Blue Chips
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- Maine, USA
I fixed up an old hand-crank magneto phone over the past few evenings. (Please excuse any technical or terminology errors, as I’m not an expert on old phones).
A couple of hours of research suggests that it’s a Western Electric "subscriber set," consisting of:
- Model 400K magneto “desk set box” (this was apparently a 300K model that had been modified later in its life to a 400K model).
- Model 202H desk set phone, consisting of a D1 mount/base and an F1 Bakelite handset.
This is what it looked like when I bought it (cheap) at a local antique mall. The inside is shown as found, except for two spot welds I made to repair the staked-in posts that hold the bell gongs. I have no idea (yet) if it was wired correctly.
For any aficionados of telephonic esoterica who might be reading this, I'm afraid that I can’t contribute much. I’m not sure when the 300K desk set box first appeared, although I found a 1912 Western Electric bulletin listing a “300-K” model with a 5-bar 48-A magneto, which is the one in my unit. The 300K continued to be manufactured for quite a few years after that.
D1 oval telephone bases/mounts were manufactured from 1930-38. “IV 36” is stamped inside mine, which could be a manufacture date of April, 1936. I read somewhere that the F1 handset was introduced ca. 1936 in Bakelite like the one I have, and later it went to plastic in the 1950s. Subscriber sets were often upgraded over the years. Conceivably, back in the 1910s, a subscriber could have had the wall-mounted 300K desk set box, paired with a “candlestick” desk set phone that was later replaced with the D1 base/mount and F1 handset, perhaps when the desk set box was upgraded to a 400K, which had a newer “anti-sidetone” induction coil.
I stripped off the old black paint with a liquid citrus-type paint stripper and applied a coat of varnish. I left most of the old stains and dings in the wood intact, as those are part of its history. The rear panel was broken in half and warped. I clamped it in multiple directions while gluing to straighten it out. I also re-glued the corner box joints. Here is the rear panel, before and after gluing and varnishing it.
You can see where “300K” had been X’ed out and “400K” stamped into the wood. “COND” was also X’ed out, as the condenser connection location had apparently changed.
To disassemble the D1 desk set mount/base, I needed a pin-type spanner to remove a round nut that secured the cradle to the base. A few minutes with a hack saw, a file, and an extra socket yielded this new tool, which worked perfectly.
The inner workings of the D1 were in good shape. I suspect that the phone had been stored in a dry location since being taken out of service. The diecast D1 base was scratched up and had spots of corrosion, so I blasted it lightly with fine glass beads and repainted it. I used a satin finish instead of gloss, since I wanted to more or less match the patina/sheen of the Bakelite handset, rather than making it look like a shiny new reproduction.
The bottom of the D1 was still covered with the original “woven wool felt,” which was dirty and moth eaten. I had read that leather (suede?) may have been used sometime in the 1930s, and it was easier to find than woven wool felt of the right thickness, so I replaced it with leather. It was a bit tricky to re-fit the internal spring strip that secures the covering, but I finally got it snug.
The handset’s rubber “retractile” coiled cord was still in good condition. I’m no expert, but it appears to be a different kind of rubber (natural rubber, perhaps?) than the more recent synthetic rubber handset cords, which might explain its longevity. I don’t know how old the cord is, but I did see a rubber retractile cord mentioned in a 1935 catalogue. The cord was caked with years of grime, but it cleaned up nicely with the help of a test-tube brush. The number card holder was missing, but I found an original card holder on eBay and installed a card in it.
The bells (gongs) and escutcheons on the desk set box originally had a black “japanned” finish, but I read somewhere that it wasn’t unusual for telephone users/subscribers to dress up their phones by removing the scuffed and scratched black finish and buffing the brass, so I think I’m respecting its usage history by buffing them, and they can always be refinished in black, so buffing is not irreversible.
I kept the original wiring harness. Note: When I bought this, I noticed that several of the wire connections were loose or totally disconnected, and there was one broken wire, which I soldered. I do NOT know if it was wired correctly in the first place, and I do NOT know if it is wired correctly now. Since the colors of most of the wires have faded over the years, I will have to trace each wire individually, which I plan to do in the future.
I also cleaned and lubricated the magneto, which cranks smoothly. As an added touch, I applied a couple of new decals to the door and magneto and pasted an old circuit diagram on the inside of the door, which I “think” is probably correct for this phone. I'm only planning to use this for display purposes, but I'd still like to get it right.
Here’s what the subscriber set looks like now.
