Western Electric Vintage Phone Dials the 4H, 5H, 6H and 7H a Sound Comparison!

A look at some vintage Western Electric rotary telephone dials. All of these dials have their merits and all function flawlessly and are extremely well made.
The earlier dials like the 2 and 4 share the same basic internal mechanism and sound identical when dialing. The 5 sounds similar and has a similar but smaller ratcheting mechanism and therefore is somewhat quieter.
When we get to the 6 and beyond the dials take on a very smooth continuous sound with no noticeable clicking or clacking.
Of course there are other dials from other companies but only the Western Electric dials noted have the loud ratcheting sound.

[@2012BeyondtheWorld]

You have a lovely voice.

[@RenaissancePeopleNYC]

Thank you!

[@BokBarber]

Thanks for the guide. Now I know for sure that I have a #5 dial.

[@EJP]

I like your work room. Looks like an awesome man cave

[@RenaissancePeopleNYC]

Thanks!

[@EJP]

@@RenaissancePeopleNYC I could spend hours’ hanging out there

[@brianandrews7099]

I personally prefer the “newer” dials over the older “click-at-tee-clack” dials for everyday use. I have a few phones that never came with dials but I added them so the phones will be more useable. On small, light weight phones … like a 202, a heavier turning dials just makes the phone base move around more when your dail the higher numbers. On W-Es, I like the newer 6U dials for daily use. They are easy and quiet to spin, very affordable, and the chrome or brass finger wheels do a nice job breaking up all the black color on the phone. As far as “feel”, the Automatic Electric dials are my favorite!

[@RenaissancePeopleNYC]

Yes Automatic Electric has a nice unique feel to it!

[@RenaissancePeopleNYC]

That's cool. I have my Mother's desk phone from 1956 that has a 6 dial. It is as you say wonderfully smooth and quiet. And that made it very successful since no one wanted these noisy things! Lol!

[@gutfinski]

Masterpieces of electro-mechanical engineering!

[@PaoloJeromeFernandez100899]

Cool telephones.

[@RenaissancePeopleNYC]

Thank you!

[@gutfinski]

Those sounds came from quality design and construction.

[@erintyres3609]

In the 1960's, phones had dial cards that looked like the one seen at 3:08. But what the 1950's? Did the dial cards look like the one shown at 4:54?

[@RenaissancePeopleNYC]

The one you see at 4:54 is our phone from Brooklyn. We moved in 1979. We were there since 1956. So even though the dial and phone were replaced the dial card was more than likely just moved to the new phone since they're all the same size. So that dial card IS from tbe 50's. This is why dating stuff can be so confusing especially with things like these phones that have been around a VERY long time!

[@gutfinski]

The old phone equipment was built like Sherman tanks. They were expensive to produce but it paid off in the long run by making service calls to the home rare occasions!

[@FrederickWawra]

Most of my phones in use are dial phone and I need to use a pulse converter to be able to use them on a fiber modem.