Mounting Suggestions?

[innoutbrgr44]

Hello all,
I recently purchased this Western Electric wall-mounted scissor rotary phone.  I'm having trouble mounting the scissor part to the wall.  The two brackets at the end are so close to the metal bar they're attached to, that I can't get the screws into them.  The metal bar blocks the front of the screw holes.  This bar also blocks a screwdriver from accessing the holes as well. The brackets don't seem to come off the bar either (I was thinking I could mount the brackets first.)

Any suggestions?

[Russ Kirk]

I'm not sure what the proper way is,  but have you tried flipping the two brackets upside down? So they extend tot he top and bottome so you can install the screws?

Another possibility is to mount the scissor to a nice piece of oak first, having nuts on the back side,  then mount the oak to the wall.

Oh,  by the way,  welcome to the forum. What other phones do you have?

[innoutbrgr44]

Thanks for the welcome!  This is the only phone I have so far, but who knows someday!

I have thought about flipping the two brackets as you suggested, but like I mentioned, I can't figure out how to get the brackets off of the bar in any way.

I think your suggestion of mounting to a nice piece of oak is actually best.  (Would look great next to a the oak rotary unit anyway.)  The sliver bar that the brackets are on prevents any screws from entering the holes from the bar side of the brackets, but perhaps I could put a nut in the hole on the bar side, and then screw in a bolt through a piece of wood from the other side.  Sound good?

[HarrySmith]

Welcome!
I believe the pin is supposed to come out of the two brackets for mounting. Looks to be some corrosion on the lower one, try soaking with some penetrating oil. Also looks like the reciever has been modified, it has a newer style element in it. Nice phone! I have been hoping to get one of those! Do you have a subset to use with it?

[innoutbrgr44]

Welcome!
I believe the pin is supposed to come out of the two brackets for mounting. Looks to be some corrosion on the lower one, try soaking with some penetrating oil. Also looks like the reciever has been modified, it has a newer style element in it. Nice phone! I have been hoping to get one of those! Do you have a subset to use with it?

I was thinking that the brackets must come off somehow, I'll try the oil, thanks!
When you say the receiver has been modified, do you mean newer components that you can see in the pic?  The person I bought it from told me it's a working phone, so perhaps that's why.  I plan on hooking it up and using it to the rotary unit it came with 

[Phonesrfun]

The older original receiver had an electromagnet in the cup part with a black steel flat diaphragm which vibrated to produce the sound.  Your receiver shell has a modern receiver element that you can see through the hole in the center of the receiver cap.  The new receiver element is nice as far as having the phone work is concerned.  The transmitter might be also modified from the original transmitter guts.  Usually you can see if that is the case when removing the funnel shaped mouthpiece and seeing what is behind it.

Replacement elements are better when an old phone like a candlestic is intended to be used all the time, because the sound quality from the older parts is not as good as the more modern versions.  As far as authenticity, you can be the judge of that.  At least for receiver and transmitter elements, the fact that a phone has replacements is normally not readily evident.

What kind of subset are you going to be using with it?

[innoutbrgr44]

Thanks for the info on the original receiver, Bill!  Except for some possible modern components to ensure functionality, the seller told me all the internal parts are original.  Even if there are replacement parts, functionality is my main concern. The Candlestick has a patent date of 1909, and the rotary unit another year near to that (don't have it in front of me right now).

Here's the subset unit.  Cool, huh?  Can't wait to hook it up and use it.  I'm turning my living room into a parlor. 

[rdelius]

Recognise the telephone from Chicago Old Telephone.That rear post should slide off of the mount. There might be set screw holding it in place.Your subset was SC with a dial from Norway.Set was reworked about 20 years ago at least.

[innoutbrgr44]

Recognise the telephone from Chicago Old Telephone.That rear post should slide off of the mount. There might be set screw holding it in place.Your subset was SC with a dial from Norway.Set was reworked about 20 years ago at least.

Thanks for the info...I'm kind of new to this...what's SC?
I ended up getting the bar off, no set screw!  Can't wait to get it set up and working

[poplar1]

SC=Stromberg-Carlson

[Nick in Manitou]

Fun phone for a parlor.