Vintage Phones

[Bingles]

500 dial

Ok... yet another question for you phone gurus out there.

My 500 can dial out calls so far with no problem, but I noticed the number wheel is sluggish in returning when you dial.. especially numbers 1 through 3. The wheel sometimes doesn't return to quite the correct place.. off only by a hair.. so it hasn't interfered with dialing.. yet.

Is there a way to lubricate the dial?? This thing probably sat in someone's attic since the 70s.

 

[Argee]

you should be able to remove the dial and oil it, though I don't have any personal experience with 500s. I have a AE40 with the same problem intermittently, it's been oiled though I suppose I might have used too heavy a weight oil.

I'm actually posting about an odd phenomenon. My AE40 has a 30 hertz party line ringer. It vibrates the clapper just not a lot. However, I've adjusted the position of the bells so it does ring. Here's the odd part, it works at my house but not at my girlfriend's house. The clapper still moves at her house just less than at mine. The only difference I can see is my house was built in the 1940s while hers is only a couple years old. Think that could be changing the strength somehow?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I used Gun Oil on my Dials and it works fantastically, lithium grease works great too, it doesn't dry out like others such as WD 40 do.

Also Argee, I've heard of this happening. I'm not sure what does it. Just a shot in the dark that maybe you have older wiring which may carry a stronger current, being close to the frequency of your frequency ringer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sewing machine oil will also work -- any very light machine oil will be good, just avoid anything that will corrode or damage the electrical contacts.

As far as the difference in ringing goes, does your gal use a different phone company? Some of the newer ones don't supply a full 90 volts for ringer voltage.

 

[noonblueapples]

it doesn't dry out like others such as WD 40 do..

WD 40 should never be used to lubricate.

 

[John in Covina]

I had heard that there is an oil used for fishing reels that is supposed to be a great lube.

 

[Brinybay]

One of my latest finds. Manufacture date 6-61. It was dirty but cleaned up very well, no discolorations, fully functions. The finger wheel had a stick-on number card on it. When I removed the finger wheel to clean it, I found a vintage number card underneath the finger wheel (where it's supposed to be) that had an old Seattle exchange, SUnset.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Received the rubber gasket for the AE34, also a black cloth covered line cord from phone co. She's lookin' much better now.

I was able to get the dial button off but, couldn't figure out how to put it back on with the dial card in it... and the dial card I have is for a WE model phone... I think there's a tool that I don't have that would work better than a flat headed screw driver. I don't want to chip the paint on the finger wheel.

 

[Brinybay]

Part of a recently acquired collection, WE "Old Brass" or "Bronze" 202, manufacture date 4-30.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Geez Briny, you are really lucking out these days!!!

 

[Bingles]

I just got a beautiful thermoplastic WE 302 on ebay this week. It works GREAT. I just have to get used to the ringer.. it's so loud I think it could double as a fire alarm. lol

 

[Brinybay]

I just got a beautiful thermoplastic WE 302 on ebay this week. It works GREAT. I just have to get used to the ringer.. it's so loud I think it could double as a fire alarm. lol

Pictures?

 

[melancholy baby]

Contemplating a vintage phone purchase

The phone of my dreams is 1940's. I have been putting off it's purchase because I want it to work.
I take it from all your posts that you get a dial tone and your phones will work with a normal phone cord?
Have I got that right?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The phone of my dreams is 1940's. I have been putting off it's purchase because I want it to work.
I take it from all your posts that you get a dial tone and your phones will work with a normal phone cord?
Have I got that right?

If you buy a "raw" phone -- one that hasn't been restored in any way -- all you'll need to do is change the line cord to one with a modular plug at the end. It's a five minute job for anyone who knows which end of a screwdriver is which -- don't be fooled into thinking you have to pay beaucoup bucks to have this done by a "pro."

As long as you have a regular land-line to plug it into it should be fine. *Some* digital phone services will accept rotary dialing, but others require converter devices. Best bet is to go with Plain Old Telephone Service, and you'll have no problems.

 

[Brinybay]

The phone of my dreams is 1940's. I have been putting off it's purchase because I want it to work.
I take it from all your posts that you get a dial tone and your phones will work with a normal phone cord?
Have I got that right?

Most of the phones I have fully function, yes. The most common problem encountered with old phones is everything functions except that it doesn't ring, and usually that's because it has what's called a "frequency ringer", which were used in old party line phones. Your only choice in that case is to replace the ringer with a "straight line" ringer, but they're not hard to find and replace. Modifying the line cord to work in a modular phone jack is easy, I can help you with that. If you have Comcast's phone service, rotaries will work fine w/o the need for any pulse-tone converter. The other choice is a POTS, which I think Qwest has available. Phone service like MagicJack will not work with rotaries.

I'm in Seattle also and would be happy to help you find one. I've enough phones now to keep me busy for a while, but the hunt is half the fun. I've found all but a couple of the phones I have on Craigslist. Try to stay clear of antique stores, they're usually way overpriced. When you say "1940s" phone, do you mean a "Lucy" phone, aka a 302, like this one?

 

[BogartsHat]

When you say "1940s" phone, do you mean a "Lucy" phone, aka a 302, like this one?

A "Lucy" phone? Like in I Love Lucy? Every time I watch my Lucy DVDs and see their phone, I remember the one we had when I was a kid. It was exactly like the one in this picture, except for the receiver cord. Ours wasn't cloth. Ours was coated similar to the cords of today, not cloth. My folks got our phone when they bought our house in 1947, decades before I was born. lol Okay, maybe it was just a few years.

Thanks for the picture (above). I always wanted ours to be red, but it was black. The receiver was heavy but not heavy like the receivers on my grandparents' phones had, which were metal and sat in a clawlike holder. I believe they had Western Electric # 102.

 

[Brinybay]

A "Lucy" phone? Like in I Love Lucy? Every time I watch my Lucy DVDs and see their phone, I remember the one we had when I was a kid. It was exactly like the one in this picture, except for the receiver cord. Ours wasn't cloth. Ours was coated similar to the cords of today, not cloth. My folks got our phone when they bought our house in 1947, decades before I was born. lol Okay, maybe it was just a few years.

Thanks for the picture (above). I always wanted ours to be red, but it was black. The receiver was heavy but not heavy like the receivers on my grandparents' phones had, which were metal and sat in a clawlike holder. I believe they had Western Electric # 102.

Yes, like in "I Love Lucy". She was most often seen using a 302 in the show, hence the phone is nicknamed the "Lucy phone", although the phones in the show ran the gamut from a 202 to 500.

I have another 302 with a rubber handset cord like you described.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Part of a recently acquired collection, WE "Old Brass" or "Bronze" 202, manufacture date 4-30.

Woah, that is a unique color... I haven't seen one like that before. Looks to have been a hotel type of set... or, maybe an extension in a wealthy household.

Nevertheless, it has the early bullet seamless E-1 handset... bravo! :eusa_clap

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Yep, probably a hotel set, but remember, not every area had dial service. I read somewhere that Washington DC didn't get dial service until around 1949.

"Number please?"

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, probably a hotel set, but remember, not every area had dial service. I read somewhere that Washington DC didn't get dial service until around 1949.

"Number please?"

The last manual exchange around here didn't go dial until 1970 -- well into the late fifties, the majority of small towns and small cities in the US were on manual exchanges. So non-dial phones are still very common to find.