Telechime Call-Boy 100A Single Note

TeleChime Single Note 100A “Call Boy” Long Bell Door Chime

Telechime Single Note ~1939

The General Kontrolar Company offered a full line of door chimes under the TeleChime Brand in the late 1930s and early 1940s This is a Call-Boy Class 100B single note chime. This chime can be dated to 1933 when it was featured in a newspaper article and photo upon it’s installation as an elevator call at Elders Department Store in Dayton Ohio.

The TeleChime 100A was described in on page D-5223 of the Sweets Catalog as

Function-Sounds single chime note every time push button is pressed. Used as auxiliary chime in large mansions or remote outbuildings or where an inexpensive door chime and individual code calling system is desired. Installed exactly like a bell.

This 100A, along with other contemporary chimes from Telechime, features a unique adjustment for the strike. Two notches on the posts that suspend the bell allow for a gross lateral distance adjustment from the striker. A machined knurled thumb screw with a locking nut to allow fine tuning of the volume. When the thumb screw is turned clockwise (tightened) the travel of the solenoid plunger is minimized resulting in less velocity when it strikes the tube. This results in a lower volume. Conversely, when the screw is loosened exposing more threads, the plunger’s travel is greater resulting in a more volume.

The thumbscrew adjustment was accessible on the side of the chime and finished in chrome. This arrangement eliminated the need for the back of the solenoid to be recessed in the wall allowing the surface mounting as described in marketing material.

Another version of this chime, had the solenoid turned inward to bury in the wall for flush mounting.