page_title: Model 202 telephone
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Model 202 telephone / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a Western Electric type 202 Imperial telephone as typically issued in 1955 by the Bell System, with its associated 684A ringer subset box.
context_page_description: The model 202 telephone was a desktop telephone produced by Western Electric for the Bell System from 1930 to 1939, and by Northern Electric in Canada. Refurbished units were installed into the mid-1950s. It was an updated version of the 102-type telephone, containing the newly developed anti-sidetone circuitry to reduce electronic feedback from the transmitter to the receiver.
  Like the 102 hand telephone, the 202 telephone consisted of the desk-top telephone instrument with the telephone handset and a physically separate subscriber set which contained the ringer and the electrical components to interface the desk set with the telephone network. Visually, it was distinguishable from the 102 by the oval shaped base, whereas the 102 had a round base. In addition, the 202 had the number 5H dial, whereas the 102 used the number 4H dial with a distinct "clickety clack" sound.
context_section_description: The 202 telephone, like the 102, consisted of two distinct parts. The desk-top set, containing only the dial and a cradle that secured a handset, which combined the receiver and the transmitter elements in one unit, in the on-hook position. The cradle contained a plunger that operated the hookswitch located underneath the cradle, inside the housing. The second part was a physically separate subscriber set (desk set box), in form of a metal or Bakelite box, which contained the ringer and the electrical components to interface the desk set with the telephone network. The desk set was connected to the subscriber set with a four-conductor mounting cord. The subscriber set was typically mounted either on the wall in close proximity, or to the rear or underneath a desk.
  Newly manufactured units used the E1 type handset, whose development period began in ca. 1921 and was completed by 1927. The handset was molded in Bakelite, but the receiver and transmitter assemblies had an aluminum metal core. Its transmitter assembly that was extended by a hollow mouthpiece, known colloquially as a spit cup, to focus sound more effectively into the transmitter. The barrier-button transmitter element exhibited a cone shape into the spit cup, known as a bullet transmitter among collectors. This feature was eliminated about halfway through the handset production run, when in 1934 the transmitter element was changed to a more efficient type (F1) with better voice reproduction. The F1 element had a flat disk shape and was protected by a simple plastic screen as moisture barrier and a cover grill. This element became the standard transmitter of a new handset type (F) in 1937, and was in use in the Bell System until the 1960s. When this new handset became available, 202-type telephones were often refurbished with the new handset.
  The vast majority of the original production run of the 202-type telephones were produced in black finish. For an extra fee, telephones and subscriber sets could be ordered in several other colors, both flat colors or hues with metallic luster.
caption: A Western Electric 202 Imperial telephone as issued in 1955 with a gold lacquered base and ivory Tenite plastic F1 handset. The subscriber set was painted in harmonizing color to the desk set.
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