Recently obtained this old gem and it’s very cool
1 Like
Wow, never seen a manual station like that before! Sorta reminds me of the MS-51 & the Thorn B-5 when it comes to the internal design & front design respectively. Any idea when it was made?
No clue, but if I had to guess it would be somewhere in the mid to late 1900s. So far, the only other enthusiast to have one of these is Mike.
Yeah, it might be that old.
That’s not Mike Wiesman is it? (who I’ve been told has a lot of rare devices in his collection) Shame none of the photos in that topic work anymore.
No idea, this Mike’s account was lost in the great server crash. Given the amount of rare and unique alarms, it could be likely it’s him
Bell System also rebadged a Faraday 10123-1 with similar Emergency Alarm labeling. My only guess is that these were used in telephone switch offices, but for what specific purpose I do not know. I have asked Evan Doorbell what they might’ve been for, but I have not received an answer.
Oh yeah, I’ve forgotten about that image. My mom has a friend who used to work at one of the many companies and is asking her to see if she knows who might have information. But given that big antitrust split, who knows what company has the information on it
I have dropped off the lock assembly at the local locksmith’s to see if they can fashion a key that will operate the lock. Hopefully they can
So, doing a little more research, it seems possible that Faraday and Bell had some sort of agreement, as a user on a phone forum believes my pull to be made by Faraday.
Additional searching also brings up multiple Faraday signals with Bell System badging. (Archive)
In addition, the design of label on the back of the Bell System KS-6931 looks very similar to the label on the back of the Faraday 5024HB.
It might be worth looking into past Faraday literature for more background on this pull station
A bit late to this topic but it’s amusing to see a KS number applied to fire alarm equipment in Ma Bell’s universe. Everything had a KS number, from pens, paperclips, right up to the huge KS-15676 horn reflector antennas on the Long Lines towers from AT&Ts old microwave network
2 Likes