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Western Electric Type 67 2-Box Antique Telephone - In need of full restoration

Started by Sargeguy, March 26, 2018, 11:08:01 AM

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Sargeguy

Just picked up this beauty:

Western Electric Type 67 2-Box Antique Telephone - In need of full restoration

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253499039998

This is an early Western Electric Type 67 Double Box. It is not as common as the Type 21 set. It is very much in un-restored condition and is in need of full restoration. Wish I have the time to work on it, hope it goes to one of you Western Electric collector who can spend the time to get it restore. You get where you see as shown. Please review the photos carefully as they are very much part of the description.

1.     Early Type 67 top box with a working large gear wheel vanity 3-bar magneto, it rings the bells when turned. Three dates on the magneto, a similar vanity magneto alone sold for $200+ recently on eBay (see 302667552447) and that one was not tested.

2.   The box is marked Type 67 & patent dates 1882 - 1893 on the side.

3.     It has a unique cast metal terminal box on the side where a short rattle snake cord connects it to the two receiver terminals on the top box. The OST receiver in turn connects to this metal terminal box. This is the only Western Electric top box I own that has this feature.

4.     Note the wooden wire spool on the left side inside the top box.

5.     Early backboard with six wire groves on the back. It measures approximately 31.5" x 8". Note the type 67 top box is chamfered at the top to fit this early backboard at the factory.

6.     The large No.5 transmitter arm has a worn finish & missing the cord eyelet as shown.

7.     259 Transmitter faceplate with guts inside, back cup with an external terminal but missing the wire.

8.     The OST receiver is badly broken. It has a rather long fabric cord with pin termination at both ends.The receiver cap is fine.

9.     The lower battery box is an old reproduction made of a rather light weight material, could be pine. It has some splits as shown. The two metal clips are very hard to mate to the backboard brackets. It takes some patience and effort but they will hook on.

10.  The mouthpiece is fine.

11. The wood has typical chips, minor splits, dirty & dusty as expected for a relic from the 1890's.

12.  Again, this early set can use a lot of TLC and in need of a full restoration. It is not fully tested, unknown working condition. It may need to be rewired. I cannot guarantee its working condition, being sold as is with no warranty.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

RB


Sargeguy

The phone arrived today.  It is a definite barn find-protected by a layer of crud.  Someone did remove what looks like chicken crap-there are marks on the backboard and #5 arm.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Sargeguy

A few of weird things about this phone.  The black box in-line for the receiver.  The small spool of wire attached to the wall of the phone.  TThe vanity magneto.  The backboard is an old "Blake" backboard" that originally a a smaller, older, box on it. 
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Sargeguy

I started dismantling the phone.  All of the screws are there, they just need cleaning.  The wiring is intact, although the cloth has disintegrated on the outside wires.  The wood is all there but the box is a little loose and there are some splits.  I do not see anything that cannot be glued. The finish is in poor condition and will need to be redone.  The magneto still worked once I removed the mud wasp nests that were inside the magnets.   The hook has been bent so that it will clear the black box on the phone's side.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

RB

comin along good.
interesting mag, first time seeing one like that.
Keep the pics coming!

Stubbypylon

Craig Stanowski

Sargeguy

It is a vanity mag-they must have re-used them. It is pretty cruddy.  It will need a thorough cleaning.  I put it on the shelf for now.

CORRECTION: Not a vanity magneto

The magneto in this phone is more accurately described as a "large wheel" magneto.  There are a few different types, including the ones used on vanities. This magneto is the same style used on glass front top boxes.  Note the hard rubber insulator attached to the armature and the small wooden coil.


The "black box' is an in-line capacitor. The best explanation is that it would provide enough resistance so that leaving a phone off-hook on one phone would not disable service to the other phones on the party line, while still allowing for voice transmission. The resin or wax on the back is disintegrating and the box leaves a "footprint" of smelly black dust. It was a little to rusty for what I have in mind so I coated it in Metal Hero gel overnight. I am fairly certain the capacitor is shot.  I now need to figure out what to use to simulate a japanned finish.

I have been tossing parts in the rock tumbler as I remove them.  The #5 arm parts cleaned up okay.  The thumbwheel was already losing nickel, so i expected it to brass out. 

I have dismantled the box.  The walls collapsed in my hands when I took them off.  I washed them off and will strip the shellac once theyare dry.

Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

RotarDad

Wow Greg, I like how the tumbler cleans the parts.  Not polished or "over-restored", but a nice clean up and matte surface that still has the aged feel.   Really nice!    Keep the pics and narrative coming!
Paul

Sargeguy

Thanks, the tumbler is a useful tool for anyone working with small old metal parts.  I use my wife's Lortone multibarrel version that she uses for jewelry-making (we need to each have our own barrel to keep things civil).  I pass all my old nickel parts through the tumbler and assess whether or not I need to re-nickel them.  I also use it to clean the old screws of rust etc.  It also cleans small bakelite parts like plungers and buttons pretty well.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

HarrySmith

Yes, the tumbler does a great job. I toss all the metal parts, screws, brackets, washers etc into mine. Most stuff comes out looking brand new! I tried crushed walnut shells but did not get good results. I also tried Brasso. I now use stainless steel shot in different shapes with some water to achieve good results. Somewhere here I posted a couple of before & after pictures of 302 hardware I cleaned.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Sargeguy

I use stainless steel (not regular steel shot) and I put in a drop or two of dishwashing liquid and a dash of OxyClean powder.  I think the OxyClean brightens the nickel a bit.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

HarrySmith

Quote from: Sargeguy on April 04, 2018, 11:51:16 AM
I use stainless steel (not regular steel shot) and I put in a drop or two of dishwashing liquid and a dash of OxyClean powder.  I think the OxyClean brightens the nickel a bit.

Good idea. I will have to try Oxiclean. Yes, stainless steel shot, I found some made for tumbling on Amazon, really cheap too.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Sargeguy

Yes, non-stainless steel shot requires an additive to prevent it from becoming rusty.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Sargeguy

The wood on this phone has several areas of dark water stains. To remedy this I used oxalic acid to bleach the wood.  Oxalic acid is the active ingredient in Barkeeper's Friend cleaner.  I mixed some with water and smeared it on the wood surfaces that were the most seriously stained.  It worked very well after one application, almost too well in fact, and the areas that were once dark are now lighter than the surrounding wood surfaces.  I noticed that lightened the wood overall, and returned some of the reddish shade.  I will be bleaching the other parts as well so they are uniform.  You can see the sample on the right is the "after" The piece has been stripped of shellac  but the area that was under the black box has not been bleached.  It was protected from the elements so I used it as a control to see how the wood should look.  The piece on the left has been stripped but has not been bleached. As you can see there is a big difference between the protected section and the parts that were exposed. 
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409