I almost forgot to mention that when tested separately, the magneto and the bell were both in working order!
A couple of hours of research suggests that it’s a Western Electric "subscriber set," consisting of:
- Model 400K magneto “desk set box” (this was apparently a 300K model that had been modified later in its life to a 400K model).
- Model 202H desk set phone, consisting of a D1 mount/base and an F1 Bakelite handset.
This is what it looked like when I bought it (cheap) at a local antique mall. The inside is shown as found, except for two spot welds I made to repair the staked-in posts that hold the bell gongs. I have no idea (yet) if it was wired correctly.
For any aficionados of telephonic esoterica who might be reading this, I'm afraid that I can’t contribute much. I’m not sure when the 300K desk set box first appeared, although I found a 1912 Western Electric bulletin listing a “300-K” model with a 5-bar 48-A magneto, which is the one in my unit. The 300K continued to be manufactured for quite a few years after that.
D1 oval telephone bases/mounts were manufactured from 1930-38. “IV 36” is stamped inside mine, which could be a manufacture date of April, 1936. I read somewhere that the F1 handset was introduced ca. 1936 in Bakelite like the one I have, and later it went to plastic in the 1950s. Subscriber sets were often upgraded over the years. Conceivably, back in the 1910s, a subscriber could have had the wall-mounted 300K desk set box, paired with a “candlestick” desk set phone that was later replaced with the D1 base/mount and F1 handset, perhaps when the desk set box was upgraded to a 400K, which had a newer “anti-sidetone” induction coil.
I stripped off the old black paint with a liquid citrus-type paint stripper and applied a coat of varnish. I left most of the old stains and dings in the wood intact, as those are part of its history. The rear panel was broken in half and warped. I clamped it in multiple directions while gluing to straighten it out. I also re-glued the corner box joints. Here is the rear panel, before and after gluing and varnishing it.
You can see where “300K” had been X’ed out and “400K” stamped into the wood. “COND” was also X’ed out, as the condenser connection location had apparently changed.
To disassemble the D1 desk set mount/base, I needed a pin-type spanner to remove a round nut that secured the cradle to the base. A few minutes with a hack saw, a file, and an extra socket yielded this new tool, which worked perfectly.
The inner workings of the D1 were in good shape. I suspect that the phone had been stored in a dry location since being taken out of service. The diecast D1 base was scratched up and had spots of corrosion, so I blasted it lightly with fine glass beads and repainted it. I used a satin finish instead of gloss, since I wanted to more or less match the patina/sheen of the Bakelite handset, rather than making it look like a shiny new reproduction.
The bottom of the D1 was still covered with the original “woven wool felt,” which was dirty and moth eaten. I had read that leather (suede?) may have been used sometime in the 1930s, and it was easier to find than woven wool felt of the right thickness, so I replaced it with leather. It was a bit tricky to re-fit the internal spring strip that secures the covering, but I finally got it snug.
The handset’s rubber “retractile” coiled cord was still in good condition. I’m no expert, but it appears to be a different kind of rubber (natural rubber, perhaps?) than the more recent synthetic rubber handset cords, which might explain its longevity. I don’t know how old the cord is, but I did see a rubber retractile cord mentioned in a 1935 catalogue. The cord was caked with years of grime, but it cleaned up nicely with the help of a test-tube brush. The number card holder was missing, but I found an original card holder on eBay and installed a card in it.
The bells (gongs) and escutcheons on the desk set box originally had a black “japanned” finish, but I read somewhere that it wasn’t unusual for telephone users/subscribers to dress up their phones by removing the scuffed and scratched black finish and buffing the brass, so I think I’m respecting its usage history by buffing them, and they can always be refinished in black, so buffing is not irreversible.
I kept the original wiring harness. Note: When I bought this, I noticed that several of the wire connections were loose or totally disconnected, and there was one broken wire, which I soldered. I do NOT know if it was wired correctly in the first place, and I do NOT know if it is wired correctly now. Since the colors of most of the wires have faded over the years, I will have to trace each wire individually, which I plan to do in the future.
I also cleaned and lubricated the magneto, which cranks smoothly. As an added touch, I applied a couple of new decals to the door and magneto and pasted an old circuit diagram on the inside of the door, which I “think” is probably correct for this phone. I'm only planning to use this for display purposes, but I'd still like to get it right.
Here’s what the subscriber set looks like now.
I almost forgot to mention that when tested separately, the magneto and the bell were both in working order!
Last edited:
cleaned it up fluxed and soft soldered it back on. good as new apart from the paint damaged
