter. Then you can just take a measurement.

[TelePlay]

The following link is to one of the more interesting topics posted on the forum on how to check dial speed without the expensive equipment.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=8792.0

If you simply search for " audacity " from the upper right box on the home page of this forum, you will find many others who have pioneered the way and/or used audacity to determine the make and break speed of dials in about 10 different topics.

[dsk]

Yes, That is the way I got this:

The first pulse are still of a different length than the others, and I do not understand why.

dsk

[Matilo Telephones]

Audacity, that is so cool. I have that program on my netbook. I´ll look into that!

About these shorter pulses, perhaps the contacts are a bit sticky. Have you tried cleaning the contacts?

[Jack Ryan]

Your Heemaf 1935 has a dial like the S&H W28 including the letter assignments. Did the PTT use the same letter assignments as Germany?

My PTT version has a dial with a black finger wheel. There is no centre with letters and I don't know if there should be one. It looks like a S&H dial from the outside but I haven't checked inside.

Thanks
Jack

[Matilo Telephones]

Yes Jack, yours is probably a type 38. It probably has a black bakelite dial with octagonal bakelite bolt to hold it in place. That is the DFG dial, same as the German w48. Pic?

The PTT used the same lettering before WW2. After WW2 no letting was used. I think they stopped using it a while before the war.

The letter K remained in use for a long time in relation to long distance calls. K for 0. Note that Ericsson dials on Dutch phones had only the letter K with the 0 at the end of the 30ies and in the 40ties.

[Jack Ryan]

Thanks for that.

My phone is marked PTT but I can't really dis-assemble it to check the dial at the moment because, er, I'm at work... From the outside it looks the same as the dials on the W19 and W24. It doesn't look like a W48 dial.


The letters were dropped after WW2 in Germany as well.

By the way, was the dial-hookswitch interlock used in The Netherlands as it was in Germany?

Jack

[Matilo Telephones]

The dial on my phone is a N24 type. Yours is probably an N30 then. These do have a black fingerwheel out of pressed steel of bakelite. But it might not be original to your phone.

They look very similar and many parts are interchangable.

The dials on a W19 and W24 look the same, but the mechanism behind it is different. Also the fingerstop is different and in a different position.

The Heemaf 31 does indeed have the dial hookswitch interlock.

[unbeldi]

Very nice!
For history's sake, here is a picture of the Type 1931 mounted on a wall bracket with a writing desk on the side. It came from the Holec historical website.

How obtainable are these units today?

[Matilo Telephones]

The phones aren´t difficult to find. Although cords are often an issue, and the handset is often not Original or the caps have been replace with newer ones.

I usually try to buy them. I restore them and sell them on the internet. I also have a collection of different variants of the W28.

The mounting bracket is a whole different story. I´ve seen 2 or 3 offered on marktplaats, but sadly wasn´t able to get one. I do plan to have go again when I see one.