November 28, 2009 - M28 ASR Teletype from Bernie MacIntyre. There is some work to do to this machine, but it is generally in very good shape, and 28's had a reputation of running forever! The 28 ASR was a Baudot encoded machine.

A loop supply has been constructed for this, and the printer and keyboard are now operational after 30 years of disuse. The Tape perforator (center unit) was made operational the weekend before Christmas, and the last weekend of 2009, I rewired the control circuit for the TD (tape reader shown on the left of the unit). This was made necessary by modifications made during its manufacture to add Selective Calling, mentioned below. This machine is 100% operational now, despite the fact it has been 60 years since it was manufactured. It is a testament to the wonderful design and quality of these units made by Teletype Corporation, a subsidiary of Western Electric up till the date the Bell System was broken up. They were solely electro-mechanical units, bearing more resemblance to electric typewriters than to todays computers and printers. The intricacy of them is fascinating, and they served their purpose extremely well. The model 28 ASR is considered by many to have been the Cadillac of teletypes.

This unit was equipped with a selective calling option, and much of the time taken getting it working has involved disabling the mechanism, cleaning and re-lubrication. This machine was used by a stockbroker back "in the day", and they had all their machines in different locations set up so that the main machine could poll the others individually, and see if any information was waiting to be sent in their reader. If there was a tape in the reader, it was sent to the main office. This feature had to be undone to return it to normal operation. As is expected, years of storage had turned much of the original oil into gum requiring a thorough cleaning and re-lubrication.

December 21, 2009, a box of replacement light bulbs were received from Don House and the missing upper bulbs were replaced.

January 14, 2010, a new ribbon was received for the above machine. [continued below].

Wanted: Dead or Alive:

Wanted: ASR-33 Teletype for display

Also looking for an ASR33 Ascii encoded teletype as shown below for the teletype display and rolls of teletype paper and tape. I am hoping that someone or some business might still have an ASR33 in storage after all these years, and that someone may still have a stock of teletype paper rolls, and punched paper tape for them. If you do, please contact me. These old machines will never again be used in a commercial setting, but will make a wonderful, educational display for the museum of 1950's to 1970's technology. I can't offer a lot for them, but it will ensure that they are made operational and preserved for future generations to see.

Jan 25, 2010 - A 33ASR has been located and will hopefully arrive some time next year. I am keeping my fingers crossed that our tentative arrangement doesn't fall through. However, I am still looking for a non-working machine for parts, as well as teletype paper rolls and rolls of teletype tape, both the wider size of tape for the ASR-33 and the narrow tape for the 28ASR. Has anyone got any of the above in your storerooms?

Feb 01, 2010 - three part rolls of teletype paper have been donated by Alfie Fyfe to the museum. Paper for these machines came in rolls 8 1/2 inches wide, and 4 to 6 inches in diameter. These were continuous rolls with no separations between pages. Even part rolls will be a help! To do live demonstrations on the machines, we will need more as this won't last long, so still looking for teletype paper. We still have no punched paper tape for the machines. We require tape to fit both the ASR 28 and the 33 ASR, tape for the 28 being slightly under 3/4 inch in width, and tape for the 33 being 1 inch approximately. These tapes were in rolls approximately 6 inches in diameter.

 

November 24, 2009 - AE Test Turret Type 21

Another item from Terry Biddlecombe in BC, this cabinet was formerly used in the Whistler, BC. central office. The unit, made at the Automatic Electric plant in Brockville, Ontario, was designed for making the test required to maintain small automatic step by step exchanges. It was effectively used in exchanges of 1000 lines or less, or in PAX'es of all sizes. It was often used in Canadian exchanges. This unit is huge, and heavy!

This unit was used to test a number of functions in the office and on the line.

N1317 with MD-2127 conversion:

N1317 phone given me Aug 12, 2009 by Charles Dingwell. The phone as received had been improperly converted by a former owner to a handset phone without a proper apparatus blank installed in the location of the former transmitter - instead it had been replaced with a wooden dowel in the hole. When doing this conversion, one must replace the switch hook with one designed for an F1 handset - this phone still had the original switch-hook designed for the hanging receiver. The handset, instead of proper cords, had two lengths of lamp wire run to it. The former desk had been removed from the phone. Other than this, the phone was in good shape - all parts operational, and the wood in good shape.

This conversion was common and sanctioned by Northern Electric when they came out with the N1315, but there was a proper way, and a wrong way to do it. The Northern Electric T8 catalogue on page 71 covered the correct procedure and NE's MD-2127 conversion kit designed for the purpose. The old transmitter and transmitter bracket was to be removed from the front of the phone and replaced with a proper apparatus blank. The Receiver and cord were to be likewise removed. The switch-hook fulcrum pin was to be removed and a correct handset fork was to be installed. These parts were ordered, and this is the end result, a proper N1317 with MD-2127 conversion completed August 29.

Bell Gallows Phone:

August 11, 2009 - I won an eBay auction for a small relica of Bell's 1876 "Gallow Phone", so named due to the shape of its frame. This was the phone which won Bell his patent (U.S. Number 174,465) for sending speech over wires. It has been called the most valuable patent ever issued in the U.S.A.

Although the gallows never did work terribly well (muffled and noisy audio), it did work sufficiently to win him the title of the inventor of the telephone. His patent was issued just hours before that of Elisha Gray for a similar device.

This particular replica was made for delegates to the 1951 annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Telephone Pioneers of America held in Louisville, Kentucky September 25-27, 1951.

It will receive an honoured spot directly under my earliest phone, the 1890 Bell Canada 3 box, Blake transmitter phone in the museum.

