WE 5302

This phone was a hybrid of the WE 302 and the 500, designed to use up excess inventory. When the model 500 was introduced, Western Electric had a large stock of 302 parts, dials, and electronics lying around, so they figured out a way to fit them inside a 500-style case to use them up. 5302s went into service several months after the model 500 was introduced. Originally the 500 was used on longer loops from the central office to improve transmission, while the 5302s were installed on shorter loops. Use of 5302s for new installations lasted only about five years after the launch of the 500, and conversion of 302s to 5302s ceased in the mid 1950s.

The model 5302 telephone was a look-alike product to the 500-type telephone that was introduced as a stopgap by Western Electric in 1955 to meet the increasing post-World War II demand for a modernized telephone. It reused existing component supplies from the older model 302 that the model 502 replaced. The 302 had been issued since 1937, but starting in 1950, units were replaced with the new 500-series sets, without having served their useful component life.