History of the ITT/Kellogg 500

Introduction

ITT/Kellogg's 1500/2500 were virtually identical to the Western Electric 1500/2500. I don't know what else to say.

By 1965, ITT dropped the storied Kellogg name altogether. Despite the name change, however, production of their 500 sets continued as before for many more years.

Up until 1970, the changes in production of ITT/Kellogg 1500/2500 sets generally tended to mirror those in the Western Electric sets. After 1970, however, they began making a few additional minor changes of their own, including: changing from potted networks to printed circuit networks, changing from metal to plastic ringer frames, and a slightly different color palette from Western Electric. Otherwise, however, ITT/Kellogg 500 remained virtually indistinguishable from those made by Western Electric.

By 1989, ITT was in a financial mess, and sold off its remaining telephone manufacturing operations to Alcatel. In turn, a group of private investors bought the remains of Kellogg from Alcatel, naming the new company Cortelco (short for Corinth Telephone Company).

Production of the Cortelco 2500 continues to this day, almost completely unchanged from the final days of ITT.

Timeline

1964

• First year of production.
• Bases are yellow cadmium plated.

1965

• Production moved from Chicago to Corinth, Mississippi.
• Kellogg name dropped. Production continues just as before, but under the name "ITT".
• Shifted from screws to rivets holding the network and hookswitch on the base.
• Shifted from soft to hard plastic
• Switched to plastic handsets on all colors.

1968

• Switched from 1500 to 2500.

1969

• Shifted from metal to plastic for the potted network can. The potted circuit contained inside is indentical, however.

1970????

• Shifted from W.E. color palette to a new, unknown one. I NEED HELP IDENTIFYING THIS NEW COLOR PALETTE.

1976

• Shifted from potted network to printed circuit network
• Shifted from metal frame ringer to plastic frame ringer.

1980

• Shifted from old-style to new-style U1 and T1 elements, with push-in spanish terminals on their U1 receiver element.
• Shifted from Type 32 to Type 42 dial????

1989

• Name changes from ITT to Cortelco
• The screws that hold the housing down to the base, which were orignally metal screws tapping into brass inserts in the plastic, have been replaced with self-tapping screws that make their own threads directly in the plastic.

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