Western Electric (Bell System)
single-slot rotary model made around 1978
Western Electric (Bell System)
single-slot Touch-Tone model (date unknown)
I purchased a Bell System/Western
Electric touch-tone single-slot payphone (model 1D2) in really nice condition from a fellow
club member and have taken several photos of the inside components and
sub-assemblies for this web page. Before we look at the photos, let's look
at the assembly drawings and parts list for this phone. The file is large
so if you have only a standard dial-up modem you will have to wait a while for
it to download. To view/download the file, click
HERE. Okay, now
to the photos . . .
First, let's take
a look at the outside of the pay phone so you can familiarize yourself with
the model I have. By the way, If you didn't get keys
and a "T" bar for
your payphone then you are out of luck getting it open without damaging the case
and other parts by using "brute force" like crowbars or
dynamite! Locksmiths do not have and can not make keys for your payphone.
Now lets open the pay phone and
see what's inside. The "T"
bar is used to secure phone
once the key is
locked.
Insert the key as shown here.
Rotate key clockwise about 90 degrees to the unlocked
position. Insert the "T" bar as shown here.
Rotate "T" bar counter-clockwise about 30 degrees to the unlocked
position.
CAUTION!
Okay, now that you've got your phone
unlocked, be VERY CAREFUL when removing the
front housing. THE FRONT HOUSING IS HEAVIER THAT
IT LOOKS!
One thing you probably don't have
that you will see in my photos is a special "hanger bracket" to hang
and hold the front housing open about 90 degrees from the rear housing.
What does a hanger bracket look like? Here is mine shown with ruler in unlatched
condition and latched
condition (close-up
of latched condition as installed in phone). The Bell
System Part Number is stamped into bracket. If
you don't have this special Bell System tool, you will need to unplug the
front/rear housing interconnecting cable as shown
here and carefully lay the front housing on a soft sturdy surface that
won't scratch the chrome or painted surfaces and can withstand the weight.
Now that we have the phone
open, lets see what's inside . . .
Rear Chassis Assembly
Overview of rear chassis assembly
Click here to view
full-size
Bell ringer
The
bell
ringer used in this payphone is the same as the one used in the famous
Western Electric 500 model series,
554 model series, and 2500
model series along with several other model of telephone
equipment. It is mounted at an angle in the upper right corner of the
back housing as shown HERE
(more photos are here
and here.)
Coin Box and
Vault Door
The coin box is protected from
vandals by the "vault door". You must use the "T"
bar and have a special key (different from the upper housing key) to
open the vault door to access the coin box.
The position of the "T"
bar and key when the vault door is locked is shown HERE.
To unlock the vault door, first rotate the key clockwise about 135 degrees
then, while holding the vault door in one hand to keep it from falling, turn
the "T" bar counterclockwise about 45 degrees as shown HERE.
Carefully remove the vault door (leaving "T" bar in place) and set it down on a
soft, non-abrasive surface. Note, the vault door is heavier than it may
look so be careful you don't drop it on your toes! Here
is a photo of the vault door removed exposing the coin box inside.
The vault door has an interesting
mechanical locking mechanism as see in the following photos:
Next, lets remove the coin
box. To do this, simply lift up and pull
the wire pull-loop on front of coin box to slide coin box out of
phone. To open the lid on the coin box, place finger under the lid's
"tongue" latch as shown HERE.
Lift tongue latch up to release lid. The open coin box looks like this.
Now comes an important task you
MUST do in order to get that coin box back into the payphone! When you
removed the coin box from the pay phone, you 'tripped" a mechanism that
prevents you from pushing the coin box back in the phone. You must
"arm" the mechanism once it has been tripped. This is done
with a simple flat-blade screw driver. Before explaining this, view the
following two photos:
You must rotate that screw just
over 90 degrees clockwise to "arm" your coin box so it can be put
back into the phone.
Coin Relay
The coin
relay is the device in the pay phone that determines if your coin
deposit(s) are returned to you via the coin return (line busy, no answer,
etc.) or if the coin(s) are sent to the coin box (completed call). The coin
relay is sometimes missing from
payphones people buy from the general public like on eBay because some people (unfortunately) remove them thinking that is the
only way to "convert" the phones to non-coin use on regular home
phone lines. Thus, this assembly is hard to come by if yours is missing
since the relays are usually thrown away leaving more payphones than coin
relays in the world. Some pay phone resellers also remove the coin relay
unfortunately.
The coin relay has a white plastic
"hat". The plastic "hat"
protects the relay
contacts on top of the coin relay from being shorted out or damaged
from stray coins that might fall down on top of the relay instead of traveling
down the coin chute.
The coin relay consists of a coil,
resistor, some electrical contacts (leaf-switch), armature and other parts.
Terminal Strip
The telephone line wires are
attached to the pay phone here.
The "tip" and "ring" terminal screws are the two that you
wire your phone line to. The polarity of the wiring to these screws
usually don't matter unless there is no built-in polarity guard on the
touch-tone models of this phone. The lower two screws are for coin relay
control voltages. More on that in a future update.
Front Chassis Assembly
Overview of front chassis assembly
Click here to view
full-size
Touch-Tone Dial
and Hook-Switch Assembly
I was fortunate to find a
new-in-box replacement touch-tone dial and hook-switch assemble for my phone
on eBay. This will be a spare in case I ever have trouble with that assembly
in my phone. It also served as a model for some photos I took for this
web page.
For general view of this
assembly, click HERE.
To download the instruction sheets that came with my new assembly click HERE.
The file is rather large so will take some time to download if you don't
have DSL or cable.
More photos:
photo1 photo2
photo3
photo4
photo5
photo6
Cord Clamp
This holds and secures the
handset cord. Click here
for photo.
Handset Cord
Wiring
So you have to replace your
handset but can't remember where the wires from the old handset cord went?
Well, I've got just the photo to help you (assuming your handset has two
white wires, a red wire and a black wire). Click
HERE for photo.
All original material on this web site is copyrighted ©1997 - ©2005 by David Massey.
