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1920 Spanish rotary telephone (Standard Eléctrica)

Started by Spanish_phones, March 12, 2014, 07:14:59 PM

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Spanish_phones

Hi everybody!!!!

I bought a few months ago the oldest telephone of my collection!

It was in a good condition, but it had been disassembled for more than 30 years!

I started just cleaning and testing the circuit, and it worked! So then I started to restore all the parts and make the parts missing with steel sheets

Here are a few photos of the telephone, I haven't finished yet, but I'm close to it!

I hope you enjoy it ;)


Here is a link of how the telephone looks like finished:

http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/es/arte_cultura/patrimonio_ht/detalle/786
http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/es/arte_cultura/patrimonio_ht/detalle/98
http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/es/arte_cultura/patrimonio_ht/detalle/138


Spanish_phones

#1
Starting cleaning and identifiying the components:

Matilo Telephones

Great project. Very interesting phone. I have some of its cousins. 2 from Belgium and 1 from Norway. With these 3 I hope to make 2 whole and functioning ones.

I'll have a look around where my pics are.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

Spanish_phones

#3
Quote from: Matilo Telephones on March 12, 2014, 07:20:04 PM
Great project. Very interesting phone. I have some of its cousins. 2 from Belgium and 1 from Norway. With these 3 I hope to make 2 whole and functioning ones.

I'll have a look around where my pics are.


Yes please! I 'd like to see those phones! You could post some pics here to compare them ;)


Matilo Telephones

Here they are. From left to right, Bell Antwerp built, partially complete. Handset and bells missing. Middle Norwegian version. Unknown where it was made. Norwegian coat of Arms on it, nice! Cradle and handset damaged. Cradle is often damaged on these phones.

Right CB multi line version for inside and outside line. Please note the little sign over the buttons. The inside line is represented with a running waiter and the outside line with overhead telephone poles and wires.

The photos of the insides run from left to right.

As you can see 2 of my cradles are bent. So I´ll have to try and reshape them. Hope they won´t break. 2 chances.  ;)

I do have one more receiver for these.

Typical for these phones are the screws and bolts which have a round head instead of a flat head. And there are often a lot missing or loose.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

Spanish_phones

#5
WOW Matilo! Those are exactly the same model as mine! Just made by other manufacturers in Europe

Did you know that this model was made also in US? I'll paste it here when I find it.

Can I ask you to make something? Could you take pics of the wiring diagrams of those phone? Mine doesn't have it :(

And another thing, does anybody know where to buy cheap cotton line and handset cords?

:)

Matilo Telephones

Nice pile of scrap metal, eh? It's going to be quite a job to make 2 working phones out of that. Nevertheless something I'm looking forward to.

Didn't know they were made in the US. I have been researching this phone on the internet, but hadn't found a US version.

By the way, I have 2 different wall versions too of this phone.

I know that, as an Standard Electric design, it was made all over the world by SE subsiduaries, sometimes with different handsets. I've seen eastern european cousins.

Often SE had designs that were only produces outside the US. Like the Antwerp phone.

I'll try to take pics of the diagrams this weekend.

I buy most of my cord from Old Phone Works in Canada.

But since you are in Europe, you may want to try this one:

http://www.textilkabel.de/

It is very good, high quality cord. Nice and soft. In all kinds of colors. It has a better feel than OPW cord. Also it is filled with thread, so the cable is more round. That also makes it a little thicker than OPW cord. But it is more souple, however.

But they are made for use on the mains, not for telephones. So the individual wires are brown, blue, yellow-green and vinyl covered. 3 wires is the maximum.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

dsk

Really great job done here.

About the Norwegian one, it are cataloged as Standard Electric, and my guess are Antwerp.
It was at least 2 different versions of that, sidetone (2 windings coil) and anti sidetone with 3 windings. both had 4 terminals on the coil.

dsk

Matilo Telephones

I'll check were my Norwegian phone was made.

About that coil, see the 2nd pic of the insides. That is the Norwegian one. The coil is replaced with a more modern one, I think. And (at least) one wire is loose.

Talking about these really gets me in the mood to start on them. But I have a couple of things I have to do first on other projects.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

Spanish_phones

Here you are a few photos of the same telephone made in US, by Western Electric ;)

I don't know if the diagrams are exactly the same as our European models, but I'm sure they are really similar :)

Matilo Telephones

Ah, I'm not sure if I'd call that the same model. It is similar, but the cradle is different, the dial is different, as is the lay out inside.

The way the wires run out of the back of the upper housing differs also from mine, I think.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

poplar1

Diagram of the WE says it is a 396-A. The base is very similar to the WE 334A subset and WE 333A wall telephone. The 396-As were made only for export.

Quote from: Spanish_phones on March 14, 2014, 08:07:58 AM
Here you are a few photos of the same telephone made in US, by Western Electric ;)

I don't know if the diagrams are exactly the same as our European models, but I'm sure they are really similar :)
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

G-Man

American Telephone and Telegraph Company's manufacturing division, Western Electric owned several international subsidiaries including:

       
  • International Western Electric
  • Bell Telephone Manufacturing (BTM Antwerp)
  • Standard Electric.
During World War I as their overseas factories were overrun by the German army, the tooling was transferred to the United States and telephone sets  and other equipment continued to be produced by the domestic flagship of Western Electric. The instruments shown were never officially used in the U.S.

G-Man

#13
In addition to the manufacturing divisions previously mentioned there was also Norsk Western Electric and others.

Here is an excerpt from material that has been cited on the TCI list:





One important demand from the European countries, concerning the international
telecom industry, was domestic production. Apart from the general wish for industrialization
and employment, the security dimensions of telecom were important. In
response to these demands Western Electric established manufacturing subsidiaries
in Antwerp, London, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Vienna, St Petersburg and Budapest. It
also established subsidiaries in almost every part of the world, in cities like Tokyo
(later NEC), Montreal (later Nortel), Buenos Aires and Sydney.

LarryInMichigan

#14
This discussion prompted me to take another look at the pathetic Spanish wall phone that I bought about a year and a half ago and have not yet tried to restore.  It is probably more or less the wall version of the phone discussed in this thread.  The transmitter element, which is most probably from much later than the rest of the phone has the "Citesa" name printed on the back, but I could not find any other manufacturer's name anywhere.  There is a "CTNE" logo on the side of the phone.  One of the ringer gongs and nuts are missing as are a few screws.  The nickel plating on the handset parts is very badly worn, and someone painted the handset black, so the paint needs to be stripped.  The paint on the phone housing is also worn in various areas.  I originally posted about this phone here: link.

If anyone here knows where I can get a replacement gong and nut, please let me know. 

Thank You


Larry