[GreenKeys] Interesting week, interesting find

[Rokumon Cat]

Hi again!
 
This week has been interesting, in that the construction has been completed on our house, and the stair lift will be installed a week from this Monday. 
 
I am once again enjoying my TTY machines, and will hopefully be "on-line" soon with them.
 
On the phone front, through a long series of strange events, I was contacted by someone with a green Call Director. I was elated as I have been looking for one of these specifically. When it arrived, as the sender warned me, (it was a gift), the front bezel, handset and dial were missing. This is no big deal, as these things are available from the hard core Western Electric phone collectors.
 
Anyway, when I unpacked it, I couldn't help but feel that this was not something common. I am the first to admit that what I know about phones is dwarfed by what I don't know, so I started asking questions on the TCI mailer. It turns out that what this unit is is a 624A10 "Recorded Announcement Frame" console. Weco only made a few of them, and they had no dial. They also used a PTT handset, and had no hold button. They were apparently used in COs and very large PBXs. I have also learned that it was mostly used with #1 ESS (first non-mechanical telephone switching system). Really cool device, but as *the* phone guru Arthur P. Bloom told me, the bezel and little accessories that it needs are made of "Unobtainium". So, I will clean and restore the shell, pack it carefully in a archival (acid free) box, and put it in the "phone closet" for future reference. As the main character in the children's story, The Little Prince, once said about volcanoes, "...One
 never knows..." 
 
Here is a photo...
 
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j291/AmourDuTigre/IMG_1889.jpg
 
I am actually quite excited about this find, as even the great JKL telephone museum does not have one of these on display. If I am ever lucky enough to find the proper bezel, this unit will be at the front and center of my own fledgling phone museum.
 
Joe