Western Electric 191G Pay Telephone
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I developed an interest in the pay telephone after finding a number of abandoned 685-A subsets around my college campus. Eventually I bought a Western Electric 233G pay telephone on Ebay, then later traded with a friend for his 191G in exchange for building a control circuit and wiring the 233G to work. I have schematics for the 233G as well as the 191G which I will e-mail to anybody who needs them, or you could try clicking on them and see if they come up. Additionally, the control circuit plans and schematic may be had at Doug’s website. Pay telephones are fascinating because of how many components they have, how they function mechanically, and how they managed to survive all these years without being discarded. I’d like these pages to explain as much as possible about the “three slot” Western Electric pay telephone. They’re called “three slot” due to the three coin holes in the top of the sets. This site has descriptions and photographs of the 191G, but the later 233G is very similar. This phone currently hangs in my dorm room on a wooden stand I built for it. They're very heavy and would damage the plaster walls if I were to install it directly into the wall. The phone is mounted on a 174A mounting bracket.
In this photo I have labeled five areas of interest on this set, A-E. The letter A corresponds with the “bucket” style coin return. This is a feature of the 191G and earlier pay telephones. The 233G had a “flipper” style coin return, in which the caller had to pull down a door to retrieve the refunded coin. The letter B corresponds with the area of the upper phone housing where a coin return button would be on the 233G. On the phone shown in the photo, my 191G, there is no coin return button. The letter C corresponds with the 685-A subset. The letter D corresponds with the top advertising bracket. Finally, the letter E denotes the instruction card frame. The instruction card frame is removable and is sometimes not found on the phones. Likewise the advertising bracket on top is also removable and is sometimes not found with the phones.
I had to buy the instruction card frame and instruction card from two different sources. They are relatively inexpensive. The instruction card frame is about $10 and the instruction card is $1. I also had to buy the coin box and vault door for the phone. Coin boxes may be had on Ebay for around $15 and vault doors may be had for around $40 with the original Western Electric lock and matching keys. I do not stock parts for these phones. Please do not e-mail me asking for parts.
The 191G has two keys. The top key
is a 10G key, which fits all Western Electric pay telephones and is currently
being reproduced and is easily available. The lower key for the coin
vault is unique to every phone. If a phone is missing its keys for the
coin vault, the lock must be picked or drilled out and a new Western Electric
lock needs to be installed with original keys. Locksmiths cannot
duplicate keys for these pay telephones because they are at least 40 years old
and the key blanks were never sold. Fortunately, 10G and coin vault locks
are commonly available on Ebay for around $25, with keys. The 233G has an
additional lock on the upper housing next to the 10G lock. It takes a
round key; those locks were added in later years by the phone company to
prevent vandalism. Phones without the second locks installed are more
valuable. Again, keys for the round upper housing locks (not shown in the
photos) are unique to each phone and cannot be made new. The lock must be
picked or drilled out and a new lock with its keys must be
installed. See the upper housing open.
See the other part of the upper housing, the
coin chute.
Here's just one good link I found for the Western Electric pay phones. It
has an example of many variations.
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