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Help IDing A Ringer Box/Subset

Started by segaloco, October 06, 2023, 12:03:24 PM

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segaloco

Hello, I've got a wooden ringer magneto box I'd be curious if anyone recognizes.

It won't take some of my photos, retaking them still blows the attachment limit so we'll work with that and descriptions of what photos won't hit.

So at the top where the L1, G, and L2 circuit poles are there also appears to be the number "2128" with the 8 partially obscured by some sort of other etching. The poles have numerical labels along with the more conventional contact IDs.

The magneto appears to be secondary, one of the holes in the bottom was re-bored to fit it, maybe it was a 5 bar in a past life. Something odd (at least to me) is it opens from the left side, most WECo wooden subsets I've seen open from the right instead. Finally, there is a hole on the left where I presume a receiver cradle once lived, but that side also contains a 1/4" jack to which a 1001-E metal WECo handset was attached. I suspect this thing is a bit of a Frankenstein, but what I'm mostly curious on is if the box itself is a WECo or something else, can't say it was always paired with the WECo set or even that any of the current circuitry in it is original. If it has a different magneto and the receiver arm is gone, who knows what else was done to it. The good news is it's fully functional, its own bells ring properly, another phone tapped into L1/L2 gets a ring if I spin the magneto fast enough, and a ringer generator tapped into L1/L2 likewise rings the bells on the box. Tip and ring to the two circuit points on the bottom and the 1001-E handset plugged in results in transmission. If nothing else I'm happy to finally have a magneto, already tingled my fingers once accidentally with it, I see why quacks in the 1800s loved touting electrical novelty, if I had never experienced electricity and touched a random thing and got a zap like that, I'd think the person showing me was a wizard and give them my sideshow money...

HarrySmith

Everything you need to know about posting photos, and some you don't, can be found here:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?board=84.0
The first topic is probably what you are experiencing. Photos need to be resized.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

RDPipes

You need to reduce the size to at least 1000 x 1000 pixels.

G-Man

To start with, due to their poor quality, the photos are mostly useless.

Also, why do you think it was originally provisioned with a hookswitch? Is there a hole drilled for one?

Plus, there were a number of earlier WECo subsets (deskset boxes) whose doors opened from the left side.

That said, it would appear that your subset (not a ringer box) is equipped with a WECo 22A magneto and type-28 induction coil.
 
While the connection of a handset was not unusual, I do find the presence of a jack to be so. However, from what little I can discern from the photographs, it would appear that the wiring is original to the box, so perhaps it was manufactured expressly for use with a handset.

You provided info on the line terminals (not "poles"), but not the markings on the other terminals, though I suspect they would be standard designations for connecting deskstands and/or handsets.
 
To narrow down the model number, please provide the numbers on the following:

  • Ringer
  • Gongs
  • Designations of the other terminals

While I haven't bothered to peruse all of the editions of WECo catalogues, (you can do that when you find the time), I did find a later model 315H magneto subset that has a type-22A magneto and is described as follows:
 
DESK SET BOXES-MAGNETO
The following desk set boxes, with the exception of the No. 315J,
are equipped with ringers to operate on alternating current for code
ringing service between the central office and the telephones and
for code ringing between the telephones. The No. 315J is equipped
with a pulsating current type ringer for four-party selective signalling
from the central office and is also arranged for signalling the central
office only .
    The Nos. 300 and 315 type Desk Set Boxes may be used with
the following apparatus or its equivalent:
  • 1040AL Desk Stand
  • 1020CC Transmitter Arm
  • 1048 Type Transmitter Arms
  • 1001C and H Hand Sets
  • 1002AC Hand Set

G-Man

Another possibility-
 
As of yet I have not been able to find a WECo type-28 induction coil but Kellogg manufactured one. 

Perhaps someone replaced the magneto with a WECo type 22A and used a WECo handset with a Kellogg subset.

segaloco

Here are a couple more shots, taking a picture of the front blows 3MB no matter what I do. Just my two cents, if that's an incredibly common capture size, it is 2023, unless the server technology being used today still can't handle that size...which isn't a good place to be. Anywho, this thread is about a box, not upload protocols, image sizes, or ubiquitous modern image capture devices but figured I'd respond since that seems to be relevant.

Anywho, more photos attached, one showing the left side of the unit with presumably the bore for the receiver arm on the upper left, bottom right is the jack to plug the 1001-E (or other 1/4" tip/ring).  Second photo is back of the bell assembly. I don't see numbers or letters anywhere on the bells themselves so perhaps the nature of the mounting is a clue to the manufacturer.

Thanks for any thoughts by the way, if I could get standard Android mobile device photos to upload I would, but tbh I'm not taking on extra work over a human-imposed limit, if I can't post a picture I can't, I didn't design the devices pumping them out so big, nor the websites expecting them so small, so I'm not doing the work of resolving those two expectations that I don't control but other humans intentionally do. This isn't an argument by the way, this is just an apology for not putting more pictures. Been doing computer stuff way too long to still find myself having to engineer solutions for little problems (with other, much more obvious solutions that centralize and minimize the net effort involved.) Not a dig at the site folks in general too, just the engineering decision of a file limit smaller than files produced by ubiquitous devices on the market and in people's hands today.

loblolly986

#6
I don't know if Android allows the size of captured images to be configured, but one trick with a mobile device is: first, make sure the camera app is zoomed out all the way when taking a photo (software "zooming" does little more than waste storage space), then instead of framing the subject the way you want when taking the photo, hold the device further away so the subject occupies less of the photo. Then use the device's photo-editing features to crop the photo to the appropriate framing. The result is a smaller image that may be accepted by the forum software.

There is an S.M.F. "mod"/extension available that would implement automatic server-side resizing and rotation of attachments, and I brought it to the administrator's attention in a related discussion a little while back, but it evidently hasn't yet been installed at this time.

I believe the induction coil is indeed a Kellogg. The vermilion model stamp is consistent with what I've seen on other Kellogg induction coils, and it looks similar to the Kellogg catalog illustrations of their 28-type coil for magneto sets.

rdelius

Kellogg ringer also  .Jack might have been added

segaloco

Thanks for the replies everyone.  Sorry about being upset over the photo thing btw, it's what it is, I just steer clear of online social spaces generally because arbitrary stuff like that sends my circuits for a loop.  I was worried I had a "you don't immediately accept our authority bye bye" on my hands, I don't communicate online a lot so I don't know the norms.

Anywho, the assessment of a Kellogg makes sense, and holds consistent with now studying their designs a little more.  I've been so tunnel-vision on Bell System stuff that I haven't really familiarized myself with the Kelloggs and Stromberg-Carlsons et. al. out there beyond knowing they exist.

Either way, I'm glad to have a box with a magneto in it now, even if it isn't pure WECo.  I kinda like Frankensteins like this though, it makes one appreciate how simple and interchangeable things were for a time.