sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Antique Telephones another What is this ??

That tool was known as a "diddle stick" here. Those of us that worked on N-channel and later T-Span equipment had several of them. If you think the coils on the intercom cards were flaky, you would not believe what needed to be done to make that equipment work. Cold weather was not friendly to the equipment.

Rcaman

I don't believe that Bell gave up on intercom, I think the Carter Phone decision forced them out of that market.

Not necessarily, Jim. Their last 1A2 intercom systems were the 494A single-path card or the 6B intercom system. Both were highly-sophisticated for the time and lasted well into the 80s. Both were solid-state, as in no moving or adjustable parts whatsoever.

The main reason that the Bell System gave up on further development of these devices was because third party manufacturers were able to provide comparable equipment at a lower price. For example: Tone Commander's ML-8000 multiple path intercom system was much smaller (about a quarter the size of the 6B) and about a quarter of the cost. The Bell System saw the writing on the wall with regard to the impending divestiture and did the math.

Wow, what a side track of a thread. Still an informative one. I'm guilty as charged.

Now, back to those diddle sticks...

Well, Ed....back in the day, a telephone crafts person was actually expected to REPAIR the problem, not just replace. Some of the tools that appear on "What Is This" were standard issue and most of us actually used them. When we did bring something back to the garage, it was shipped out to W.E. and I think they tried to repair them. It wasn't long after 1968 that Mother decided it was going to be cheaper to purchase from other vendors and end the relationship with W.E. Of course, she had help from the federal judge to make that decision. Sad day for all of us.

Rcaman