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Western Electric
Ringers
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Telephones -
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- Bell Chime
If you've ever heard the sound of an old
mechanical telephone bell that was used in the telephones prior to the Bell
System divestiture, you probably remember how loud they could be compared to
today's telephones with those wimpy, sissy, lame, bird-chirping electronic
"ringers". Those brass bells sure got your attention when they rang!
On this page we will be presenting various
bells made before the days of the "poor-excuse-for-a-bell" piezoelectric trash
we are forced to buy today. I've included some high-resolution digital
photos of bell assemblies and their components.
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P-Type Ringer
Information
The "P" type ringer
consists of one steel or brass gong, a lever-position loudness control, a bias spring for
adjusting bell sensitivity, a permanent magnet, an electromagnet, a brass
clapper ball
and iron core for concentrating the magnetic fields. It was designed to be
much more compact than the "C" type ringer for use in the model 2554 wall phone, Princess phone and Trimline phone
among others.
The following (slightly edited) was
contributed by Rodger Hart, a visitor to this website:
"The Western Electric P-Type ringers
were supplied with a brass gong (Western Electric Part #63-A) early on. They
have the same general configuration as the steel gong (Part #WE-65-A).
There was also a muted version of the 63-A gong with muting "indentations"
stamped into the gong rim in 3 places. (Part #WE-65-B)
Strangely enough, I like the "crisper" ring the 63-A (brass) gong produces over
the sound of the 65-A (steel) gong.
I'm proud to say I also have a Western Electric Exeter telephone {1976 model} in
brown; (An early version with a cast chromed trim band/internal component mount
in tone dial) that I have added a Western Electric P1A ringer WITH the 63-A gong
to. (It is still working quite well.)
Also, I believe the 63-A and 63-B gongs came primarily on early P-Type ringers
with 5-wire "coil assemblies"."
P-type ringer
-
The "P" type ringer has only
one gong and was used in the model 2554 wall phone, Princess phone and Trimline phone
among others.
Dissection of a P3A type Western Electric
ringer:
C-Type Ringer
Information
The "C" type ringer
consists of two brass gongs, a stepped-cam loudness control, a bias spring for
adjusting bell sensitivity, a permanent magnet, an electromagnet, a brass
clapper ball
and iron core for concentrating the magnetic fields. It was used in the model 500 and 2500 standard desk telephones and the 554 wall telephone
among others.
Below
are links to the digital photographs of various parts of the C ringer assembly to
help you identify the various parts of the ringer and functions/adjustment:
Strong bias (high notch) position
- Use this position if you have "bell-tap" problems. "Bell-tap" is when a
voltage spike on the phone line causes the bell clapper ball to hit one of the
bells causing a quick "ding" sound. Voltage spikes can be from nearby
lightening strikes, a rotary dial phone on the same line that is dialing a
number, or going on or off hook.
Weak bias (low notch) position - Use this position if you have a lot of
phones hooked up to your phone line. The added loads of many phones
weakens the ringer current from the central office so by setting it on the low
or weak position, it takes less energy from the central office to make the bell
ring.
#7 SERIES WESTERN
ELECTRIC RINGERS
#7 bells and buzzers are all low
voltage AC or DC devices. The voltages are listed in many WECo catalogs.
According to catalog 12T for buzzers:
7A = 270 ohms, 14-40V DC,
15-21V AC
7B = 10.5 ohms, 2-6V DC,
4-9V AC
7C = 2.6 ohms, 2-8V DC,
3-8V AC
7D = 15.8 ohms, 4-15 V
AC/DC
7E = 105 ohms, 10-20V AC/DC
7F = 682 ohms, 20-60V AC/DC
7A and 7E were typically used in key
telephones systems @ 18VAC.
7C was typically used in early 1A
key telephone systems without lamps where the only source of power for ICM
talking and signaling was (3) #6 dry cells (total 4.5 Volts).
7F is commonly used as an alarm bell
in 48VDC PBX equipment.
Note: The above descriptions were
provided by Steph Kerman.
7a ringer
7E Bell
Here are some photos of
a new-old-stock (NOS) Western Electric 7E bell (or ringer) that I bought on
eBay:
Click on images below for larger
view
BSP sections on
ringers:
C-Type Ringers
E1-Type Ringers
F1A-Type Ringers - GIF format or
PDF
format
I1A-Type Ringers
P-Type Ringers
S1A and S1AM Tone Ringer
W1A Tone Ringer
28A Ringer Isolator
1A Termination Unit
603A Ringing Extender
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