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GPO 150 Candlestick. Restoration restoration begins of a 'vintage table lamp'

Started by andy1702, April 10, 2018, 03:28:50 PM

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andy1702

I thought you might be interested in the vintage table lamp I bought off E-Bay the other day. £28 including postage, which was a bit of a gamble considering I didn't know if it still had it's innards. It turns out it does have most of it's internals because... (are you ready for this) ...the hook switch contact was being used as the light switch to control 240V! And that same 240V went up to the lamp using the original cotton braided telephone cord!!!!

Transmitter internals were missing (luckily I had a spare transmitter number 13 that fits) and the receiver diaphram is missing, along with all cords and some of the cord fixing screws. Appart from that it appears to be complete.

I have 3 questions....

1. When do these grey dial cards date from? I always thought they were a 60's thing brought in with the 706 etc. Was this phone still in use in the 60's I wonder?

2. Can anyone tell me what the finish on one of these tele 150s should be? I've always understood they should be completely black with no exposed brass. But was the brass painted or chemically blackened somehow? Also the main body is interesting because it seems to have a very hard wearing (seems to be perfect) black finish which is textured to the touch. Could this be original?

3. I don't have a bellset for it at the moment. I've heard something about they should never be wired without a bell set because when in use on a call they can get demagnetized somehow. Can anyone explain what happens there and is there a way around it? I'm no electronics expert but I remember reading this somewhere.

Obviously I'm planning to reverse the lamp conversion and return it to being a telephone. I'm planning to use it on C*net with an ATA that hopefully I'll be able to programme to dial a certain number whenever the phone goes off hook. I don't want to fit a dial because that would spoil the originality.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

twocvbloke

I think the grey dial cards came about in the 70s, or at least mid to late 60s (can't be 100% sure on that), before those they were the red & black ones, so for that telephone, the dial card is quite late if it was still in use at that time...

FABphones

I may have a link which shows the variation of dial cards. I'm on another device at the mo so will look when back on my other machine if you need more detail.

The phone may well have been in use in the 60's / 70's - mine was in full use up until the 90's.
Now, just occasionally.

Re the finish, yes, black. Your earpiece colour is wrong, they were often stripped to show the brass underneath but were never produced that way originally. Not painted, I can't remember the name of the coating, similar to Vulcanite - darn -  it will no doubt come to me when I've logged off...

The Bellset should be Bellset #1, but I have no fondness for wooden bellsets, Bakelite is my 'thing' so I chose Bellset #26. I did use it initially without a Bellset but the insides had been messed around with. When I took into a professional restorer to put the correct innards back inside they connected the bellset up too. I vaguely recall them telling me that it needed a Bellset once it was put right so it made sense to me to get them to do the whole thing.

I can take a photo of mine close up tomorrow if that helps.

The spellchecker on this device is driving me potty but hope this has helped somewhat.

A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

poplar1

What year was the Newmarket exchange cut from manual to dial? And is Newmarket the name of a village of just an arbitrary exchange name?

Or, since the card is marked "EXTN. 3", might this phone have been connected to an office PBX in a dial area, where the office receptionist dialed calls for the employees?
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

FABphones

Quote from: poplar1 on April 10, 2018, 06:14:16 PM
.....And is Newmarket the name of a village of just an arbitrary exchange name?

'Newmarket is a market town in the English county of Suffolk, approximately 65 miles north of London. It is generally considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred horse racing'.

Nice racecourse. Had some good times there.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

Quote from: FabPhones on April 10, 2018, 05:37:15 PM
...Re the finish, yes, black. Your earpiece colour is wrong, they were often stripped to show the brass underneath but were never produced that way originally. Not painted, I can't remember the name of the coating, similar to Vulcanite - darn -  it will no doubt come to me when I've logged off...

It's been bugging me all night - Ebonite, not Vulcanite (the horses still clearly on my mind last night):

http://www.britishtelephones.com/identify/candle1.htm

'The receiver cover was black (although the housing was made of brass) and had a finish of Ebonite applied to it (Ebonite is a hard substance made of rubber and fortified with sulphur).  It was also used for the earcaps and terminal blocks.  These receivers have gone brown over the years and in a lot of cases, the Ebonite has fallen off'.

and

'No record can be found of any GPO Candlestick having exposed brass parts or with transfers.  Everything was painted black with no transfers on the case.'