"Principles of Electric Applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work"

October 02, 2008 - I received a call from Eleanor Meek, who gave a number of phones and documents to the museum last year. Both Eleanor and her late husband, Roger had worked for Island Tel. Eleanor told me she had found a book, "Principles of Electric Applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work". It is a training course text prepared for Employees of the Long line department of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company published in June 1961. This book was printed in hard cover in 1961 by the Communications Equipment Division of the Northern Electric Company Limited, "for those individuals interested in the Communications art". Thanks again, Eleanor!

May 06 2008 - 1972 Island Telephone Co. donated by Debbie Denham This is an interesting period on PEI, as larger exchanges were in the proccess of being automated, and smaller exchanges were preparing for automation within the following 5 years.

As a result, both dial and magneto listings can be found in this book, depending upon which exchange a number is located within.

[Back Left] A Northern Electric 352 wallphone - the wall equivalent of a 302, the "I love Lucy" phone. The major work needed on this phone was to remove layers of paint from the back edges of the phone, where paint had inevitably gotten on the phone during many years of use and wall painting.

[Back Middle] A Northern Electric dial-less 554. This could be used as a non dial extension phone or in conjunction with a magneto, as shown below, on magneto lines. This phone is just about mint. This phone and the QK82A magneto below have been mounted and connected on display in the museum.

[Back Right] This is a wall magneto phone manufactured by England's Telephone Manufacturing Company. It required some repair to its case - a crack ran down much of the length of the phone - this has now been repaired, and though it shows a little, the case will not crack further. The phone is 100% operational. These phones were very popular in Manitoba - and apparently were also imported in some numbers here, though they are seldom seen. This phone is now on display in the museum.

[Front Left] Beautiful Northern Electric Candlestick microphone Model Number 1120DA - designed for use as a microphone. PTT switch on side. Rivets holding the bulldog microphone had failed, leaving the head dangling. These have been replaced as seen above. This was built as a microphone, and not just a converted candlestick phone. This is now displayed alongside the Northern Electric speaker driver and horn as examples of "other items" made by NE..

[Front second from Left] 60's vintage NB Tel coffee mug bearing the logo of the time. I also have a belt buckle with this logo.

[Front second from Right] 3 slot coin box full of examples of slugs people had used in payphones in attempts to get free calls. These are items Roger had found in payphones over the years. These range from French coins, to tiddley winks, to drilled quarters attached to monofilament string (I guess so it can be recycled :-) to electrical box knock-outs, washers, hammered quarters, a test slug, and a Ureguay coin, TTC tokens, etc. This box and the slugs are now displayed with the payphones in the museum!

[Front Right] NE QK82A 1967 Small square magneto in hard plastic case for use with stands. This is now displayed connected to the dial-less 554 in the museum, and turning its crank will ring the 554.

Aug 7th, 1007, I was called in the evening to see if I was interested in a farm fresh (untouched and original finish) N717CG at a good price. At first I balked, as I already have one, but finally decided I would take it. These phones saw a lot of use on PEI in the country. I remember one in use at the little store which used to be next to the schoolhouse up at the corner. My next door neighbours also had one. They saw service until the 60's when the area switched to dial service.

I am extremely pleased that I did decide to purchase the phone. When they brought it down, it was in great condition, needing only cleaning, but there is another reason detailed below. Since this photo was taken, the phone has been tested with the switchboard, waxed, and the handset buffed back to a flawless shine.

The phone's handset is the unusual NE FN1A in grained walnut coloured bakelite as opposed to the normal black - quite rare, and this is perhaps the first brown handset I have seen on an N717CG, probably a field replacement many years ago. This handset was most often used on brown uniphones.

New Tools Received Aug 17, 2007:

A). United Seal Company HC7 lead seal hand presses- used to install lead seals on payphone money boxes to prevent tampering.
B). So far unknown.
C). ATI Handset Cap remover.
D). Bell Systems - Cleverly - probe with pointed end to puncture wire Insulation and clip lead cord.
E). Bell System "D" Crimpers HKP INC Crimps Sleeves used on Drop Wires, 20 gauge "JKT" first generation copper/steel jacketed pair/triplex or quad inside wiring cable.
F). 840A Tool - tool used to trip off excess wire after splicing with WE/ATT/Lucent modular 710 connectors in OSP.
G). So far unkown (connector)
H). Bell System - Number not currently known - tool to punch a hole in the sheath of lead cable for insertion of an air fitting.

Finally, a Western Electric KS-21250 L1 Coin Crafts Test Set - Checks payphone coin relay, sidetone, Refund/Collect Function, etc. Shown at centre top.

View KS-21250 L1 instruction cards

New October/September 2007:

A) Neuses N-2315 stamping and lettering kit - used to stamp identifying marks and dates on switchboards, phones, etc.

B) Dynatel 745 - microprocessor controlled Subscriber Loop Tester - Used to check the incoming loop for such things as loop voltage, current, opens, loss, Will measure the number and type of ringers on the line, will measure resistance, inject a test signal into the line, and more.

C) "Stop Lite" Voltage Tester - Used to check for hazardous voltages on telephone equipment in contact with electrical lines.

D. B Voltage Tester and case - used to check for dangerous voltages on shared poles.

E) Connecticut Tel. and Elect. Co. Ltd. Pocket Volt/Ammeter from the early 30's or 40's. The company which made this was a manufacturer of telephones, intercoms, and of other electrical items. Despite its age, when it arrived, I decided to see if it worked, and voila, after many years of sitting in someone's sock drawer, it still worked! These meters were used to check the voltage of batteries used in local battery telephones, etc.

F) "Banjo" 6 wire Modular adapter - for using a butt set or loop tester on modular lines. Gives a place for larger test leads to connect.