Re: How to determing directions of windings on telephone bell

:> Why not apply a small DC voltage and check with a compass the :> directions of the fields? :>

: :Hadn't thought of that. I'll have to did up a compass -- or a magnet and make one... : :Thanks, : :Jay

I think you will find that most telephone bells are polarised. ie. they have a permanent magnet parallel to the coils which makes the armature side-stable. The idea is that in most cases coils are connected in series and the + and - half cycles of ringing alternately aid and oppose the permanent magnet field to produce a "snap" action of the armature so that the hammer strikes the gongs more sharply than it would without a magnet.

Here is a typical UK ringer from the 1940's which shows the coils can be connected either in series or in parallel - so yours will probably work in a similar manner.

Here is the description of how the AC telephone ringer works.

The pictorial schematic of the coil connections shows that the finish of one winding connects to the start of the other winding when connected inseries.