An Automatic Electric Model LPC 82-55 3-Slot Payphone

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An Antique Automatic Electric 3-Slot Payphone With A Working Coin Mechanism _____ Submitted For Your Consideration: A 100% Authentic and Original Automatic Electric Model LPC 82-55 Prepay, 10 cent, 3-slot payphone. _____ This Is The Only Automatic Electric 3-Slot Payphone Currently On Ebay With A Coin Mechanism That Functions In A 100% Historically Correct Way. _____ There are sellers on Ebay that have tried and failed to duplicate the way these payphones operated when they were in service. Since they aren't capable of replicating history, they decided to rewrite it. Using double-talk to misrepresent, distort or rewrite history is an insult to history and your intelligence. This is the only Automatic Electric 3-slot payphone currently on Ebay with a functioning coin mechanism that isn't a figment of someone's imagination. Its operation is 100% historically correct. _____ Payphone History The Gray Paystation Mfg. Co. held the patent for the gravity drop coin signaling mechanism used in 3-slot payphones, and manufactured them for the Bell System until 1935. In 1948, Automatic Electric bought the payphone division of The Gray Paystation Mfg. Co. In 1957, Automatic Electric became part of General Telephone and Electronics (GTE). By the mid-1980s, Automatic Electric (GTE) discontinued manufacturing 3-slot payphones and scrapped their stock of finished sub-assemblies and parts. The parts used to build the payphone in this auction where purchased at that time. I am fortunate to have a source for these NOS parts. _____ The Payphone Is Supplied With: A telephone line coupler/power supply A top and front mounted instruction card holder with instruction cards The proper vintage locks and keys A black painted Automatic Electric vault door A chrome finger wheel (it's really chrome, although it looks black in the picture?) The correct model number plate ___ __ 'Automatic El ectric' (?) There are many auctions on Ebay that 'say' they are for Automatic Electric payphones; some are, some aren't. Automatic Electric on the outside doesn't always mean it's Automatic Electric on the inside. ___ The picture below is the payphone in this auction with the top removed. It was built using 100% vintage 'new old stock' Automatic Electric parts; then the circuitry needed for coin control was added. This is explained in detail further in the auction. ___ Now, compare that picture to the one below. It is from one of my 2009 auctions. It shows what isn't authentic Automatic Electric and explains why. All of what you read below in italics was in that auction. "The long blue printed circuit board is the speech network. It was built by the Teltronics Corp. of Gainsville, Florida. Teltronics manufactured complete, inexpensive 'after market' circuit boards that replaced the electronics of Automatic Electric 3-slots. They were used by refurbishers to rebuild payphones economically and get them 'out the door' and back into revenue-producing service as quickly as possible. Although not high quality, they did an adequate job. ___ Any 3-slot that has one of these boards is not an authentic Automatic Electric payphone. If the seller is knowledgeable and honest, this will be noted in the auction and the payphone valued accordingly." ___ If you were buying an antique car would you pay top dollar if it had a generic after-market engine? ___ Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, the reason for the use of Teltronics boards was not because Automatic Electric stopped selling replacement parts for 3-slot payphone "early on" or at any other time. That statement was made by another seller and is nonsense! As a matter of fact, ten years after they discontinued manufacturing 3-slot payphones huge quantities of replacement parts were still being offered to payphone refurbishers by AE (GTE) . The 'new old stock' parts used to build the payphone in this auction were purchased at that time. ___ You'll find Teltronics boards in the last of the 3-slots that were taken out of service because... read more

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