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History of the Western Electric 500

Introduction

By the late 1940's, research and development in electronics and in plastics had come far enough that Western Electric felt it was time to replace the venerable old 302 that had been in production since 1936.

The design of the 500 was done by Henry Dreyfuss Associates. Henry Dreyfuss himself led the development of the 500, as he had the 302.

The model 500 went into production in 1949, and was initially available only in black, with a plastic housing and dial face, straight handset cord, and a bakelite handset. This finally changed in 1953, when four colors were introduced. Soon, coiled handset cords would become standard. Over the years, colors would come and go.

Although some various production changes and tweaks would occur over the over the years, the basic design remained almost totally unchanged from 1949 right up through the divestiture of AT&T in 1984. Production continued after divestiture under the name AT&T Technologies until 1986, when the Indianapolis Phone Works plant was finally closed, and production moved offshore.

The vast majority of telephones made by Western Electric were made for the Bell System, although they also made special models without Bell System markings for independents, which were sold through Graybar. Western Electric also made some special models of the 500 for military and government institutions.

Timeline

1949

• First year of production
• The bases are date-coded in the form, "mm-yy," where mm = month, and yy = year.
• Initial models use a 425A network, together with a model 311A equalizer unit.
• Just like Henry Ford, you can have whatever color you want, as long as it's black. All black sets have plastic housings, matching black plastic hookswitch plungers, bakelite model G1 handsets, and a model 7A rotary dial, with a black painted metal fingerwheel.
• The faceplates on the dials are clear, with the underside painted black.
• Straight handset cords are standard, with coiled cords available AS A PREMIUM OPTION???? NOTE: Not many of these original straight handset cords are left out there today. Most of them probably got replaced by the telephone companies with coiled cords whem they refurbished them. Not only that, but many of them later also offered to replace the straight cords for a one-time charge.
• The G1 handset has a groove running the length of the handset on each side, similar to the F1 handset and the later E1 handsets. The grooves were to remove the mold mark from the casting.
• The cavity for the transmitter cup has two prongs in it for holding the cord, and the back of the plastic cup is plain, with no prongs.
• The date of manufacture of the housing is printed in ink along the inside front.

1951

• Shifted from the 425A network with a separate model 311 equalizer (using the tungsten-element) to the improved 425B network, which had an integrated equalizer, using varistors. Special-purpose models like the 500J/K/T continued to use the 425A network WITHOUT an equalizer for a few more years.

1952

• Shifted from clear dial faceplates with black paint to double injection-molded faceplates, which have black plastic on top, and white plastic letters/number insets that are part of the backing.
• The grooves are eliminated from the inside of the G1 handsets???? NEED CONFIRMATION OF THIS.
• The prongs that hold the handset cord inside the cavity are moved from the bottom of the cavity onto the bottom of the plastic transmitter cup itself.

1953

• Four colors are introduced for the first time as a premium option. The colors are:
  • Ivory
  • Moss Green
  • Dark Gray
  • Cherry Red
  All of these colors come with straight neutral gray handset and line cords, clear plastic plungers, a colored plastic model G3 handset, and a model 7C dial with an open-center clear plastic fingerwheel.
• Black sets continue to have black plastic plungers, a model 7A dial, with a black painted metal fingerwheel, and a black model G1 bakelite handset.

1954

• Four more colors are introduced:
  • Mahogany Brown
  • Dark Beige
  • Pastel Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  All of the available colors come with straight gray cords, except brown and ivory, which come with matching straight colored cords.
• Colored sets are also now available either in full color, or two-tone (colored housing, but with a black dial face and handset).
• Shifted from 7A to 7D dial on black sets???? I know at some point this happened. The 7D dial, so far as I know, is almost identical to the 7C dial, except for having screws instead of die-stamped lugs holding the gear frame. Also, the governor on the 7D dial uses a spiral spring instead of a coiled spring on the centrifugal weights. Can anyone elaborate on why these changes were made, or why 7C was used on color instead of 7D?
• Coiled handset cords are now available as a premium option.

1956

• Coiled handset cords, which were previously a premium option, are now standard. IS THIS THE YEAR THIS HAPPENED????

1957

• Dark gray, dark beige, and dark blue are discontinued, and replaced with light gray, light beige, and light blue. Mahogany brown is discontinued on residential sets, but stays around a bit longer for key sets.
• Pink and white are added to the line, making a total of nine colors.
• Dial mounting brackets now have 2 mount points instead of 3????
• ALL HANDSET CORDS ON COLORED SETS NOW MATCH AND ARE ALL COILED????

