sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telephone Repairs & Equipment Vintage phone repair

Hello! First time poster here. I bought my daughter a vintage phone from eBay (listing here, https://www.ebay.com/itm/157137824472) and a very delicate part seemed to break and I need help with the orientation of each piece to try a repair. The switch receiver does not activate any mechanism and thus it's always stuck in the down, or hung up position. Lifting the phone does not pick up a call.

The plastic piece that works like a level broke at the point where it was connected to other electronics (pics here https://ibb.co/F4Fy91xH, https://ibb.co/DP7V1BTp, https://ibb.co/sv9dLt5k).

What is the option for repair? I was thinking of gluing it with a reinforcement, like a paper clip.

Also, I'm having a hard time with the orientation of each piece and what goes where.

Can anyone with some experience help here?

That's doesn't look like a vintage Bell System Trimline, but Trimline parts may work. Doesn't really look like a Trimline switch hook to me. I took all that stuff to the electronics recycler years ago, so can't stare and compare. I'll dig around to see if I happen to have a Trimline base, but I doubt it.

I agree with Bill. This is most definitely NOT a real Trimline base. It is an imported knockoff. I'm sorry to deliver the bad news, but you're going to be hard-pressed to locate repair parts for it. Thank you for coming here to seek assistance. Feel free to come back for ANYTHING that is telecom-related, even computers, networking, service providers and paging (PA) systems.

~~Ed~~

Thanks Ed. I know it's been a while, but I remember the Trimline switch hooks being much more robust than the photo shows. Plus, the internal workings just didn't look like Trimline. Appreciate your confirmation on this.

No worries here, Bill. My first clue was the clear plastic base. That alone precluded me from looking much further. I don't know of any US manufacturer of Trimline or any other similar version that had a plastic base. I can't imagine that the one pictured has enough weight to not slide off the table.

Here is title from the listing on eBay:

"Vintage 1980's Clear Telephone by Centurion, with Colorful Interior and Lights"

I would search for "Princess Phone" on eBay. Focus on ones made by Western Electric with a secondary consideration of ones branded AT&T.

A quick check of Google shows the "Centurion" name has been used by Cortelco & Nortel. Between the two, chances are best that the phone is a Cortelco unit.

Northern Telecom's Centurion was a pay phone. Cortelco/ITT's was a business phone. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that this "Centurion" is just some offshore creation.