After coming down with the “phone bug” (or phone-itis), I found my grandparents’ 1972 Stromberg-Carlson 500D rotary telephone in their basement. I decided to give it a good cleaning and test it out.
It was just a matter of time before my interest in “antiquated” technologies turned toward old telephones. After all, I’ve long been into the Bell System — THE telephone company for much of the United States and Canada prior to its 1984 divestiture.
After photographing several local telephone central offices for CO-buildings.com (a website with photos of telephone exchange offices from all 50 states — and beyond,) my interest in switching systems was piqued. I learned all of the calls I made during my childhood were routed through a Nortel (Northern Telecom) DMS-10, which were housed in the couple of buildings I photographed. The local telephone company here — Brightspeed — uses a DMS-100 for switching the dissipating number of calls on copper POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines. Most people have switched over to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service.
It was through discussion with the CO-buildings.com webmaster (also the person behind telephoneworld.org) that I discovered how large and diverse the telephone collecting hobby is. Here in the United States, there are two organizations dedicated to connecting “phone phreaks” — the Antique Telephone Collectors Association (which covers everything from Alexander Graham Bell’s first 1876 phone, through the “candlestick” era to World War II) and Telephone Collectors International (which covers everything from 1876 up to the 1984 divestiture of the Bell System.)
Our discussion also led me to discovering SXSPhil’s YouTube channel covering switching equipment. While the switching part with all of its relays and electromechanical equipment is too complicated for my small brain to fully comprehend, I came across his video playlist specifically for beginners.
And, right around that time, I just so happened to find my grandparents’ old rotary dial telephone on a shelf in their basement. Talk about perfect timing!
Prior to the cutover to my grandparents’ VoIP line, the 1972 Stromberg-Carlson 500D used to live in their basement, but its loud ringer could be heard all throughout the house. It was joined by a heavy AT&T cordless phone (circa the 1990s) in the dining room and a slim Conair Prima series phone in their bedroom. After the VoIP line went active, the 500D became obsolete (as I’ll discuss later,) and the AT&T and Conair went into storage (presumably as well) as they were replaced with a four-phone Panasonic cordless set.
Cleaning the 500D
The 500D — manufactured January 1972 — had seen better days, as dirt was caked in and on its rotary dial and finger wheel. Its plastic shell was also extremely dirty.
Cleaning the phone was relatively easy, but I kept it simple as to not damage anything. After removing the finger wheel, I simply used a paper towel to wipe away the dirt fairly easily.
I then removed the shell from the phone chassis, and rinsed it under lukewarm water with no soap. I then scrubbed the grime off with a sponge, and repeated the process with a Brillo pad for the finger wheel — which had some grime really adhered on. An O-ring that goes around the dial also received a rinse.
Despite not using any soap or chemicals, the phone looks far better than when I pulled it out of storage. It went back together very easily — two screws hold the plastic shell to the chassis.
This was a very rudimentary cleaning. A more in-depth cleaning would involve disassembling the handset to clean it up, along with cleaning the hardwired line cord. Chemicals could also be used to make the shell look brand new, but I didn’t have any right off.
Testing the 500D
Because my grandparents phone line is now VoIP based, I couldn’t use it to test the 500D since it doesn’t support pulse dialing.
Thus, I lugged it to work — where I was able to connect it to a POTS line normally used by our fax machine. I used it to successfully make and receive a call.
“Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.”
When things in my personal life “stabilize,” I’d like to setup Asterisk (basically a software telephone switch) and get the 500D working on one of the “novelty” telephone networks — such as the Collector’s Network (C*Net) or PhreakNet. Stay tuned to see if that ever comes to fruition.
If it does, I’d like to eventually “expand” my telephone “collection” to include a colorful Western Electric 500 series phone — paying homage to my affinity for the Bell System.
To complement the 1972 500D, I found a 1971 United Telephone System phone book for our area on eBay — a copy of which would’ve likely accompanied the 500D when it was first deployed in my grandparents’ home way back then.
