The Automatic Electric Co (maker of telephone equipment) was listed as being   
   at 1033 W. Van Buren St, Chicago 7.  But later ads simply said Northlake IL   
   60164, no street address given.   
      
   Would you know where the Northlake location was and if anything remains there   
   of the company?   
      
   Thanks.   
      
      
   Railroad note:  Many railroads and transit systems purchased an AE PAX for   
   internal use; some could be quite large with thousands of stations.  Likewise,   
   so did some large industrial works.  These systems were usually not   
   inter-connected with the "   
   outside" Bell network, and were owned, not rented.  A dispatcher's desk would   
   often have two telephone sets, a Bell set for outside calls, and an AE set for   
   internal calls.   
      
      
      
   While TCI* has a number of brochures and manuals on Automatic Electric, it is   
   generally tough to find any historical information about them, especially on   
   the war years and 1960s-1970s.  They did have what appears to be a fascinating   
   line of dial PAXs in    
   the 1950s of various sizes, more so than what Western Electric offered at he   
   time.   (The Phila schools utilized their 32A38 system, which apparently was   
   compact and inexpensive; it offered up to 100 stations but only one channel,   
   ideal for school    
   buildings where there was light intercom traffic.  It fit into a small   
   cabinet.)   
      
   * Telephone Collectors International, their library for members has extensive   
   material.   
      
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