Model 302 telephone

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A 1945 Western Electric 302 with thermoplastic case, in this case a military unit with an Automatic Electric dial

The Model 302 telephone subscriber set was manufactured by Western Electric from 1937; manufacture of entirely new units was ceased in shortly after the introduction of the Model 500, but Model 302 units were continually remanufactured as such at least until 1958, and as the Model 5302 well into the next decade. The Model 302 was in-plant from 1937 and never utterly retired. Designed by Henry Dreyfuss, it was the first widely-used subscriber set to include the ringer and anti-sidetone circuitry in the same unit as the rest of the subscriber set; prior Western Electric models required the use of an external “subset” (aka “bell box”). (Siemens & Halske had earlier introduced a version of their Telephone 232 combined with their Bell Set 26, so the frequently made claim that the Model 302 subscriber set is simply the first “combined” set is mistaken.)

The Model 302's base shell was originally made out of cast zinc and these zinc shells continued to be manufactured into 1946; but in 1941 manufacture of thermoplastic shells was begun. Thermoplastic shells were made into 1954 (with later manufacture of shells being for purpose of remanufacture of sets). The first units used the E1 handset, had a vent under the cradle, and had feet riveted to their bases. Beginning in 1938 the F1 handset was used, the vent was eliminated, the feet were bolted to the bases, and the cradle flanges and switch-hook buttons were enlarged.

Most of the Model 302 sets came in black, but eight other colors — ivory, bronze, silver, gold, rose, blue, green and red — were added toward the end of the phone's production run. The early phones had metal dials, while newer specimens featured plastic dials. The original handset cord was straight and covered with brown woven fabric, but a plastic-covered cord was later introduced, then followed by a coiled plastic-covered cord.

These sets were rugged, readily reparable, and owned by AT&T (who leased them to subscribers). Beginning in August 1955 and extending into the 1960s, AT&T began remanufacturing the Model 302 as the Model 5302 (aka “Model 3500”), with a base shell of new design (and sometimes with a handset of new design) which gave the set something of the appearance of a Model 500.

Other manufacturers produced sets of very similar appearance. Perhaps the most notable of these was the Stromberg-Carlson Model 1243, distinguished by beveled corners and flanging on the handset.

[edit] Trivia

The set of course appeared in many films from the time of its introduction through the 1960s, and was ubiquitous in television shows of its time, such as the popular 1950s situation comedy I Love Lucy. Thus, it is sometimes called a “Lucy phone”.