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WE 354 Oddness

Started by McHeath, September 06, 2008, 01:58:42 PM

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McHeath

I've got this 354 wall phone which has a couple of internal oddities I wonder if anyone can help me with.  First in the picture you will notice the wiring board mounted on top of the capacitor, I've never seen another 354 with one.  What's up with it?

Second is the odd device that is in the below the ringer, in the picture.  It's black and has two red wires going to it.  What is it?  Never seen one before and if I disconnect it, it seems to make no difference.

The phone works fine, though the ringer was disconnected when I started working with it.




Dennis Markham

#1
On the chassis of the phone, near the top, is there an "M" designation?  Like M3, M4, M5??  Also on the black thing down below, is that a glass tube (the photo is distorted a bit) or a metal device?  Are there any numbers on it at all?  My first thought on the smaller device is that it was intended for rural party line ringing.  Normally that was a glass tube and usually larger on the 300 series phones.  I do not know what the split network strip at the top of the phone is for.  You can read about the 300 series Western Electric phones at this site, produced and maintained by Paul Fassbender.  It is very informative. 

http://mysite.verizon.net/paul-f/we300typ.htm     --> (  dead link 7-14-17 )


It may answer your questions.  If not perhaps someone will chime in with the correct information.

McHeath

Up top on the chassis there is "M-7" and the date of 1-51.  "M-7" is also printed in red on the inside of the housing.  The black gizmo appears to be made of metal, small plates with some sort of wrapping, it's wired to the coil at "BK" and the lower circuit board at "R".  It has "RET 266A 6V 50" printed on it.

Sorry the picture is so blurry.

bingster

I don't have much in the way of Bell System Practices, but I do have one (C38.545, page 7) that shows a wall phone  with an identical configuration.  Same odd part by the ringer, same terminal strip over the condenser.  It's listed as a 357C, and is described thusly:  "The 357-type telephone set is used at local battery talking, common battery signaling stations."  So it seems the terminal strip would probably be where the local battery connections were made.  Interesting phone, and I don't think I've ever seen one.
= DARRIN =



McHeath

All very good info.  What does "local battery talking" mean?  Was there a battery that was kept in the subscribers home connected to the phone?  It seems that this 354 is really a 357 if I read the info correctly.

Dennis Markham

#5
Check out this link to Paul's site.  He shows the inside of the 302 version of your phone.

http://mysite.verizon.net/paul-f/we307.html
    --> (  dead link 7-14-17 )



bingster

#6
Quote from: McHeath on September 06, 2008, 04:31:49 PMWas there a battery that was kept in the subscribers home connected to the phone?
Exactly.  In many rural areas, the central office had trouble sending electricity to run the area's phones over the extremely long wires required to reach it's distant subscibers.  In such cases, each subscriber had a battery box near the phone that held dry cell batteries that powered the phone and sent the voice back through the wires. 

"Talking" refers to the subscriber's end of things, and "signaling" refers to the central office's end of the system.  "Common battery" refers to electricity generated by the phone company, "local battery" is electricity (batteries) at the subscriber's location.  So modern telephone service, for example, is "common battery talking - common battery signaling." 

Here's a picture of the battery box that would have been used, even though this particular one was used for a different purpose (speech amplification for the hard of hearing).



The photo comes from this site, where you can find all manner of really interesting telephones. -- ( dead link as of 7/13/17 )
= DARRIN =



McHeath

Gee this is all great info!  So my 357 was a party line phone located in a rural area.  Hmm, must have been someplace around here as the phone belonged to the couple who built this house, they married in 1920 and were well known farmers before building this house in 66' at what was then the edge of town.  However there is yet another oddity about the phone, the handset is a G3 dated 1970, so I assume that it was still being used to that date at least.  If only it could talk eh?

McHeath

By the way, is this phone worth anything more than a usual 354?  I realize it's got the wrong handset on it, but was wondering if the party line feature makes it that rare and unique piece that will pay for those pretty colored 302's on ebay.

bingster

Don't make those retirement plans just yet, McHeath. ;)

They're great phones, but they're not worth anything like the colored 302s.  Heck... even the ivory thermoplastic 354 isn't worth as much as the 302s.  Ivory's the least expensive of the lot, as it is.

I don't think the party line setup would make it worth more, since most people would immediately rewire it to match the standard 354 wiring scheme.  I don't know about the battery aspect, though.  I've never seen one like it, and it wouldn't surprise me if collectors would find it desirable.  But desirable enough to get a colored 302?  Maybe an ivory one, but certainly not a blue one. ;)
= DARRIN =