Mine still has it's Ebonite and is still dark. When it came to me it had been placed in a cupboard, unwanted and forgotten about. That helped. It wasn't exposed to any extreme of temperatures or sunlight. I've seen many with the brass polished up.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

andy1702

The ear cap on this one appears to be bakelite. It was broken, so I glued it back together. But before I did the glueing I noticed the textire inside the break which definitely had that rough look as broken bakelite does. I wonder if this 'ebonite' stuff is what the main body is covered with? It definitely has a texture to it. I have some old bus ticket machines from the 1950s that have some black crinkle effect paint on them. At first I wondered if this was the same, but on closer inspection it's not. It feels (and looks) like the texture of moderately smooth wet & dry paper.

Assuming I can't re-ebonite the receiver, I wonder if that spray on plasti-cote stuff would be the next best thing? Should it be shiny, matt or somewhere inbetween?
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

tubaman

Bellsets were mentioned earlier  - if you want Bakelite you need a #25 not a #26, as the 25 has both capacitor and transmission coil (no coil in a 26).
The wooden #1's (no t#1A) are easier to find than a #25 and would have been supplied originally.
:)

rdelius

I stripped lots of the rec shells and many if not most had a hard rubber coating .Used a propane torch on the shell to burn off the coating. This applies to the part you hold, not what touches your ear. You might be able to swap your brass one for one with the origional coating and make 2 people happy.Stripping the coating is a smelly,messy job

FABphones

Quote from: tubaman on April 11, 2018, 12:59:42 PM
Bellsets were mentioned earlier  - if you want Bakelite you need a #25 not a #26, as the 25 has both capacitor and transmission coil (no coil in a 26).
The wooden #1's (no t#1A) are easier to find than a #25 and would have been supplied originally.
:)
Interesting. I've just double checked mine. Marked up as a 26. If necessary, poss they adapted it, dunno, never looked inside.
It was all done by a reputable company back in the early 90's. Long time ago now, wish I could remember the company name. Loved their workshop, straight out of one of those old black and white photos.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

andy1702

I think I've seen references to a bellset 26 being suitable too. So not sure exactly what is right and whatbis wrong there. I guess a bit more research is called for.
.
The main queation though is what's this about continued use without a bellset causing damage to the phone? I've seen one or two passing mentions of it but nothimg that really goes into detail about it
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

HarrySmith

Without a subset or bellset, as you call them over there, DC voltage is passed through the handset, both receiver & transmitter. This will cause damage to the receiver. Also the subset does "boost" performance.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

tubaman

Details on all of the Bellsets can be found at http://www.britishtelephones.com/menubs.htm.
The main site http://www.britishtelephones.com is the best source of info on British phones that I know.
:)

Jack Ryan

This phone was originally a No 2 (manual) and was upgraded to a No 150 (auto). The transmitter has also been upgraded from a No 1 (solid back) to a No 22 (Bakelite capsule).

The brass parts (perch and hook) were originally black oxide (cupric oxide). Black oxide looks better but most people just paint them black.

The steel parts were black japanned. Auto paint is one substitute.

A bellset is needed and the Bellset No 1 is correct. A Bellset No 25 can be use as well but not a No 26 which has no induction coil.

The receiver was coated with Ebonite which is "hard rubber". It goes brown with age but can be buffed back to black. If the Ebonite has been stripped there is not much option but to paint the receiver. The paint needs to be hard - like auto enamel - or the hook will soon remove it.

Very old receiver caps were also Ebonite but most are Bakelite.

Jack

andy1702

Jack, you say a '150 auto'. Do I take this to mean you think it should have a dial fitted? As you can see in the photos, it doesn't have one and no visible sign it's been messed around and a dial removed. I am a bit confused by that 60s or 70s era dial label though. Were there really still some manual exchanges around when those labels were being fitted? Does anyone know when Newmarket went automatic? Perhaps being an extension the main phone had a dial and someone sat there doing the dialling for various office extensions?
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.