Vintage Phones

[SamMarlowPI]

Check this out! my uncle just gave me this large telephone battery cell made from Eveready back in 1954? (someone had written that on the side) i have no idea what it's for except some kind of telephone, duh...anybody ever run across one of these?

 

[JitterBugJenny]

My family throws nothing away!

I am so happy to own this!

 

[SamMarlowPI]

My family throws nothing away!

I am so happy to own this!

awesome! and welcome to The Lounge...

 

[JitterBugJenny]

Thanks! Happy to be here!

 

[Forgotten Man]

That's pretty much like the Western Electric I own... trust me, you'll love it more and more the more you use it!

Great phones never die, they just move to the garage... then, get discovered again! YAY!!!

FM~

 

[Tommy Katkins]

its a 1930s Henry Dreyfuss phone right? you're so lucky you live in a country where you can inherit such wonders!

TK

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Yes, it's a Western Electric 302, designed by the great Henry Dreyfus.

Still has the cloth-covered cords, too! That's a honey of a phone!

 

[Starius]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's the best phone ever.

 

[JitterBugJenny]

Wow!

I really had no idea it was so well liked!

I was going to buy one at a consignment shop that was not in very good condition, I held off as they wanted $50. or so. I went home and mentioned it to my dad and he said "we have one of those, you can have it" I nearly died!

He also told me about 2 typewriters from the 40's in VERY good condition...no pics yet sorry!

I have also inherited 2 old fashioned sewing machines, both fully intact with the iron foot pedal things still functioning!

Thanks for the nice reviews!

 

[Starius]

Yep, that phone you have there was used heavily from the late 1930s well into the 1950s. It was seen a lot on tv too, because Lucille and Desi had one in their tv home on the I Love Lucy Show. (And a popular phone to use on television since then, I saw that Keith Mars had one on his desk in the show Veronica Mars.)

It was the first phone to have the bell ringer housed inside of the phone casing itself, prior to the 302 the ringer would be in a external box or exposed elsewhere.

Henry Dreyfuss designed it early in his career, his philosophy (which was revolutionary at the time) made it imperative to work with engineers in the design process so that form followed the function. Initially, The man in charge of getting new designs from designers was against this idea and didn't think it necessary. But, after all the other designers came up with wild and unpractical ideas for a new phone, he came back to Henry to give his way a try. And then a beautiful thing was born.

 

[JitterBugJenny]

Yep, that phone you have there was used heavily from the late 1930s well into the 1950s. It was seen a lot on tv too, because Lucille and Desi had one in their tv home on the I Love Lucy Show. (And a popular phone to use on television since then, I saw that Keith Mars had one on his desk in the show Veronica Mars.)

It was the first phone to have the bell ringer housed inside of the phone casing itself, prior to the 302 the ringer would be in a external box or exposed elsewhere.

Henry Dreyfuss designed it early in his career, his philosophy (which was revolutionary at the time) made it imperative to work with engineers in the design process so that form followed the function. Initially, The man in charge of getting new designs from designers was against this idea and didn't think it necessary. But, after all the other designers came up with wild and unpractical ideas for a new phone, he came back to Henry to give his way a try. And then a beautiful thing was born.

I really appreciate the history!

It is a very well made phone, like a rock!

 

[Lucky Strike]

Here are a few old ones:

 

[RetroToday]

Here's the two old phones I have, they both don't work - yet
I don't believe it will be too difficult to make them electrically operable, they just need wall cords.

1934 Automatic Electric model AE-34

1937 Northern Electric model 302. Henry Dreyfuss designed this phone, same as the Western Electric 302.

Another phone is on the horizon for me - a good friend of mine is going to give me a 1900s Independent Electric (Canada) wooden cased wall phone in the near future. Very cool!

 

[RetroToday]

It was the first phone to have the bell ringer housed inside of the phone casing itself, prior to the 302 the ringer would be in a external box or exposed elsewhere.

Hmmm, don't know if I am quite getting what you said there.
Do you mean:
1: It was the first Western Electric telephone to have the bell inside the main case.
2: It was the first telephone to ever have the bell inside the main case.

 

[Starius]

Hmmm, don't know if I am quite getting what you said there.
Do you mean:
1: It was the first Western Electric telephone to have the bell inside the main case.
2: It was the first telephone to ever have the bell inside the main case.

Well, thats a good distinction and since I'm no expert on all phones in general I guess I shouldn't say it is the FIRST phone to have the ringer inside of the casing. However, it was the first Western Electric phone to have the ringer inside of the casing, that didn't require a external ringer box. And, as far as I am aware, it was the first widely used public phone to have the ringer inside of the casing. If there were others out there prior to the 302, they certainly weren't as popular or had the longevity that the 302 had.

 

[kpreed]

Check this out! my uncle just gave me this large telephone battery cell made from Eveready back in 1954? (someone had written that on the side) i have no idea what it's for except some kind of telephone, duh...anybody ever run across one of these?

We had telephones for just between the two houses on the ranch I grew-up on, that had a battery like that.

Our Northern Electric Model One telephone, all redone and working great for 10 years now.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

i have a Stromberg Carlson and it has the original cloth cord with 3 wires like so:

any suggestions on what i need to convert? i know i need to change the wires on the inside but do i use the cat5 cable? thanks so much..

 

[kpreed]

Phone

i have a Stromberg Carlson and it has the original cloth cord with 3 wires like so:

any suggestions on what i need to convert? i know i need to change the wires on the inside but do i use the cat5 cable? thanks so much..

Try these folks http://atcaonline.com/ I am sure they have a member close to you that can walk you through rewiring it. Good Luck!:fedora:

 

[SamMarlowPI]

Try these folks http://atcaonline.com/ I am sure they have a member close to you that can walk you through rewiring it. Good Luck!:fedora:

thanks for the link, looks like they can help everyone on here is great... if Fedora Lounge was a city, i would move there...hey..thats not bad...

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

I finally scored a vintage phone

I have been in search of a vintage phone for sometime now. We have a princes phone in the breakfast room that my wife has had since she was a youngster. While in Atlanta we took a trip up to the mountains and hit every shop we passed by. I found this Western Electric 302 telephone and could not pass it up. Now I have been informed that we must find a Telephone (gossip) Bench.