WECO 304 with metal base dated 45-46

[Sargeguy]

I just acquired a 304 dated 1945-1946 from a local antique seller.  I won it off of eBay for $51.  Normally I wouldn't pay that much but I saved about $10 on S&H by picking it up, so I splurged.  The seller had it advertised as an "F1" dated 1939 so I was hoping for a 4H.  There are no 1939 dates anywhere to be found on the phone and it has a 5H dial.  It is a Frankenphone as well.  The handset and cord is from 1954 and the dial plate was replaced with a 164A dial plate dated 1959.   Oh well, that's what I get for buying a phone on April Fool's Day.  This makes up for the 1938 matching date 4H I picked up the same way for $24.99 this winter. 

In my limited experience, it seems that the 304's are a little odd.  They always have a wider range of dates than 302s and they feature odd parts.  This one is no different.  The dates on the base and ringer are 6-45 and the network is II-46 It has a metal housing, which should have gone extinct a couple years earliar, and wool-covered feet.  And talk about a transitional phone-one of the gongs is steel and one is brass.

A 304 is wired similar to a 354.  It has the 101B network and the B2A 4-wire ringer.  It is always a challenge to get these suckers to ring correctly.  I am not sure if they need more juice than a normal 302 or what.  It didn't help that the gongs had been spun so that they immobilized the clapper, and the spring on the ringer had been pushed all the way to the side.

[HobieSport]

Sarge, that does seem late for a metal case, but with Ma Bell, who knows.  What's the difference between a 304 and a 302?

[Sargeguy]

The 4 wire ringer and the 101B network.  The "L1" and "L2" are on the base where the "K" and "GND" terminals.  There is an "M" terminal on the network which isn't used and the hookswitch has two extra switches.  It was used for a different type of service than the standard service, and the wiring scheme enabled Ma Bell to bill you for each call.  Or something.

[Sargeguy]

From Paul Fassbender's site:

304: H3 Tip-party station of message rate, automatic ticketing, and automatic message accounting. 101B coil, B2A ringer

"

I think that is some sort of party-line service.

[Dennis Markham]

Nice looking phone.  That truly is a "mutt" with different gongs.  I thought the "A" series plates were "Rural" plates and the "B" series were "Metropolitan" plates with numbers and letters.  The rural plates have only large numbers.  But obviously I am mistaken if that one is an A series.

[AET]

I love these transition phones, they have so much charachter!

[bingster]

From Paul Fassbender's site:

304: H3 Tip-party station of message rate, automatic ticketing, and automatic message accounting. 101B coil, B2A ringer

I think that is some sort of party-line service.

Exactly.  Party line service, where tip party identification is used.

I thought the "A" series plates were "Rural" plates and the "B" series were "Metropolitan" plates with numbers and letters.  The rural plates have only large numbers.  But obviously I am mistaken if that one is an A series.

That's what's in my documentation, too...  A=rural plate, B=metropolitan plate, E=party line plate. :-

I love these transition phones, they have so much charachter!

Not really a transition phone, just a phone for a different purpose.  Depending on use, area, distance from the central office, etc., the phone company had a wide array of telephone models to choose from, each intended to satisfy very specific needs.  They all looked the same from the outside, though.

[Sargeguy]

I meant transition from war time to normal production. 

The 150A is a numeric dial, the 150B is alphanumeric.  The 164A is alphanumeric.  Could it be they phased out the "rural" dial before they came out with the #6 dial?  I can't remember seeing a numeric dial for a #6.  This phone probably had an alphanumeric dial plate originally.

This post has a list of the different types of dial plates that I know of:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=641.0