Unclassified Army Western Electric Phone fun!!!!

[nashmaytagbear]

Great find!

I have several vintage 50's and 60's phones myself. Most of them are stored away in boxes because I don't have a place to put them out for display. But we use some of them around the house which drives my partner crazy because of the rotary dials.

 

[rp2813]

I saw that thing that looks like a switch but can't remember what those are about. I'm going to do some checking on that.

Also, the clear fingerwheels can be removed easily with a stick pin or a small paperclip. I can provide instructions if anyone is interested in covering up the fastening mechanism with a home-made number card.

Ralph

 

[washernoob]

Thanks for sharing all!

Yes I got to see that gorgeous phone of Greg's in person! It really is so beautiful. And I love the ringing.

The switch in the back is the only thing that I am not sure is original or not. Its a mechanism to turn off the ringer. But the cords for the ringer (yellow and black) are not even connected into the 4-pin outlet. So I have no idea why the switch is there anyways.

Greg, I was wondering where you got your 4 pin outlet adapter for the modern phone plugs? Did you have to order it or would maybe radio shack or something have it? I want to order from that phone site, but if I can get it local, faster, I would do that.

Thanks!

PS. I will try and remove the clear wheel to clean it up, now that I know how to.

 

[lordkenmore]

It wouldn't hurt to try finding that adapter locally. It seems to me that RadioShack once had adapters like that. Other possibilities include small, older hardware stores, etc. I once found a long-since unobtainable connector in a small TV repair shop.

 

[supersuds]

Er, is the 500 considered old? My cordless phone battery died last week so I hauled out the reconditioned 500 I bought in 1985-ish. Still works perfectly.

I'm way over the hill! Lol.

Lovely wall set, Greg!

 

[washernoob]

Mine is a 1963 I found out.

 

[rp2813]

I agree that you'll not find the 4-prong-to-modular adapter anywhere locally, unless you know of an ancient hardware store with tons of NOS stuff. I found two of this type of adapter at such as store about a year ago. They had been hanging on a hook for probably 30 years and still had a rotary phone depicted on the hanger card.

If you haven't already joined, you might want to check out the link below for the Classic Rotary Phones site. The discussion forums contain all the information you could possibly need. I have posted a question there about the on/off switch under the cradle. As for ringer wires, it only takes one pair of wires to make a phone work and ring. Changing termination points on the network block for the ringer wires is how you enable or disable the ringer.

Classic Rotary Phones Forum - Index

Classic Rotary Phones Forum - Index

www.classicrotaryphones.com

 

[cadman]

Some sets, like yours, were setup to power the ringer through the third yellow wire. This allowed a party line configuration for the talk ckt but separate ringer ckts. This was common as late as the early 80's in rural areas. To get yours to ring you'll notice the black wire from the ringer connects to a 2-screw terminal where the yellow cord wire lands. Move that black wire over one screw-set so it connects to the green cord wire. L2 if memory serves.

Re those adapters, I remember seeing them still on store shelves in recent years. Unless you're dealing with an original color coordinated 4 prong WE plug that you want to stay original, it might make sense to pick up a modular plug with screw terminals on the back and re-wire. Much easier to come by, too!

 

[rp2813]

Yes, a "wall mount" modular jack has a clean back and is easy to wire. Then you simply connect the wall mount jack on the end of your line cord to to the live RJ11 or whatever receptacle, via your standard modular line cord.

 

[circlew]

At the present time I have a small collection of telephones. The one I use on a day-to-day basis is a WE 2500 that has a date of 6-82 on the base; I bought it used in '97. I also have a Comdial 2830 10 button multi-line phone, a WE 2554 wall model, a PacTel Trimline (all bought new) and my oldest is an Automatic Electric AE50 wall phone with dial blank. I found it in the sub-basement of the old Pogue's dept. store in downtown Cincinnati when they had the liquidation sale after it closed; didn't pay much for it. Sorry no pics as except for the 2500 they are boxed up in storage. These phones were made to last, and I would expect them to outlast 25 or more cell or cordless phones.

