atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Antique phone hook-up question(s)

Hi all, I just bought two antique phones off eBay and am trying to hook 'em up.

The first one is Dannish KJOBENHAVNS AKTIESELKAB, ~ 1950. It has two wires cord. When hooked up everything works, including rotary dialing. However, the volume is really low, both of dial tone and incoming voice, when on call. My voice on the opposite end of the line is heard loud and clear, though. Also, the ringer does not ring when called, but kind of quietly buzzez. It's almoust as if there's not enough current to drive the bell and produce anough sound volume. Anything comes to mind?

The second phone is ~1930 brass Erickson candlestick. This one has 3 wires sticking out. I connected the two for which I could get a dialtone, leaving the third one hanging. It sounds fine, volume-wise, but does not dial (pulse). When the disk is rotated, the dial tone goes awai, but resumes, when stopped. Is it likely that the dialing module is bad, or am I not connecting it properly and need some sort of an adapter, going 3 wires to two? Another issue with it is that I can hear fine while in call, but the other end does not hear me. Again, microphone problem or 3-d wire? I've oppened it up, by the way, looking for any loose ends/snapped connectors -- everything os securely attached.

Sorry for the lengthy message, but I would appreciate any pointers/advise on this very, very much.

Vlad

Remember that many foreign phones are not compatible with US networks. I would imagine that is the reason for the issue with the Danish set.

Most candlestick phones required a wall-mounted box that contained the network, ringer and various other electronics to interface with the line. Without this, you'll be somewhat limited in what the phone can do.

Thanks for replying.

A friend of mine said that I won't be able to dial or have a ring without the ring box, but I should be able to talk with no problem and if I can't there must be something wrong with the mike in the candlestick. He also suggested I put the third wire to the ground and see if it makes a difference. I'll try this tonight. But what do you guys think?

Also, if I get a ring box of ebay, is that going to be just a matter of hooking the three wires up, assuming the box is functional? Or is it more involved than this? I guess the question is if the ring boxes were compartible across the board back then or built company-specific.

Thanks.

For your Danish phone, the receiver unit maybe defective...thus low volume. For the ring, is it a ringer inside or a buzzer?

Dave

Your friend is thinking of traditional phones that have an internal ringer, and yes there were cases where the L1 and G leads could be connected to the Tip side of the line and the L2 could be connected to the ring side. This would enable the ringer to operate. This is clearly not the case with the candlestick since there is no internal ringer.

Danish networks, especially back in the old days were pretty different from ours. We work on a different loop limit and variables than theirs did.

There is a place in Galesville, Wisconsin that specializes in restoration of very old phones. Their name is Phoneco and I have known of them for decades. They will be able to help you through the whole thing. Their website is www.phonecoinc.com.

If the mic on the Ericson is just really low volume, you might try tapping on it a bit. Some of the old mics contain carbon granules then can settle over time and quit vibrating freely like they need to. By tapping on the side of the mic housing you can help to free them up. Works on my 1916 Western Electric wall phone.

The ringer box for the candlestick is more than just a ringer and its capacitor (condensor) - it also included the induction coil. The candlestick itself is just the transmitter, receiver, hookswitch, and dial. The hookswitch, dial pulse contacts, and transmitter are connected in series, then through one side of the induction coil. The receiver is connected through the other side of the coil, and one side of the transmitter and receiver are commoned.

Although Phoneco can be helpful, you should also check here https://www.singingwires.org/

My bad; I referred to the induction coil as the "network", crossing over to more modern sets.

Figures you would catch that, Tommy! Man, you don't miss anything.

Thank you all very much for your help.

I ended up hooking the candlestick's two (out of three) wires to the red lead and the third to the green of my phone line. It solved the problem. Now I can talk! I have to talk loud, be really close to the mike (my lips almoust touching the funnel), and it echos to the earpiece -- but the other side can hear me now. Still no ring and can't dial, but my line is VoIP, so the rotary dialing would not work anyway.

With the Dannish set it also turned out to be nothing: the low volume was due to the incorrectly placed membrane in the receiver and the ringer was suppressed with a screw inside. Had to take it apart to figure that out.

Again, thanks all very much.

Vlad