Phone Thread

[rp2813]

A Favorite Of Mine

The 5302.  This was Ma Bell's coolest trick ever played on its subscribers. 

 

Outwardly, this phone appears to be your basic model 500, but it's not.  It's a model 302 masquerading as a 500.  After the 500 was launched, everybody wanted one.  Never before had a subscriber been able to adjust the ringer volume on their phone.  With numbers and letters placed outside the finger wheel, they didn't wear off with use.  These became must-have features for everyone who saw a 500, along with the ergonomically friendly, flat-spined G1 handset.  The problem was, there was a huge inventory of 302 models and Western Electric couldn't make the 500's fast enough to meet demand.  The solution was to make a new case for the 302 that resembled the 500's and to make a simple design change on the ringer that allowed it to be adjustable.  Ma Bell brought her legacy of recycling to a whole new level with this scheme.  All the electronic and mechanical components of a 302 were housed inside a 500 style case. 

 

The trained eye can spot a 5302, but most people don't even notice.  Here is a shot of my 5302, which is deployed in the den.  Nobody has a clue that they're using a phone whose technology dates back to 1936, but if you look closely there are differences.  In this shot, it's evident that the dial assembly is the size that would fit into a 302 case, and it's raised up slightly higher than the surrounding larger bezel which mimics that of the 500.  Also note that the handset cord enters the case at the rear like on the 302, not in the middle of the left side as on the 500.  Even the transmitter and receiver elements are the same as used on the 302 with the F-1 handset.

 

[rp2813]

Another Shot

The back of the 5302.  Note the stubby case.  The bump-out on the 500 case is more pronounced as opposed to the cut-off look of the 5302 case.  Also, the mounting/line cord exits the case in the middle as on a 302, not on the left corner like the 500.

 

Many 5302's were issued with the older F-1 style handset.  I think they look mismatched and prefer the look with the G-1 handset, which was designed for the 500's case.  The transmitter and receiver elements of the 500 would not work with the 302 chassis, so the G-1 handsets issued with the 5302's were retrofitted to accept the older style F-1 and HA1 transmitter and receiver elements designed for the 302.  And with that, one of the biggest industrial pranks on the consumer (and one of AT&T's shrewdest hardware moves ever) was guaranteed a flawless execution.

 

How can one not love this textbook example of yankee ingenuity?

 

 

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Wow

The phones you guys have are really cool. I have a bunch of old ones but don't have a place to display them. Most of them are unfortunately in boxes stored away. I still love to pick them up for next to nothing on our thrift store rounds every saturday. I have several GTE/Automatic electrics and several western electrics. Since I grew up with GTE I'm more partial to their line. I really like their versions of the princess line called starlite.

 

[arbilab]

We had Automatic/GTE in Denton TX (college town in an agricultural area) and in Honolulu. No problems with the phones themselves, but both systems were absolutely retarded. Dropped calls, routinely dialing twice because the first try didn't go through, deafening clicks when the other end picked up, you learned to hold it away from your ear until it went CLUNK.

 

[bugsyjones]

rp2813

I might put some insert cards in them. They both had crude inserts with typed phone numbers. I removed them.

I think it looks OK with some of the mechanism showing through the clear plastic fingerwheel.

~Tim J.[this post was last edited: 6/15/2011-17:23]

 

[nurdlinger]

I have a land line

I have to, it carries my DSL for internet. I own, but do not yet use, a 354 wall phone that I got because that's what we had at home when I was growing up. On eBay I bought a replacement backplate for it with a modular wall mount. I lost enthusiasm for the rewiring project, and so it still sits in pieces in my closet. As someone wise once observed, "it ain't gonna spoil", so one day I will get back to it.

 

[countryford]

Those are some cool looking phones. I really love the switchboard. I would love to have one.

 

[yogitunes]

Those are some great phones.....brings back memories of what phones used to be like compared to todays versions......

but WHAT!...no blinking RED BatPhone!

 

[mixfinder]

Paging pdub.............

Good Lord, Patrick has a whole working switch board and a cazillion phones.  Won't Miss Ernastine light up the threads with a few candid shots?

 

[58limited]

I can't find the close up pic (its here on the computer somewhere), but here is my 1935 American Telephone & Telegraph Co. candlestick with Western Electric bell box. It is hooked up and currently in use.

 

[whirlcool]

Didn't Ma Bell make a phone that had punched plastic cards you inserted into the phone for frequently dialed numbers? These were the wider office secretary type phones. I seem to remember something like that from the past. It seems that maybe around 1966-1970 or so?

 

[washernoob]

I have two western electric 500s. Both early 60s. One was a military phone labeled as unclassified line. I use the older of the two as it sounds a little clearer. Both use the old style 4 prong plugs.

 

[fnelson487]

Here's The

556a in operation-all lit up. Trunk lines on the bottom, station circuits up above.

 

[fnelson487]

And

Our own Terry Lattz manning the board.

 

[fnelson487]

And

The wiring behind the scenes. With tip and ring indicated on the trunk lines. That large wire on the left is the cable coming down from the board with about 200 wires inside.

 

[retropia]

That switchboard is wild! It brings back memories of using one at a Holiday Inn where I worked many years ago. Guests could dial from their room, but you had to connect them to an outside line first. All incoming calls to guests had to go through the switchboard. There were little plugs, like the red one in the photo above, that you placed in the socket for a room when the guest didn't want to be disturbed.

Wake-up calls were hand-written into a log, and there was a clock above the switchboard that had little lever switches next to each 15-minute interval. When a guest requested a wake-up call, you made a note in the log, and then flicked the switch on the clock for the appropriate time. It would then buzz to remind the desk clerk that one or more wake-up calls needed to be made, and he would consult the log to find out which rooms needed calls.

Ralph asked if there was a model number on my white Western Electric phone. I didn't see anything specifically identified as a model number, but the photo below shows what numbers there are on the bottom.

 

[appliguy]

Well here are two of my favorite phones from my telephone co

An Automatic Electric Monophone and a Kellog/Stromberg Carlson Candlestick phone. My phone guy thinks that the reason my candlestick phone has parts from 2 different manufacturers is because it was refurbished during the war by a local phone company and they had to get parts from what ever manufacturer they could get them from. Both phones have been restored and are in excellent working order....PAT COFFEY

 

[pdub]

OK Kelly!

I need to take some current pictures as I have added a few more. People keep finding them for me or I'll spot one at a sale when I am least expecting it. Here is a pic of a lot of them together.

Patrick

 

[retropia]

That's an amazing collection!

 

[mixfinder]

The Cubicle

Just one wall in a room, in an amazing house of collections, in The beautiful Garden City, collected, displayed and managemed by an incredible and talented man, Patrick.  Thanks buddy, no sense to let your phone go unanswered.