Suggest This Page To A Friend!

1240d Switchboard Internal Wiring This is the switchboard as viewed from the back. You will note, top to bottom: the terminal strip to which external lines were run, below, the combined jack and signal drops mounted 5 per unit to make up some 165 individual lines. The neatly bundled wiring harness connects these to the circuits. Below the drops, you will see a five bar magneto used to ring out from the board to the subscribers. Beside the magneto, you will see the weighted cords hanging, connecting to jacks on the shelf of the board, which are used to connect calls to and from subscribers. Under this, you will see an equipment mount, used for various equipment used by the board, night bell, repeating coils, etc. Power (battery) wiring is accomplished from large terminal strips here. The board is enclosed in a steel reinforced red oak cabinet, seasoned and kiln dried, then finished in a golden oak finish..

This is the underside of the front shelf of the board. The cords are brought out to this shelf, in a convenient location for the operator. This board was in use for some 50 years - a testimony to its solid, reliable construction. Chisel to hold the shelf up an optional extra :-)

1929 Western Electric #7 Catalog, pgs. 187-189 - PDF file showing a slightly later version of the 1240 switchboard which corresponds to this board. Requires free Adobe Acrobat viewer to view.
Thanks to Roger Conklin for photocopies of these catalogue pages.