CL finds

[JorgeAmely]

Bingster:

You are not the only one. I am just waiting for that person to raise his hand.

[Dennis Markham]

Jorge, you making me laugh!  It's me.  My hand is high in the air.  I was working on the line and needed a third hand.  I stuck the wire between my lips for a minute...it may have even been a modular plug from a line cord.  I was connecting an extension.  An in-coming call and I got a little poke on the lips.  It scared me more than anything.  A little bit more of a shot than when one sticks a 9 volt battery on the tongue.

Thanks Jorge.  I had forgotten about that.

Dan, did you pay the Craigslist guy via PayPal or did you send him a money order?  Where in Michigan does he live?  I'll get my posse together!

[Greg G.]

Briney:

When we get to Bellevue on the 27th, I can give you a lot of "how-to's"

I could give you a big long list of things to do to test the phone, but I don't think I can say it any better than Dennis already has.

I'll tell you what.  I will bring a tester to Bellevue so that we can hook it up and get it working for sure.  Just remember to bring the phone in question.

-Bill

Just got the WE '56 hooked up, it works!  That, so far, is the purtiest sounding ring of all my phones!  My "testing" equipment consists of hooking it up to a jack, then using my cell phone to call it.

[Greg G.]

Brinebay, beautiful finds. If you like those boxes to hook the wires to, there's a guy on ebay that seels them in bulk real cheaply. I got all my phones on those boxes (biscuit jacks, as some guys--specifically, a british guy I know-call them). They help to switch out your phones easier.

Not really a question of "like", that's just the only way I knew how to convert the hard-wire to modular.  I'm not a technician and know zilch about electronics, this whole thing is just an off-shoot of my interest in antiques.  But yes, I'm tired of paying through the nose $5 a pop from Radio Shack, who's the guy on ebay?

I am waiting for a 10 button pink touchtone WE 1500 from Craigs list. I emailed him several times. Finally, about a month after his listing was over, he wrote back and said he still had the phone for sale.
I told him about how to ship it sent him the $30 plus shipping with USPS. He emailed me back and said he got payment and would ship the phone the next morning.

I was going to give it to my wife because she uses a pink princess rotary , but really wants a touchtone.

Eleven days later, NO PHONE. I emailed him after seven days and asked him if it was on the way and had no response. I called him (he sent me his phone #) and left a voice mail.
Looks like I got taken. Each day I ask my wife if anything came in the mail. It is getting depressing.

Anyone ever get ripped off like it's appears is happening to me?

Since I have his # and address, is there anything I can do? He lives on Michigan, I'm around Cincinnati.

If you still have the MO receipt, check to see if it's been cashed.  If not, stop payment on it.  Otherwise, it's about what, a 4  or 5 hour drive for you to kick his ass?  There's always small claims, but probably not worth the hassle, especially since it's in another state. 

I guess I feel lucky, I often find phones in the Portland, OR area, about 3-4 hour drive, but I have relatives in Vancouver, WA, which is just across the river from Portland, so I can combine the trip with a visit and use their place as a base of operations.

[Greg G.]

The Kellogg wiring must be different.  I hooked it up to a jack the same way as the WE, (red to red, green and yellow to green) but it won't ring.  Here's the way it came, do I need to re-rig these extra jumper wires somehow?

Also looks like the housing was factory refurbished, original color appears to be green:

[bingster]

If the phone won't ring, try connecting both the yellow and green conductors from the mounting cord under the green screw on the connector block.  Connecting yellow to yellow doesn't do anything, since the yellow conductor of house wiring generally doesn't do anything anymore.

[Dennis Markham]

It looks like the Kellogg has a frequency ringer.  I don't think it's going to ring.

[Dan]

Jorge, you making me laugh!  It's me.  My hand is high in the air.  I was working on the line and needed a third hand.  I stuck the wire between my lips for a minute...it may have even been a modular plug from a line cord.  I was connecting an extension.  An in-coming call and I got a little poke on the lips.  It scared me more than anything.  A little bit more of a shot than when one sticks a 9 volt battery on the tongue.

