Swap meet finds

[bushman]

Here are a few of my finds at the Automotive swap meet.

Bushman

[Adam]

Bushman, neat!  I love phone sets with history you can see (and smell)!

Do you think that 500 was really installed at a gas station?  I have very fond memories of hanging out at my best friend's father's Texaco station in high school...

[bushman]

I guess it is possible. She did say it was her grandparents business phone. I hadn't thought about it much because it was an automotive swapmeet and just assumed somebody cut out something and stuck in there. But now thinking back, when I asked if I could take it apart to inspect, she was really worried I wouldn't put it together again and she wouldn't have a clue how to reassemble. I guess I'll have to look at the card closer.

Bushman

[bushman]

Well it looks like it was cut out of something like I thought. But look what I found under it!!

Bushman

[Greg G.]

Wonder what they used to cut it out with?  That looks too perfect to be cut by hand, including the notch.

[Just4Phones]

Wonder what they used to cut it out with?  That looks to perfect to be cut by hand, including the notch.

I was thinking the same thing.  I bet it was a giveaway from the station back in the day .  It's  a great find  

[GG]

Just take standard dial cards and have them printed with the gas station logo.  Or have stickers printed that can be stuck over the standard dial card. 

Sometimes we tend to forget this, but as recently as the 1950s, gasoline was considered something of a miracle fuel: an incredibly potent means of storing energy, that could be handled relatively safely with a few common-sense precautions.  This is one of the reasons it's so difficult for other types of energy sources for vehicles to become competitive: not that electricity or hydrogen is particularly poor as a fuel, but that gasoline is so extraordinarily good as a fuel.  So good that we usually take it for granted.

For those who don't want to take it for granted, keyword search ScanGauge and install one on your car.  Just having feedback about your mileage per gallon encourages more aware driving, and helps you increase your fuel efficiency.  I'm getting 10 mpg above the EPA rating on the highway, by driving aware. 

[jsowers]

The acetate disk that covered it could have been used as a pattern to cut out the Signal card, but it took some very careful cutting to get it that good. It looks to have been on there a long time because the EAst card isn't faded much from the original light gray. Those cards normally fade to an ivory or brownish color with any exposure to light at all.

Your other items are interesting too. That Bell Chime is a neat thing to have. It emits a pleasant "ding-dong" when set on chime. On the loudest setting it might wake the dead. They were usually located in hallways or other central indoor locations. I used one at work back in the days when my office had an analog PBX where everyone's phone rang alike. I could tell my phone ringing several offices away.

[Dennis Markham]

Bushman, I have a card similar to yours..........

[gpo706]

I love the payphone illuminated sign, you gonna use it as a sidelight in the house?

[Owain]

I love the payphone illuminated sign, you gonna use it as a sidelight in the house?

Wire it up to a ring operated relay so it flashes when ringing.

(Taking great care not to shove mains lecky down the phone line of course!)

[gpo706]

Owain, how would you advise me to wire up this.

"GPO Strowger Rack Alarm mounting Unit with Lamps Tested"

The bulbs may be 25V but no idea how to run them off a Pana 616, I was thinking since the Pana rings in a cycle I could maybe have each one wired to a splitter and lights in cycle?

Stupid idea I know but...

Any advice incredibly welcome!

An afterthought, I could make them ring according to the colours of the phones connected, blue for Concorde Blue, red for errr Poppy Red, etc, mad eh?

[rdelius]

Find a 25 v supply and you can put a reed relay against a ringer coil to light them
You might find a relay with a coil that is similar in impedance to a ringer also
Robby

[Owain]

"GPO Strowger Rack Alarm mounting Unit with Lamps Tested"

The bulbs may be 25V but no idea how to run them off a Pana 616, I was thinking since the Pana rings in a cycle I could maybe have each one wired to a splitter and lights in cycle?

Stupid idea I know but...

Any advice incredibly welcome!

An afterthought, I could make them ring according to the colours of the phones connected, blue for Concorde Blue, red for errr Poppy Red, etc, mad eh?

Very nice.

Velleman 1122 kit is a ring detector relay board rated for mains.

I think I would swap the bulbs for 12V car/caravan bulbs, paint them with lamp paint, and keep the originals safe.