Lancaster 2015 Phone Haul

[WesternElectricBen]

Hi all,

I thought I would share the phones that I purchased at the Lancaster telephone show. In total, there are about 11 phones, with a Kellogg master phone (not shown). Also, I purchased two subsets and two boxes of parts. In the box of parts there are AE/WE dials (mostly 60s) and 4 prong telephone jacks. The most interesting jack I found was a 4 prong used outside.

Other notes:
-The yellow set is soft plastic
-On the right side up a row (from the bottom) is a B1/102.
-The spacesaver has the hanging bracket.

Here is a video of the finds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVcFWBNHzVU

Ben

[WesternElectricBen]

I almost forgot to mention one of my Lancaster auction finds, a Kellogg Master phone. It was the runner up in the June FOTM. (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14454.0)

P.S. I intend to add pictures from the lot after they are restored here.

Ben

[WesternElectricBen]

Here is a Western Electric Interphone. This required only a quick wipe down and buffing of the bake light. The wood box was buffed a bit with wax, as well as protection. It came with a Trimm Professional mother in law style receiver which I am pretty sure is not original.

Ben

[Mr. Bones]

Quite the nice treasure trove of cool phones, Ben!

It looks like some high-quality restoration is already in progress, please keep us posted.

Best regards!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Very interesting phone!

Also very nice haul! I'm sorry I didn't reply to it back in June!

[WesternElectricBen]

Thank you, Terrence and Christian.

Currently, I'm restoring the yellow 500. I got lucky and it's a fully dates matching soft plastic set.

Ben

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Thank you, Terrence and Christian.

Currently, I'm restoring the yellow 500. I got lucky and it's a fully dates matching soft plastic set.

Ben

What year?

[WesternElectricBen]

Thank you, Terrence and Christian.

Currently, I'm restoring the yellow 500. I got lucky and it's a fully dates matching soft plastic set.

Ben

What year?

1959

[WesternElectricBen]

Here is a 1973 Northern Electric 633QB speakerphone. I would eventually like to hook it up to the phone next to it in the last picture, as it matches closely in date.

Before the restoration, it was very discolored and dirty. I first used goo-gone to clean off the body and they I progressively sanded and buffed it. It did not want to sand the badge to avoid loosing the detail. From that, you can sort of see the contrast in color. I then used denatured alcohol to soak the nearly black cord and then cleaned it off with a rag. Overall, it turned out very well.

Ben

[Doug Rose]

Outstanding work Ben. It is a beauty...Doug

[WesternElectricBen]

Next up is a 11-1959 500 with the soft plastic casings. It is dates matching, but what is more unique is how late it was in the production run.

The restoration was pretty uneventful, I sanded the plastics with 2000 and 2500 grit sandpaper and progressively buffed it with Novus. Although, I tried a couple more restoration methods on this project. The first difference is that I tried pouring boiling water over the cord, then immediately placing it in the deep freeze for 4 hours. It appears as if the cord is keeping the shape real well. I sanded the bells with 400 and 800 grit sandpaper, then buffed it at my buffer, and finally buffed it by hand with brasso. (The picture shows the contrast between a cleaned up and not cleaned up bell).

I made two video presentations;
        Before/After Dial Maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH7JzV58dBI
        Overview and Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kTFuy9Ix-Y

Ben

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Very, very nice yellow 500! That Pastel Yellow color is really becoming one of my favorite '50s colors!

Are you sure those plastics are Tenite? My Pink Mushroom is dated 5-59 and it's ABS, and the ABS switchover is usually thought to be around 6-59.

[WesternElectricBen]

John (Teleplay) helped me by creating a new thread for the switch over from Tenite to ABS, so we can continue our discussion their. Link: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14706.15

Ben

[WesternElectricBen]

Here is a 1957 North Electric model 540. It has been restored mechanically and physically, and the telephone now works great. [Pardon the glared pictures and the dusty phone ] To people who do not have one, it's very similar to a 500 set in design. In fact, this one has a WE network (which is the only part with a 1955 date). The dial contains many similarities to a Western styled dial, though the single gong ringer is one of the most evident differences.

To anybody interested, this was one of the phones I purchased from Rodger Conklin's estate sale at the show.

Link to the video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqSYkS2TxVo

Ben

[WesternElectricBen]

Here is a Kellogg Masterphone model 700 with a Kellogg box attached. I gave it a quick disassemble and polish, however in the future I would like to give it a better sanding to return a nicer sheen.

Link to presentation: https://youtu.be/Tl7Jzof-QXo

Ben