Old Telephone Switch Gear

[Mcnew32(Ag)]

More pictures

 

[Leo708]

Was wondering if you were able to identify anything of value in the third picture? I know literally nothing about scrapping/refining but cleaned out a rental and found a bucket of something very similar looking in the shed. From the looks of it it was there a very long time. Thanks in advance.

 

[Leo708]

The third picture I am referring to is the group of three pictures at the very top of this thread, the group relays that look like they have a spool of copper color thread like metal attached to a metal bracket. What I found looks a lot like that...

 

[nickton]

You definitely have some relays and switches with silver contacts. That much I can tell.

 

[OctoCutt]

Hello,

Guys I need to ask you something. Does such Philips relays contain gold ?
Thanks in advance.


Regards.

 

[kurtak]

Hello,

Guys I need to ask you something. Does such Philips relays contain gold ?
Thanks in advance.


Regards.

Those look like old telecom switch gear relays - the contact points in telecom switch gear relays can be made of several metals --- the point can be made of silver - or palladium - or an alloy of silver/palladium - sometimes they will be gold plated (just the point - not the buss bar) - generally these points are round points

So - if the points themselves are not gold (plated) then there is no gold (elsewhere) in the relays

Or they can be a very thin palladium points (attached to the bus bar) with a very thin gold cap (but thicker then gold plating) on top of the palladium - generally these points are square instead of round

The points on your relays look to be round & not gold plated - so - they are likely to be silver - or palladium - or a combination of silver & palladium (some of them silver & some of them palladium) or an alloy of silver/palladium

Here is a thread where I posted about this type relay where some of the points in the relays are silver & some of the points are palladium - along with instructions on how to process them

https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/three-types-of-contacts.23091/
Kurt

 

[OctoCutt]

Wyglądają jak stare przekaźniki rozdzielnic telekomunikacyjnych - styki w przekaźnikach rozdzielnic telekomunikacyjnych mogą być wykonane z kilku metali --- końcówka może być wykonana ze srebra - lub palladu - lub stopu srebra/palladu - czasami będą złote platerowane (tylko punkt - nie szyna autobusowa) - generalnie te punkty są punktami okrągłymi

Czyli - jeśli same punkty nie są złocone (powleczone) to w przekaźnikach nie ma złota (gdzie indziej).

Lub mogą to być bardzo cienkie punkty palladowe (przymocowane do szyny zbiorczej) z bardzo cienką złotą nasadką (ale grubszą niż złocenie) na wierzchu palladu - ogólnie te punkty są kwadratowe zamiast okrągłych

Punkty na twoich przekaźnikach wyglądają na okrągłe i nie pozłacane - więc - prawdopodobnie są to srebro - lub pallad - lub połączenie srebra i palladu (niektóre z nich są srebrne, a niektóre z nich pallad) lub stop srebra/ paladium

Oto wątek, w którym napisałem o przekaźniku tego typu, w którym niektóre punkty w przekaźnikach są srebrne, a niektóre z palladu - wraz z instrukcjami, jak je przetwarzać

https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/three-types-of-contacts.23091/
Kurt

Thank you Kurtak

 

[pkell]

I have an opportunity to acquire some old old telephone switch gear. At least I think it's old old telephone switch gear. There may be up to two tons of this stuff available, and I think I can buy it for about 20 cents per pound. The dark colored strips are copper, with spots of gold plating. The silver colored strips are magnetic, either 400 series stainless, or nickle.

Is any one familiar with this stuff? The last picture shows some contacts, would you expect Palladium?

Any guess as to how much this stuff might be worth?

(I hope I'm not burning up too much band width with my pictures.)

Hi, I can't see the pictures from this post. We just removed a room-full of retired telephone switch gear. I'm trying to confirm if it's the same and the best place for it to go so that it doesn't just get thrown into the steel pile!

 

[anarxi]

it's kind of like strings long stretched wires to which the contacts touch.
if they are in place, then this is very good.
They are at least silver, but may be an alloy with palladium.

 

[pkell]

Awesome! So are all of these grey spikes either silver or palladium alloy?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hi, I can't see the pictures from this post. We just removed a room-full of retired telephone switch gear. I'm trying to confirm if it's the same and the best place for it to go so that it doesn't just get thrown into the steel pile! View attachment 62454View attachment 62455

Welcome.
Here is the forum rules and some study material in case you are going to refine anything.

We ask our new members to do 3 things.
1. Read C.M. Hokes book on refining jewelers scrap, it gives an easy introduction to the most important chemistry regarding refining.
It is free here on the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=19798
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/safety.47/
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/dealing-with-waste.10539/

Suggested reading:
https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/the-library.101/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/when-in-doubt-cement-it-out.30236/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threa...le-read-this-before-you-post-about-ore.33333/


Forum rules is here.
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/gold-refining-forum-rules.31182/

 

[anachronism]

Awesome! So are all of these grey spikes either silver or palladium alloy? View attachment 62466 View attachment 62467

Not likely to be an alloy but likely to be a plating, and in the case of this gear a decent thickness given the time it was produced. You'll need to test though because there were also Nickel plated systems. Take a small sample and dissolve in Nitric and then test the solution. Alternatively take a sample to a guy with an XRF which would be fastest.

 

[anarxi]

You can quickly check without resorting to acid...


you need a 9-27 volt power source. (direct current)
an aqueous solution of ordinary kitchen salt.
where to connect + and - can be seen from the photo.
the cotton wool has a palladium color, and there will also be a strong smell of chlorine.
This color will be even if there is only 10% palladium in the alloy.
nickel will give a dirty green color, silver will be covered with a cheesy coating.

 

[anachronism]

You can quickly check without resorting to acid...


you need a 9-27 volt power source. (direct current)
an aqueous solution of ordinary kitchen salt.
where to connect + and - can be seen from the photo.
the cotton wool has a palladium color, and there will also be a strong smell of chlorine.
This color will be even if there is only 10% palladium in the alloy.
nickel will give a dirty green color, silver will be covered with a cheesy coating.

I've not tried that!

 

[NC_Cane]

We just removed a room-full of retired telephone switch gear.

Did you get the shelves with the circuit boards as well or mostly just the wire wrap stuff?

 

[pkell]

Got it all the items from the pictures but none of those had circuit boards. We also took out a row of old circuit boards as well as six telecom cabinets circa 2000.

 

[NC_Cane]

a row of old circuit boards as well as six telecom cabinets

I am not sure from your post if you are planning on selling these or attempting to recover the PMs yourself.
The row of old circuit boards and six telecom cabinets is where the value lies.