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 Northern Electric Catalog Cards

Northern Electric and Western Electric published an extensive card catalog covering practically every component part required to build the telephone network.  Like BSPs, individual cards were periodically added, revised or deleted, so no collection is likely to be comprehensive. This collection, contributed by Ken Lyons, is a PDF version of a catalog set that was produced by Northern Electric, with individual cards dated from 1959 to 1980.

The Main Index link takes you to a "Table of Contents" and alphabetized index of keywords that allows you to find a specific catalog card.  Each card has a "Back to Index" button that returns you to the Main Index.  From each specific topic area, simply scroll down to see the supporting cards.  They are sorted in numeric order.  You can also do a text search (Control-F) within the topic page for keywords of interest.

    Main Index - Northern Electric Catalog Cards

The index opens in a new window.  Simply close it to return here.

NOTE: Some users have reported that links to the cards are not operating properly. If you have problems, try the Firefox browser with built-in pdf viewer.

This seems to be limited to some software environments using pdf plug-ins that do not properly process the relative path addresses coded into the pdf files, and have worked for years. We are researching this and will post updates as we learn more.

Also see the Western Electric Card Catalog page: Western Electric Card Catalog

Browse with List View

List View is a tool to help users quickly browse through the Library's category structure and select a file.

It is available in selected categories (typically containing from about 15 to 1,000 entries) and is accessed by clicking on a link on the category page.  (e.g. "Click here for the list view.")

When selected, a page is displayed that shows a list of all available levels of sub-category under the current category.

Sub-categories are indented from their "parent" category.

A plus sign before a category name indicate viewable documents in the category.  Simply click on the plus sign or title to view the name and description.  Then click on Download or View to examine the file.

Please be patient!

The list view is created fresh every time it is used to make sure it is current.
It takes several seconds to load for categories with over several hundred entries.

Contribute Files to the TCI Library

Please help us find and archive copies of all telephony documents.  Even if your document looks similar to one in the Library, check to see if it might be a different printing (year, issue number, etc.).  Contents were often changed from edition to edition, so we prefer to store copies of them all.

Currently, an administrator must upload any new files. Send a brief note describing your contribution using the "Contact Us" link in the Menu Bar. An administrator will respond with further instructions on how to send the files.

Please include a brief description for each file:

DESCRIPTION: It helps if each file is accompanied with a short text description (a few sentences max) including appropriate keywords. This is added to the on-line description so the file will be found by common searches.

FILE FORMAT: .pdf files scanned at a minimum of 300 dpi are preferred. Good quality documents in other formats are also welcome. Bookmarks and OCR are helpful, especially for large documents.

TCI Library footers should be at least .25 inch from the page bottom if possible, as many printers do not print a full page and many users do not reduce (resize) pages before printing. Please use one of these footers:

TCI Library: www.telephonecollectors.info
Downloaded from the TCI Library: www.telephonecollectors.info

Please save any pdfs so they are compatible with Acrobat 5.

FILENAMES: To make life easier for Library users who download files to their personal systems, filenames should contain several relevant keywords separated by underscores. Common abbreviations help keep filenames short.

Please avoid spaces and special characters other than underscore, hyphen and period in filenames, as they confuse some sort or backup programs. Use hyphens and periods only where used in manufacturer document numbers and underscores everywhere you'd normally see a space. Use "i" instead of spelling out "Issue" to save space. Please abbreviate dates in MmmYY format (unless the date is also important) to conserve space. If only the year is known, please show all 4 digits (YYYY, e.g. 1927).

For example, for BSPs and similar technical reference archives, use a filename indicating the Document number_Issue Number_Date_Brief Title:

• C38.902NY_iB_Feb60_Wall_Receiver_Amp.pdf
• C38.904NY_iA_Oct58_Keysets_Receiver_Amp.pdf
• 512-730-400_i4_Sep79_4A_Speakerphone_Connections.pdf

For articles in documents, use Date_Publication Name_Start page_Article Title (abbreviated). For example:

• 65jun_BLR_p214_No1_ESS.pdf
• 60nov_BSTJ_p1381_Signaling_Systems.pdf
• 68jan_BTM_p16_Innovate.pdf

This way when files are downloaded the file indexes are sorted to allow browsing by document number/date.

Notes: BLR = Bell Laboratories Record, BTM = Bell Telephone Magazine, etc.

SENDING FILES:

A small number of files can be sent to an administrator by email.  Individual files up to slightly over 20MB have been successfully sent by email.

For large files or batches of files, posting them temporarily to a file sharing service or FTP site is preferable. Send an email to an administrator including instructions and passwords, if needed, to access your site of choice. We may be able to provide temporary storage for uploads.

Your contributions are appreciated. Contact us using the "Contact Us" link for details.

Search - Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why are search results sometimes arranged in a seemingly random order for Basic or Advanced Searches?

A: The search order you see is probably "Newest First" or "Most popular."  Check the "Ordering:" box on the results page.  Try selecting "Alphabetical" and click on Search to re-sort.

Q: When I click on the result of a Google Search, the file I get doesn't seem to relate to my search.  Why did I get this file?

A: Google searches work by matching keywords anywhere within a target file.  The match may be later on the page or file.  Try using a Control-F search within the file for your target text string or primary keyword.  If the source file is relatively low resolution, the Google search may have trouble recognizing letters and numbers, so erroneous matches may be returned.

If the found document was not OCRed, a Control-F search will not find anything.  You'll just have to page through the document and search the old-fashioned way.

Unfortunately, the Google Search results do not return the title of the TCI Library document.  Often the clickable link will be something cryptic like "View" or "Download."  If the text below the link looks interesting, click on the link and see what was found!

Q: I used copy-and-paste to move keywords into a search box and no results were returned from my search.  I know there are files in the Library that should have been found.  Why were there no matches?

A: This can happen when using copy-and-paste to move text from an html email to the search box. In some cases strange characters may have been caught in your copy opertion. If the characters are not visible, you won't know they're there! If a search returns 0 results, try typing in the search string and restart the search.