ATEA 1949 pre-RTT56B

[migette]

Hi

Further to my earlier comments re the RTT 56B Belgian phones I have obtained this phone from the French EBay site.

Inside it is dated 1949 and as the 56B started in 1956, this phone is obviously a fore runner. As you can clearly see there is no handle and no little disc on the front. I have checked that there are no holes filled in where a disc may have been and there are indeed none present. The base plate was actually from the later 56B version which the seller assumed related to the age of the phone, but fortunately she was wrong!!!

The diagram printed on the reverse side of this plate also referred to the 56B and there was no similarity to this phone as all the terminations were numbered and I spent much time tracing them out to all the various components. I was hoping to compare the two diagrams and interpolate the correct terminations, but needless to say I was completely wrong and couldn't make head or tail of it. The next step was to go to good old google and there I found a schematic, still related to the 56B, but by ATEA. My poorly drawn out diagram was compared and low and behold, similarities were noted and it appeared that this phone did infact use the same arrangement. It is also interesting to note that the ATEA name does appear on the rear of the phones body and also the stencil on the side referred to BELL manufacturing, but I believe that at this time the two companies were one and the same.

The switch hook spring needed attention as the original one had fatigued and broken, also the dial impulse springs had completely worn through and the tip was missing as can be seen in the relevant photograph. The dial mounting has differences in that the screws are in different places from the 56B version, but in the junk box I managed to find an identical dial. It had an 'A' stamped on it and this particular dial came off of an old AE American phone, but as it came from a dealer in England it could have well been a mix and match.

The hand set I believe to be the original and is also made by ATEA as are the capsules. The transmitter is dated later than the phone itself, but this could of course have been changed at some time in it's history.

I cannot find any reference to this type of phone so any info would be greatly appreciated. Please also note that I have included the diagram which seems to be suited to this model and that the phone is working perfectly.........

Peter

[migette]

Further to my previous entry about this phone, please note that unlike the 56B model there is no earth button, so please ignore that part of the schematic.

Added to this I have never actually seen a 56B without the earth calling button.

Peter

[rdelius]

I think refurbishers added the decals to make them less plain looking.That is an ATEA set.Dial is similar to an AE type 24 but is not the same.The Belgium dial will not have the AECO on it.
Robby

[GG]

I agree with RDelius. 

Also the receiver element looks like one of many Ericsson variants, though I recall also seeing those in Austrian handsets that look very approximately like G3 handsets but with a longer handpiece between the receiver and transmitter sections.

Ain't never seen an AE dial with the end of the impulse spring gone like that.  Holy cow.  Probably the contact set from an otherwise unrecoverable AE #24 dial will do the trick there as a replacement. 

[rdelius]

You could use contacts from almost any AE dial to replace the damaged ones. PT supply or VTS could help
Robby