Thanks Jorge.  I had forgotten about that.

Dan, did you pay the Craigslist guy via PayPal or did you send him a money order?  Where in Michigan does he live?  I'll get my posse together!

Dennis,he is in Carleton ,Michigan, 48117, 10 miles north of Monroe.

I paid with a Money order. I will check the stub to see if it is cashed. I'd bet the farm it is.

[Greg G.]

It looks like the Kellogg has a frequency ringer.  I don't think it's going to ring.

A frequency ringer is...?  Old party line ring? 

[Greg G.]

If the phone won't ring, try connecting both the yellow and green conductors from the mounting cord under the green screw on the connector block.  Connecting yellow to yellow doesn't do anything, since the yellow conductor of house wiring generally doesn't do anything anymore.

That's what I did.  The picture is how it came, not how I rigged it.  I set aside the extra jumper wires and connected red from the line cord to red on a new jack, and the yellow and green to the green on the jack.

[Dan]

This isn't a scientific explanation of a frequency ringer, but basically the huge "striker" think that moves back and forth to strike the bells will never work to ring them unless the rod is smaller. No one on this forum has been able to get them to ring without a littler rod.

In this case, size does matter

I had a frequency ringer on a phone wired correctly, and all it did was slightly vibrate back and forth without enough strength to hit the bells.

[bingster]

If the phone won't ring, try connecting both the yellow and green conductors from the mounting cord under the green screw on the connector block.  Connecting yellow to yellow doesn't do anything, since the yellow conductor of house wiring generally doesn't do anything anymore.

That's what I did.  The picture is how it came, not how I rigged it.  I set aside the extra jumper wires and connected red from the line cord to red on a new jack, and the yellow and green to the green on the jack.

Dennis is right.  I wrote my response without having noticed the frequency ringer.  You're right in that they were used for party line ringing, but they won't ring on a standard line.  At best they'll just vibrate a bit as Dan said.  Connecting the green and yellow from the mounting cord under the green terminal of the block is the way to get a standard phone to ring, but it won't work for a phone with a non-standard ringer.  The only way around this particular problem is to hunt down a standard "straight line" ringer to use as a replacement.

That's assuming, of course, that you want to put this phone in service.  If it's just for the collection, and you're not going to use it, then it's fine as it is.

[Greg G.]

That's assuming, of course, that you want to put this phone in service.  If it's just for the collection, and you're not going to use it, then it's fine as it is.

Not really.  I was actually only interested in the WE 56, but the gal selling them was young and pretty so I took them both.  I'll probably bring it and a few others to the show this month to sell or trade. 

[Greg G.]

The W.E. base obviously appears to be from 2-56.  The plastic housing was replaced at some time later.  You can tell by the clear switch hook buttons (plungers).  The handset appears to be a G1, perhaps the same date as the bottom of the phone but the caps are replacement plastic caps with 7 holes in the ear piece and no "missing" center hole in the transmitter cap.  There is probably a date molded into the plastic.  On the housing if you remove it and look inside, in a small circle you will see a date...there will probably be a letter with a line under it then a two-digit year.  Like C over 68 or whatever the date it was made.  Also under the hood since the dial appears to be an original 7 series dial (wide opening for the finger stop with a support underneath), the ringer bells probably match the bottom date and also the network will have a similar date.

Hope that info helps. 

The housing is from 67.  So if I want to make the WE more "period correct", I should find some older caps and a housing?  Are they difficult to find? 

[Dennis Markham]

The case and caps alone may be difficult to find.  Finding a soft plastic phone that is complete isn't really that difficult. You can find them on eBay or I've found them at flea markets, antique sales, etc.  You just have to ask the questions before you push the button (when buying on eBay).  As the seller to remove the cover and look for the date along the inside front edge.  If it matches the bottom the rest of the phone is probably original.  As to remove caps...are there 6 or 7 holes?  The earlier caps had 6 holes but still doesn't mean they're all going to match the rest of the dated parts.

The phone you have with the '56 bottom is still a nice phone.  The leather feet are great.  You'll eventually find one that's all original, or close to it.