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Very Strange Feeling

Started by Doug Rose, November 10, 2010, 10:28:52 AM

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paul-f

More from the ITT section of the past auction photo archive...
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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Jim Stettler

Quote from: masstel on November 13, 2010, 01:40:17 PM
Just to keep things straight, what Jim is describing is commonly called a "ten button phone".  In my experience installing phone systems, these were NOT called Call Directors.  A Call Director is a set that has button strips that are mounted vertically, specifically The Western Electric Call Director, and the AE and Stromberg sets that were designed like them.

I do believe that parts from ITT ten button phones ARE parts interchangeable with Western Electric ten button phones (just as ITT 500 set parts are interchangeable with WE 500 set parts).

These sets also came in 20 button versions.

I stand corrected as to "proper terminology.
I still will probably call them ITT call directors.
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

AE_Collector

#47
Quote from: Dave F on November 13, 2010, 10:24:05 PM
This one is my only Card Dialer with a 10-button dial.

<-------  (And this little picture over here on the left is my only Card Dialer
             with a 16-button dial!!)

So let me see if I have this correct....You would KILL for a 12 button dial Card Dialer?!

And why does your Card Dialer with a 16 button dial look just like my AECo Styleline Collection??

Terry

AE_Collector

Quote from: Jim S. on November 13, 2010, 11:02:58 PM
I stand corrected as to "proper terminology.
I still will probably call them ITT call directors.
Jim

Well, seeing that 30 button model, and knowing that Call Directors came in 18 & 30 button models...I'm gonna let you call them Call DIrectors if you want to Jim!

Dave F

Quote from: ae_collector on November 13, 2010, 11:05:06 PM
So let me see if I have this correct....You'd KILL for a 12 button dial Card Dialer?!

Yes, for a Pink one!

Quote from: ae_collector on November 13, 2010, 11:05:06 PM
And why does your Card Dialer with a 16 button dial look just like my AECo STyleline Collection??

Terry
Funny how that works!!

Adam

You can call this a Princess phone too, if you want.  But it's not.

I'm just sayin'...

:)
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Adam

#51
By the way, that red ITT 10 button wall phone must be a refurb repaint, because (besides the non-matching switch hook color) my ITT TIMM-2 dated 1-78 says these phones only came in:

Black
Moss Green
Beige
White
Light Ash
Cocoa Brown

Another interesting tidbit from the TIMM-2:  The ITT wall phones only came in a 10-button version (not 20 or 30).
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

paul-f

Dave:  It's risky to conclude that phones were never offered in versions not mentioned in a particular catalog.  There are numberous documented cases of Western Electric phones that were available in some colors one year and a different set of colors a few years later, as they tinkered with the color palette.

ITT often followed Western's lead or added a color or two for a few years (e.g. orange).

Phones were often available in non-published colors by special order, so there are several possible explanations in addition to painting in refurb.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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Adam

Points well taken.  Amend my comment to read "as of 1978".
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Greg G.

Quote from: deedubya3800 on November 11, 2010, 06:51:04 PM
Quote from: Brinybay on November 11, 2010, 06:15:18 PM
An ivory 302 that is genuinely ivory would be equally nice.

I'd settle for one made of white chocolate. :)

Nice idea, it would even have ears to bite off, the first thing I go for with chocolate bunnies!  (I meant ivory-colored of course, not real ivory).
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

GG



ITT ten-button key telephones with a single button strip above the dial:

The rotary version was type 830.

The touchtone version was type 2830.

These were typically used for up to 8 CO lines with common single-gong ringer, and one Intercom line connected to a Melco or similar 19-station intercom unit, with a low-voltage AC buzzer ("round buzzer with blue leads"). 

I must have installed hundreds of those over the years.  They were good phones, they were robust and well-made, and they were easy enough to repair.  They occasionally got odd problems having to do with the alignment of the contacts in the keystrips, also easily fixed.  My only beef with ITT in the 70s - mid 80s, was that they used a nasty plastic for their touchtone dial buttons, that made a high-pitched *squeak!* when you pressed each button, similar to fingernails-on-chalkboard.  Lubricating these would make them better until the lube evaporated or scraped off, and then they'd go back to squeaking.  For some reason my clients never noticed (or at least never commented on) the squeaky keypads. 

They are *not* Call Directors.  The Call Director was WE's version of a 1A2 phone with multiple button strips arranged vertically to the right of the dial.  AE's version was the "Call Commander."

AE also made their own version of ITT's 830 / 2830, which were relatively rare in the interconnect industry.  I still have one around, NOS in chocolate brown.  Basically identical appearance to the ITT but with AE's characteristic dials & handsets.   AE's 5-line set of that era was type 186, which had the line keystrip below the dial.  AE's self-contained 3-line version w/ 3 hold buttons, was paradoxically designated as the type 187, and has always been a favorite of mine because it's flexible and easy to deploy in a range of conditions, without need of a key service unit.