Model 302 telephone

The Model 302 telephone is a desk set telephone that was manufactured in the United States by Western Electric starting in 1937, and in Canada by Northern Electric until the late 1950s, well after the introduction of the modern model 500 telephone in 1949. The sets were routinely refurbished into the 1960s.

The 302 is a member of the 300-series telephones and was sculpted by the industrial design firm of Henry Dreyfuss. It was one of the first widely used American combined telephone sets to include the ringer and network circuitry in the same telephone housing.

Designed by the firm of Henry Dreyfuss, the 302-type telephone included design elements influenced by Ericsson model DBH 1001 of 1931, designed in 1929 by the Norwegian artist and designer Jean Heiberg. After field trials in 1936, large-scale deployment commenced and the model was never completely retired from service in the Bell System.

The model 302 was the first Western Electric telephone to include the ringer and network circuitry in the same desktop unit. Earlier Western Electric models required the use of an external subscriber set (subset), containing the ringer and network circuitry, typically mounted on a wall.

The model 302 is built upon a rectangular steel base plate on which were mounted the ringer unit, the induction coil, a metal can containing two capacitors, and a connector terminal plate. The base was supported by four felt- or leather-covered triangular feet attached under each corner. The housing sat on top of the base, secured with screws, and contained the rotary dial and the switchhook, which was activated by two plungers in the handset cradle.

The majority of 302 telephone sets were produced in black; however, painted color sets were available by 1939 for subscribers willing to pay a surcharge for the option. The housing was originally cast from a zinc alloy until production sets were increasingly made from a thermoplastic material, Tenite, in 1941. The thermoplastic housings were available also in five colors: ivory, Pekin red, green, blue, and rose until telephone production was suspended due to the military material requirements for WW-II by orders of the War Production Board. Post-war telephone production resumed with black plastic housings in 1945 and by 1949 color sets were reintroduced. Custom colors could also be ordered, including the traditional dark gold, statuary bronze, old brass, and oxidized silver hues that could be special-ordered through the Bell System.

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