1959

• Shifted from triangular leather feet to triangular neoprene feet.
• Two-tone colored sets are discontinued.
• ABS-based "hard" plastic is gradually phased in. This transition is completed in 1964.

1960

• The date of manufacture on the housing is now molded into the plastic near the cradle, instead of printed in ink along the front edge.
• Production of colors reaches: red 4%, yellow 7%, light blue 5%, pink 12%, white 27%, light beige 22%, green 7 %, light gray 5% and ivory 11%. These percentages are of the total 67% of production then which was in color. So roughly 33% of production is still black.

1961

• The die-cast aluminum top on the 7C/7D dials is changed from a complete circle to a point on top, and the gear frame is now die-stamped together, instead of held together with screws as before. IS THIS THE YEAR THIS HAPPENED?
• The resonator shells on the C-type ringer are now plastic instead of metal. IS THIS THE YEAR THIS HAPPENED?

1962

• Production of black G1 bakelite handsets gradually shifts to black G3 plastic handsets. This transition is completed in 1965.

1963

• Shifted from triangular neoprene feet to round feet which have ribs.
• Shifted from 425B network to 425E network. So far as I know, the only difference between these networks is a screw-on "C" terminal instead of a soldered one. (EARLIEST 425E NETWORK I'VE SEEN IS 11-63.)

1964

• Turquoise is added to the color palette, for a total of eleven colors, including the ever-popular BLACK.
• Transition to hard plastic is completed.

1965

• Transition to black G3 plastic handsets is completed.
• Black sets are finally brought in line with the colored sets. All of the colors thus now have hard plastic housings, plastic G3 handsets, clear plungers, and closed-center clear plastic fingerwheels.
• The #7-series dial is replaced with the #9-series dial on all colors. The #9-series dial is designed with an emphasis on quieter, smoother operation, and greater cost-effectiveness. Also note that the faceplates for #9-series dials are NOT interchangeable with the faceplates for #7-series dials. Unlike the #7-series faceplates, which are held in place by screws, the #9-series faceplates are held in place with a twist-on spring metal retaining ring.
• Shifted from black paint to yellow cadmium plating on the bases.
• Shifted to smaller handset cords???? NEED CONFIRMATION OF THIS.

1966

• The round neoprene feet are now flat instead of ribbed.

1968

• The bases and handsets on all models made for the Bell System are now stamped with the words, "Bell System Property, Not For Sale."

1979

• Shifted from 425E network to 4228 network???? DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN ON 500 SETS?
• Shifted from hardwired to modular line/handset cords????
• Changed the style of date coding. Instead of "mm-yy," it is now "yyddd," where yy = year, and ddd = the day of the year.

1983

• Shifted from the old model 9C dial to a new model 9CA dial. The new model 9CA is mechanically similar to the 9C dial, except that it has plastic bearings for the gear shafts, and a plastic shell around the metal governor drum. The faceplate is now held on directly by plastic lugs molded into the dial frame, instead of the metal retaining clip used on the previous model. Also, the traditional screwed-on fingerstop has been replaced with a clip-on fingerstop, which also acts as a way to secure the faceplate in place under the plastic holding lugs.
• Shifted from the 4228 network to the 4293 network. The 4293 network is similar to the network found inside the Trimline phones. Compared to the 4228, it sacrifices some performance in favor of lighter weight and smaller footprint, which were important for the Trimline, as well as lower cost.
• Introduced customer-owned models with "CS" prefix. They are pretty much identical to the traditional rented models, except that they lack the "Bell System Property, Not for Sale" markings. IS THIS THE YEAR THIS HAPPENED?

1984

• Production under the Western Electric name ceases, with the divestiture of AT&T. Production of customer-owned "CS" models continues a little bit longer under the "AT&T Technologies" brand.
• COLOR PALETTE CHANGES AGAIN FROM THE OLD WESTERN ELECTRIC PALETTE???? I THINK THERE WERE NEW COLORS AVAILABLE, BUT I'M NOT SURE.
• Shifted from metal screws and brass inserts to self-tapping screws directly into plastic to fasten the housing to the base???? NEED CONFIRMATION THIS WAS THE YEAR THIS CHANGE HAPPENED.

1986

• Production of the traditional Western Electric model 500 ceases altogether, as the factory in Indianapolis is closed, and production is moved overseas.

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