As I'm sitting here watching an episode of 'Emergency!' from 1972, I noticed that they had a Western Electric 851 six-button set on the wall in the fire house kitchen. That's right about when those sets came out. Hollywood is so cutting edge.
In my mind, those were the most unique and compact 1A2 sets that ever existed. All other manufacturers had clunky design, but Western's 851/2851 six-button set did it right. Northern Telecom did OK with their 'Logic 10 and 20' series, but they still didn't ever take off in these parts.
To further impress me, WECO fitted ten buttons into the same footprint as the 2851 with their 2854. Not rocket science, just a slight change in chassis design to accommodate the longer keystrip, but still a whole lot of phone in a small package.
Can you believe that they actually fit a 66 block inside of that phone? Yes, the original A and B versions of the 2851/2854 used a 66 block on the front right side for cable termination. The later C version had a 25 pair male connector in place of that block.
I can't begin to tell you how many extra gadgets that we managed to fit into the space vacated by that 66 block when the C version came out. I'm not kidding. Buzzers, ringers, diodes, you name it.
The competitor's phones were just upside-down desk phones with modifications. They just looked silly. I can't tell you how many times that I had to figure out a way to 'dispose' of six feet of 25 pair line cord when trying to mount an ITT phone on a cinder block wall!
Yes, I'm an old timer who appreciates good quality and design.
WE versus Stomberg-Carlson's version of a 1A2 wall set Some more history 
