This is a real pretty 2 way system, it also has what looks like a mains plug attached, I can't believe these buggers run off 240V?
Anyway will let you know when it arrives, I've shunted 50V from my linesmans phone up the other relics and got nowt, so who knows.
Will be wearing my rubber suit if I try it.
6 more...
last one...
That's awfully pretty equipment, GPO. I'd be very interested to hear if you can get it up and working. Nice find!
Righty, finally arrived today, just as pictured, best set I have of these obviously taken form an "unindustrial" environment, maybe a hotel room master/guest set?
Out wi the screwdrivers, the fat terminal block, which I have 2 off already isn't just for connecting wires, oh no!
Its the missing part of the jigsaw, a 240V to two outs, one 6V and other 12V, although its idendical in shape and size of the other two blocks.
One operates the "bell" as its labeled - buzzer to you and I, the other must be the circuit voltage.
It's all coming together, why when folk salvage these nice wooden sets they dont trace the cable back to the fecking transfomer boxes to run the darn things, must be landfilll sites all over the country with decaying Dictograph transformers!
Then there's the wee junction box for the cabling, this seems to be an off the shelf GPO bakelite box, it has GPO embossing on it. so obviously Dictograph weren't so vain as to make all their own kit.
Off witrh cover and this beastie was certainly live.
A wriggling black and yellow wire thing that upon closer examination was a dying wasp enconsed under the terminal lugs!
My head made a nice round impression on the roof, then out with the "RAID" (TM) and a humane end for my unwelcome guest.
Now I rang the bloke at the auction house I bought it from to say it had arrived Ok and thanked him for the waspish extra, he (a bluff Yorkshire chap), said it had been in his warehouse for 4 weeks prior and he hadn't seen a wasp for months, well it is November and too cold for wasps here, my "RAID" (TM) even had dust on it when I got it out. so maybe a bakelite terminal block makes a perfect sorta crygenic chamber for em.
Then the bloke said "Must have made a long distance call on it..", - I'm not making this stuff up folks!
Reminded me of another post here with the bellset full of 30 year old cockroahes in it, (I told mother about this and said I would show her the pics, she nearly barfed).
I've not replugged it up as yet but if you don't hear anything in maybe 2 or 3 months means I've been electrocuted, or sanctioned or stung by vengeful relatives of old Uncle Buzz or whatever it was called.
S
More info here:
http://tinyurl.com/y8lgocq
dsk
Hilarious tale on the amazing origins of that wasp! Ya'll have some powerful phone lines if you can transport matter through them and reassemble it at the other end of the call. ;)
What does the line voltage do for this phone? It's a neat setup, has a great mid century modern look, the wood and black are a good combo. Were these sets common?
The 6V out has "R" +/- tags on it, I guess thats the ringer, the 12V has no output on my voltmeter(s), analogue and digital.
The actual output is 7.4 odds volts, so the transformer could be dodgy or 6 is the nominal voltage?
The sets were custom made so probably every dictograph set was unique to its set-up, like all the ones I have are different, 12 keys/10 keys/ 6 keys etc.
By custom built I mean the cases, handbuilt in wood, when the glue rots away then they start coming apart in your hands.
They seem to have been speced up for whatever the application was, and as they couldn't connect to actual telephone network were virtually redundant when the phoneco's started internal systems you could actually route calls on the network.
Dictograph was bought over in 1967, these relics will be from I suppose demolition sites where they lingered on as a secondary internal comms system.
PS, thanks for the link dsk, info on this company is amazingly sparse, it's probably easier to get info on building a small atomic device on the net!
This from the bay:
20 sheets buy it now, I was skint and sweating blood till payday, its a mid to late 60's unit with "ashtray" recessed handset cups, it looks pretty well looked after in the pic, best of all it been rewired for a POTS line with a BT PST on it, so now I can take it apart and figure out how to wire the other 7 hermits in a box.
Its also one variant I had seen (and bid on before) but didn't have.
Don't you love just taking things apart and fiddling about?
I'm gonna try to make this buzz on a ring from the PBX.
There was an earlier set on ebay at the same time, and the seller said you had to use the keypad mounted on the side of it to dial out, unfortunately they didn't have a pic of this modification on the listing and I was outbid, so I can't tell you much more about this.
DESCRIPTION:
"This is a bit of a conversation piece, straight from the "Room at the Top" era. It is, however, not just a decorative piece as it has at some point been wired to a BT line and plug.
No you can't dial out on it and no it doesn't ring, but if you have another phone plugged in that does ring, you can answer calls on this!
The very left hand switch (the red one) is used. If you lift the receiver and press the red key down (marked post) it connects the call.
Still has lots of marked up labels fitted (Technical Office, Admin, Machine Room, etc.)
It's a big lump of a thing so probably a bit big as a bedside phone, but it would look great on your leather topped desk."
Very swanky! I love the way the handset fits in the little recesses in the top.
Yes, like them "ashtray" models discussed on here a few weeks ago, I can't recall what the model was.
Now, this is a beast of a machine, its a foot long by 5 1/2 inches wide and 5 inches high.
Its on the desk now and has displaced 2 700's.
And it does work, only trouble is the flick down talk switch isn't locking so you have hold it whilst taking an incoming call.
Maybe if I rummage about the insides I might find a locking bar thats been disabled?
