Speaking of Model 554's..........

[Dennis Markham]

I got a black 554 in the mail today.  It was a gift that was sent to me.  Initially I was excited because my first glance told me it was a nice soft plastic set.  The hook has the satin finish, there is a straight handset cord attached to the G1 handset.  As I picked it up I noticed the housing wasn't on properly.  It appears to be soft plastic, no question about that.  I figured someone removed the housing and didn't know how to properly put it back in place.  I removed it and looked for a date.  There was nothing printed on the edge.  There right in front of me was the molded date of a later housing--63.  This is either a combination of Tenite/ABS or entirely Tenite.  I believe the latter.  The rest of the phone is all dated from May of 1956.  I determined the latch must be bent as I could not get the cover to go on properly.

I took it to the work bench and spent some time trying to straighten out a latch that wasn't really bent.  Then it dawned on me.  I remember running into this issue in the past.

In order for the housings to fit over the chassis the chassis had to be notched to accommodate the ribs on the inside of the housing.  Early 554's do not have a support rib on the upper part of the housing and therefore no notch on the chassis edge.  Because this phone was apparently refurbished, obviously in 1963, the housing will not fit properly into place.  The 1956 chassis has no notch at the top for the ribbed housing.

The attached photos show a housing and chassis from 1955.  Notice that there is no rib at the top of the house, but two of them along side the hole for the dial bezel.  The 1956 Chassis has no notch.  Another one, from January of 1957 has both the upper rib and the notch at the top of the chassis, as does the soft plastic red set from February of 1957.  So apparently the conversion occurred sometime in 1956.

I just thought I'd point out this modification in the chassis/housing as a point of interest.

The photo captions describe which photo is which phone.

[jsowers]

A very astute observation, Dennis. And that explains why we don't see many refurbished older 554s with the thick switchhook. The earliest ones didn't have slots for the later housings.

Looking at your pictures, it's obvious how much more "bow" is present in the top of the 63 housing. That's likely the result of the ribs having no place to go and the housing was under stress if it ever got locked shut. One of the reasons I've had so many 554s suffer damage in shipping is because the housing can get put on under stress like that. I've also seen a dial attached incorrectly, with the little bumps (for wont of a better word) not inside the holes, so it sticks out too far. Then they put the housing on and it actually pushes the plastic out and in at least one instance I've seen, cracks it.

So anyone getting a 554 shipped in an auction needs to make sure it's packed really well. From what I've seen, the soft plastic housings crack easily.

[Dan]

Nice info, by the way, the red 554 looks great (spoken by a guy who only has an ABS red 554)

[Dennis Markham]

That is one that I think I showed on the forum before.  It is dated 2-14-57...a Valentine's baby.  It was damaged in shipping when I bought it.  My friend, Mark Scola did his magic on the small crack and I repaired it the rest of the way.  Even when looking for it it's difficult to find.  Even that phone number (which I think someone made) is 214-1957 (February 14, 1957)...it was on there when I bought it.

I posted a couple pics here:

http://www.vintagerotaryphones.com/?p=233

Thanks for the compliment on the phone.