Author Topic: Thermoplastic receiver cap on bakelite F1 handset? (Read 708 times)

mentalstampede · « **on:** March 03, 2014, 03:41:05 PM »

I was just looking at a WE F1 handset I have, and I noticed that the cap on the receiver end is not bakelite like all the other black F1s I've encountered. It is made of black thermoplastic, and I probably would not have noticed the difference if it hadn't been more difficult to remove than normal.

I assume this must have been assembled this way by a Bell System repairman at some point, but I've never seen thermoplastic caps on a bakelite handset before.

rdelius · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2014, 04:56:53 PM »

Encountered many plastic caps on bakelite F1s.They tended to shrink and were almost impossible to remove.These caps had dates from the early 1960s embossed into them.These were used on refurbs.These are not the same thread as found on the plastic caps on the plastic handles.

Phonesrfun · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2014, 05:01:04 PM »

I agree, those plastic caps on Bakelite handset shells can be very hard to get off. Early G1 handsets are sometimes seen with replacement plastic caps, and those sometimes shrank as well.

mentalstampede · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2014, 06:27:32 PM »

Good to know! Thanks!

ESalter · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2014, 08:08:38 PM »

Also, the majority of F2 handsets(for switchboards) I've seen have plastic caps. Same for F1 handsets on the elevator phones (I forget the model number of those).

---Eric

rp2813 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2014, 10:47:38 AM »

I just came across this problem with the birthday phone I recently bought. It had a plastic transmitter cap on a 1954 G1 bakelite handset.

The cap came off OK when I was cleaning and polishing the handset, but when it came time to reassemble things, it didn't want to go back on. This is the first time I've ever encountered this problem. I found that even my funkiest of parts phones with G3 handset wouldn't readily accept this cap.

I traded caps with another phone I'm not all that attached to and let it be, partially screwed onto that phone's handset. Later I checked another small stash of phones and parts and found a cap in there. Although made of plastic, it hadn't shrunk enough to be a problem and didn't offer too much resistance when installed. I have since separated out the shrunken cap since it's practically worthless on anything but an accepting G3.

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