Pics when I get more batteries for the vampire camera.
one pic I got before the vampire camera wanted more juice, it gives some idea of the scale of this lump:
I've taken it apart (thats always a bad move innit)?
The red BT connection goes to T2- and the white to T1+, this gives you a dial tone and pick up on the handset, if you lift the handset and fiick the left hand red switch down.
But it didn't hold down in the locked position so you had to physically keep it down to get a connection, so I soon spotted a absolutely tiny spring dangling in the chassis which attached to a latch going to the up and down bars, after some difficulty I re-attached it and the keys now lock.
There's and awful aucoustic "clunk" when you engage the switch, I tried a dual-diode rectifier over the circuit and all it did was reduce the sound volume, Hmmmmm...
I also tried the red/white leads from a linesman set and got a superb burring through the handset when rung but before you switched it to recieve the call, but this isn't replicated on a BT red/white/green/blue wiring arrangement, I also tried the ringing voltage over the buzzer and nothing.
There is a similar 6 key set on the bay which is missing the earpiece and receiver, so I will probably pass on it as I have abosulutly no idea where I could find replacements, its like a bit larger than a 500 handset and even my SOCOTEL S63 which looks very similar is too small for it, earlier handset were from Fuld in Germany but I don't know where the plastic ones come from.
Anyway its a nice deskset and has the best wood veneer of all my Dictographs so can stay on the desk till I figure out how to get a "buzz" or a "burr" through the handset when picked up.
What about a small capacitor across the switch to alleviate the sound?
What value capicitor would you recommend, I'm up for a bit tweaking.
Incidentally I found some old circuit diagrams on the net and the buzzer runs off the 12V transformer from the mains (I have one from the original post) but running out of electrical sockets I bought a GPO buzzer 33 to hide inside it and wire to the ringing circuit, assuming it fits inside OK I should be able to make it buzz on demand through the PBX, if not no doubt I can use it for some other scrapper!
Like so:
http://www.britishtelephones.com/buzz33.htm
Anyone want a whole office set?
I would but Cambridgeshire isn't exactly local to me.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dictograph-Telephones-/250699851915?pt=UK_Collectables_RadioTelevision_Telephony_SM&hash=item3a5ee0288b
( dead link 03-27-21 )
Well at least there is one bid so they wont be getting skipped as the seller threatened.
That last batch went for 21.28, so at least its all been rescued.
My buzzer arrived today, so after a lot of trial and error wired it in parallel with the switch, and eventually it works, I sealed the unit in a crimp bag to avoid shorts and it has plenty of space to sit on the top of the chassis without interfering with the up and down switchkeys.
I expected a loud buzzing noise but it more like a strangulated Trimphone warble, or maybe a subaqua Trimphone, anyway it buzzes now, so next stage is rewire the thing so I can get a ringing tone when you pick the handset up, and then you flick the switch to connect, and pull out the single bulb unit fitted on it and try to get it to flash when I dial through from the PBX, apart from that happy so far.
Here's the buzzer again, it has one positive terminal and three other marked "loud"/"medium"/"soft", I wired it up to "loud" seeing as it is enclosed in a plastic bag and housed inside the wooden cabinet, well you would, wouldn't you?
http://www.britishtelephones.com/buzz33.htm
I'm a dufus, official.
The 3rd scrapper 706 linesmans phone I used to get a second running, yeilded this rattling about in the bunch of bits sitting in its base:
http://www.britishtelephones.com/buzz26a.htm
It had totally detached itself from the upper moulding before I got it, so extraction was at least easy!
Experiments later.
You're no doofus :D But that's not surprising it was loose. I'm certain some of these ringers and buzzers could eventually shake themselves loose over a number of years.
I'm still a dufus Keith, but as you say the buzzer had errr "detached itself" from the top plate by virtue of the plastic leg having broke off, and all the bits sitting in the base!
Got another GPO 33A buzzer the other day, so wanted to try and get the table-top set working.
Darn't thing was dead RX end, so I swapped the handset from the wall-mount, and result - now can listen and talk, added the buzzer and its now sitting on the desk with its larger cousin and the two run off two separate lines from the Pana 616
The sound quality is quite low, but I guess thats down to the bakelite style slide on RX cap.
I might mix and match RX/TX components to see if it boosts the sound, got plenty of donors here...
Just swapped the RX capsule from another set, its interesting in that the mounting screws also are the circuit connection, the two screws go into the holes which are mounted in the bakelite handset, so the RX wires are embedded into the handset.
Its a lot less fiddly than any other handset I've encountered, you just unscrew it and rescrew a new one in.
I'm wondering if any US models had this type of mounting for an RX?
Anyhow, its still quite low with the replacement RX so more experimenting to do.
The RX diaphragm is marked thus:
"RICHARD THOMAS & BALDWINS LIMITED"
"No. 24"
"FERROSIL"
It's Welsh!
http://llanelli-history.co.uk/chronology%201900-2002.htm
"1947 By this time the Labour Government had nationalised many industries. The coal mines were operated by the National Coal Board.
After long drawn out negotiations with the Government, proposals to establish steel production plants at Trostre and Velindre were underway.
An amalgamation took place between Richard Thomas & Baldwin's tinplate division, Llanelly Associated Companies, Lysaghts and Guest, Keen & Baldwins to form The Steel Company of Wales at Margam."
"FERROSIL" doesn't get much results though.