 

[whirlcool]

We had some old phones that were rotary, but when we moved to a different state they stopped working. What is wrong is that when you dial, you don't hear any "clicks" as the dial turns.

A telephone guy I talked to years ago said I have to swap two wires on the junction block to make them work properly. But I forgot which two he was talking about.

On my Dual website I periodically get e-mails from people who have been given turntables and record collections. They can't figure out how to play the records. So based on this observation, I wonder how many people are out there today that wouldn't know how to make a call with a rotary phone!

 

[rp2813]

Allen, it sounds like you've described a polarity issue. I've run into this same thing with model 2500 Touchtone sets on occasion. Reversing the wires either on the L1 and L2 terminals inside the phone or at the wall jack will usually fix the problem.

I know what you mean about turntables! I was out junking with a young friend recently . . . and we came across a record changer turntable. I instructed him to give the turntable a spin to see if the mechanism worked properly and the stylus would lift, shift, and set itself down where an LP would normally be. Then I showed him the trick where if you wanted the same record to automatically play repeatedly, you would move the changer arm all the way to the right and lock it in place. He thought that was pretty cool.

 

[lordkenmore]

"...I wonder how many people are out there today that wouldn't know how to make a call with a rotary phone!"

I have heard stories about people with rotary dial phones who have a teenage relative come, stand, stare, and ask: "What do I do?"

The first time I heard something like this, I felt incredibly old and over the hill!

 

[rp2813]

It seems weird that any of today's youth wouldn't know the first thing to do with a rotary dial. The percentage of them who watched Lucy, Ethel, and the whole Brady family along with Alice do it many times is probably very high.

 

[washernoob]

Ahaha

Ive always known how to use one since I always used to play with all the rotaries in my grandpas home when I was little. I would pretend to call others. I have always had a fascination with old phones. Its only recently that I can say I proudly own one!

To throw things off a lot. I found out this phone is a 1966 model! Have good word of it, since the innards are stamped with IV-66. The fourth quarter of 1966.

Have no idea why it says 1964 on that front logo! Must have made a transfer. perhaps the original phone broke so they put it into a new phone.

What I thought was "63" is actually G3, the style of the receiver I believe.

 

[cornutt]

"UNCLASSIFIED ONLY". Well of course. It's black.

 

[washernoob]

Well my adaptor cord arrived today!

And as always expected, the phone works!

There is a constant fuzzy sound in the background when a call is connected. Perhaps due to the new style phone lines. Someone gave me a tip on how to fix that issue.

Still haven't connected up the ringer yet. I've made probably 6 calls today on the phone. Its so much fun! I enjoy hanging up by setting down the receiver, rather than turning the phone over and pressing a little button. More official.

 

[rp2813]

Brandon, just wait until somebody at the end of a call tree (aka Bangalore) frustrates the hell out of you by reading from a script. That's when slamming the handset into its cradle will prove to be most therapeutic.

That fuzzy sound on the line isn't because you need a DSL filter, is it?

 

[whirlcool]

I am not surprised that young'uns today wouldn't know how to use a rotary phone. I can't even remember the last time I used a rotary.

But I DO remember when push button touch tone phones came out. One of my aunts had one when touch tone came to her area. It was 1964. I marveled at the fact that there was no dial. I think Ma Bell charged you a $0.75 premium each month over rotary.

Those Western Electric phones were indestructable. They could take anything. I remember the building in Chicago's west side where they were made. A HUGE city of a building. Thousands of people worked there each shift.
Here is a photo of the old building. It was at least 5 times longer then it was wide.

 

[lordkenmore]

How long did the surcharge for Touch Tone last? I seem to recall someone in the 80s went Touch Tone, and said they STILL charged a surcharge.

It has been years since I even saw a rotary dial phone in service, let alone used one. No one in my outside AW.org life is likely to have one, except me--and I'm so cheap I've switched to a cell phone. ("HMMMM, $20+ a month, vs less than $4. Well, that decision was easy to make!")