Model 5302 telephone

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The Western Electric Model 5302 was a transition set in the evolution of the Bell System desk telephone, utilizing a 500-styled case to cover a narrower 302 baseplate, ringer and network. While the dial displays its numbers and letters on the surround, exterior to the dial, like the 500, the dial is actually the smaller 5H dial of the 302 era that has been slugged with a black porcelained fingerplate made to resemble the inner part of a 500 series (plastic) dial insert. It is fitted with a narrower cradle that accommodates the earlier F1 handset instead of the Henry-Dreyfuss redesigned G1 handset used on the 500 series. It was probably produced to use up existing supplies of 302 parts, as well as relieve some of the demand for the new 500 sets, as the Bell System used images of their new subscriber set in its extensive advertising. Fewer of these sets exist than either the 302 or the 500 series whose histories they link, and the time they were produced was much shorter than either of the benchmark designs.