UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Converting a 1950s Ericsson phone for "normal" working

Nickthedentist · 19th May 2020, 3:32 pm

Hello everyone,

I recently got hold of a ~1950 Ericsson N1071A16 wall phone, which is also marked as type H1385, a New Zealand post office designation.

The numbers on the dial are backwards compared with what we're used to, but otherwise it's very similar to the UK variants, which have an almost standard 300-series chassis albeit modified to work in a wall-mounted case, see here: https://www.britishtelephones.com/ericsson/n1071.htm

The dial was a mess (seized clutch and broken return spring) but I've restored everything now and would like to use it at home.

However, there's a catch... this seems to be an instrument re-designed for the NZ telephone system. It has an extra changeover contact on the gravity switch and a separate earth connection. There's also an odd, asymmetrical leaf spring on the bell motor.

I've attached a photo of the paster in mine. You can see it's very similar indeed to the standard GPO 332: https://www.britishtelephones.com/gp...t322paster.jpg

So, to the big question... What do I need to do? Certainly, linking T2-T3 would be a start, connecting the line to the points marked A and B.

Two-wire working would be fine. And obviously, I realise that I'd need to do a bit of mental conversion when dialling!

Thanks, experts,

Nick.

EDIT: Mods, please delete the "party line" bit from the title

19th May 2020, 3:32 pm	#1
Nickthedentist Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Oxford, UK. Posts: 17,846	Converting a 1950s Ericsson phone for "normal" working Hello everyone, I recently got hold of a ~1950 Ericsson N1071A16 wall phone, which is also marked as type H1385, a New Zealand post office designation. The numbers on the dial are backwards compared with what we're used to, but otherwise it's very similar to the UK variants, which have an almost standard 300-series chassis albeit modified to work in a wall-mounted case, see here: https://www.britishtelephones.com/ericsson/n1071.htm The dial was a mess (seized clutch and broken return spring) but I've restored everything now and would like to use it at home. However, there's a catch... this seems to be an instrument re-designed for the NZ telephone system. It has an extra changeover contact on the gravity switch and a separate earth connection. There's also an odd, asymmetrical leaf spring on the bell motor. I've attached a photo of the paster in mine. You can see it's very similar indeed to the standard GPO 332: https://www.britishtelephones.com/gp...t322paster.jpg So, to the big question... What do I need to do? Certainly, linking T2-T3 would be a start, connecting the line to the points marked A and B. Two-wire working would be fine. And obviously, I realise that I'd need to do a bit of mental conversion when dialling! Thanks, experts, Nick. EDIT: Mods, please delete the "party line" bit from the title Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Nickthedentist; 19th May 2020 at 3:43 pm.