Antique Westeren Electric Hand Crank Telegraph Magneto Generator For Sale

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Antique Westeren Electric Hand Crank Telegraph Magneto Generator:
$119.00

This is an antique Western Electric manual telephone magneto generator. It has a hand crank with bells inside the cabinet and would be used to power a telephone in the early 20th century and ring the central office. It is in good used condition. With a voltage meter, I am able to generate a maximum of 32 volts DC with the generator (CW). Normal tip and ring voltage in 1920 was 36 to 48 volts. There is wear to the wood finish, minor scratching, and dings that give it a ton of character given it\'s age. (see photos)Prefect for Home or Shop decorating, perfect gift for the telecommunication enthusiast in your life, fishing (yes, even fishing, provided you know how to use it for such (reserse (CCW) operation for AC) or even as a fireworks or gun powder igniter for the pyrotechnic hobbiest in your life.I picked this up back in the late 1980\'s at an antique telecommunication sale in Leslie, GA at their telephone museum as I was working in the telecommunication industry at that time.Found online about these devices:

\"The earliest telephone networks were Local Battery (“LB”) where each subscriber had their own dry battery for supplying the local loop. An AC generator provided the “ringing voltage” for alerting the exchange operator.

When large-scale automation of the telephone services started in the 1920s, it was found that dispensing with the local battery, and instead supplying the local loop centrally, was more practical as the operation of the switching centres and their transmission equipment required battery power anyway.

This paved the way for Central Battery (“CB”) architectures where all subscribers are provided with electrical power from a large storage battery which also fed all other electronic and electromechanical equipment in the central offices. In the earliest systems, ringing and dial tones were generated by motor-generator sets.

In the beginning, 24 V storage batteries with positive ground were used, but changed rapidly into 36 V and 48 V systems which are used today.\"