TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Western Electric: What is This Device?

Western Electric: What is This Device?

David B. Horvath, CCP (dhorvath@cobs.com)
Fri, 31 Dec 2004 21:23:17 -0500

My brother moved into a new house and I was helping him with some
wiring and plumbing. Attached to one wall was a Western Electric
device that was really weird. It consisted of a square box with an
old style house fuse (round, with the box marked 0.3 AMP) that had a
regular AC plug on one side and an electric motor on the other.

The motor is marked:
Made for Western Electric
Holtzer - Cabot
Division of First Industrial Corporation
BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS - U.S.A
TYPE RWC SIZE 3712 HP <blank>
VOLTS 105/125 AMPS .23
CYCLES 60 PHASE 1 RPM 3530
KS 5472O1 L 13 NO. 1673967

The motor drives a box marked:
MAGNETIC
GENERATOR
MADE FOR
<italic>Western Electric Co.</italic>
BY
HOLTZER-CABOT
DIVISION OF FIRST
INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION
BOSTON * U.S.A. * CHICAGO
TYPE- H.F. 1
VOLTS - 13.8-18.6
M.A. 23-31
CYCLES 1000

The output of the generator is connected to a series of resisters and some
components on the back that I can't figure out. The wiring all ends up at a
connector block of sorts.

The backer is plain grey metal marked:
SDG
J94002A-6

The power plug was not in nor were any other wires connected to the
unit. So I have no way of knowing how this unit was used. I did not
see any obvious dates.

Can anyone help?

- David

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think it is a power supply/ringing
generator unit. Its purpose is to make the little bulbs flash in
one of the older style 6-button, 5-line with hold button phones. When
ringing voltage comes on the line, a relay is tripped which sets that
box off doing its thing with a reduced voltage, among other
things. PAT]

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