Gray 23 Coin Collector
Published: June 2011
This month’s item is a Gray 23. The 23 was made to mount on the front of a wall phone. It was designed to replace the standard transmitter arm that came on just about any standard phone. If you look at the picture of the rear you can see that there is a long slot in the back and many holes in a grid pattern around it. From the large number of holes there will be some that will line up with the holes left in the phone from whatever transmitter was removed and the slot is where the transmitter wire would run through into the collector. The wire would now connect to the transmitter through a set of contacts that make between the backboard and the upper housing on the type 23 collector. This was a nice way of adding a coin collector, unlike other models where holes had to be made in the front surface of a telephone for brackets and mounting screws this model can be installed and removed leaving no damaged areas behind. The talk transmitter mounted on the front of the collector would also be used to pick up the sounds of coins dropped in. At the top of the collector behind the slots is a “crab lock”. This lock holds the upper housing to the backboard. When the lock is released the upper housing can be pivoted forward and down to allow for servicing the unit as well as installing it to and removing it from a telephone. The key for the crab lock is common to all, the key to the vault as usual is unique to each collector.