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The 581A consists of a
metal
plate with a 4010B or 4228 network and P1A ringer. Dial, transmitter, receiver, ringer and line are connected to the network. If mounted externally, a 6 conductor mounting cord is required. This one is dated 1/77. |
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At the
time of
manufacture, the customer could own the housing, but not
the internal
active components. These were provided by the
phone company as
part of the monthly service. Non-Bell companies designed phones to accommodate the components of the 581A. Here, the 581A is installed with a Deco Tel Candlestick telephone. The 581A is in the external "subset." They were also used with cradle phones and other custom-designed phones -- usually integrated into the main body of the phone (see below). Please send photos of other applications, and I'll post them on this page. Other examples of phones modified to work on the Bell System are found in the discussion here: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=19040.0 (Opens in a new tab) |
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Phones were provided
with no internal active components. In this
case, they even
provided a non-functional "dummy" dial, so the phone
could be displayed
in place until the installer arrived. Labels on subset (above) and set (below), provided details and directed the customer to arrange for the installation of Bell System active components. At installation, the Bell System installer put in the receiver and transmitter elements, dial and 581A -- then tested the phone. If service was discontinued, the phone company had the option to remove the Bell System components. In non-Bell areas, similar arrangements were made with the local phone companies, who would typically use AE/GTE or Stromberg components. |
F-56659 and F-56660Internals
for
customer-supplied housing and
handset. F-56659
included
a dial with silver fingerwheel and card holder. |
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Metal
plate with a 4010A network and P1A ringer. Mounted in a third-party supplied telephone. The phone is dated 2/68. The metal plate is marked F-56659/60, as the same subassembly was used for either kit. The dial fingerwheel and card holder color is the only difference. |
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Before the
Design Line
series, phones were tested and approved by the operating
companies. This one was tested by New York Telephone. NYT even issued a series of BSP appendices with NY as a suffix with installation instructions for sets they approved. For example, a similar set was documented in: Appendix 2, 501-410-101NY, Issue A, 10/66, N.Y. Tel. Co. |
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The bottom label shows
conformance to
Bell System specs. Mutual Telephone of America, Inc. New York City Model MTA-DL-SP-400 |