Old Telephone Question

[mm]

Especially since so many of those scenes of them clicking the hook take place in hotels, where they might well work.

[EXT]

I am old enough to remember dial-less phones with a crank. Operation was very simple. There were ALL the houses on the street on the line. Each house had a ring code that they listened to whenever a call was made to anyone on the line, yes, all the phones rang at the same time. In the basement were two huge dry cells that powered the phone.

You called someone by turning the crank which generated enough power to ring the bells on all the phones on the line. Our number was R5, which meant you listened for 5 short rings, some others were R1L2S, which was 1 long ring and 2 short. To call a neighbor you would turn the crank to create a long ring and 2 short rings or whatever their code was. Then you picked up the handset and listened to see if they picked up. To call out of your line to another line you held down a button and turned the crank, it would ring in the operator's office they would pick up and you told them the number that you needed to be connected to.

Later we got dial phones that automated the process without the crank but still used the party line with coded rings. I can remember someone calling from the city to one of the houses, and calling every 10 minutes throughout the night. Finally one of my parents picked up the phone and asked them to stop so we could get some sleep. Apparently there was an emergency and they were trying to get the other family and being in the city, did not realize that in the country all the phones were ringing not just the party that they had dialed.

[aemeijers]

In most areas that I have traveled in within US, you can still pulse-dial a telephone by using the hang-up button as a telegraph key. (if you still have a real electromechanical phone, that is.) It takes a little practice, but I have done it. They used to sell silly little mechanical locks for parents and employers to lock a telephone dial, for phones that didn't have anyone watching them, to prevent people from making free calls. People very quickly learned the telegraph-key work-around for that.

[Frank]

My uncle down the street had first TV in the family. Think the screen was either 6 or 9 inches, completely round. When Milton Berle was on, his living room would be full of relatives and friends.

[dpb]

On 3/20/2011 1:14 PM, mm wrote: ...

No clue about the M; perhaps it was a local or area co-op (Minnesota or somesuch area, perhaps?).

REC generally is used for Rural Electric Cooperatives, begun in '35/'36 by FDR. The REA (Rural Electrification Administration) was formally created by legislation in '36 and served as a source of low-cost loans to local co-ops.

It was reorganized and folded under USDA in the early 90's and the current organization is the RUS (Rural Utilities Service).

Folks began collecting potential member signatures for formation of our local co-op after VE day and the organizational meeting was held and the co-op formally organized within a month of VJ day. First lights went on in about 18 months from that point; it was mid '48 before the lines reached us at the then farthest west reaches of the service area.

Dad was founding board member and served for 50 years continuously.

--

[Kurt Ullman]

Rural Electric MEMBERSHIP Cooperatives.

[dpb]

_Never_ heard that perversion before...

Hmmmm....seems according to google to be concentrated in the SE and more upper midwest than out this here way...oh, there's one in W NE but that's "way up north" for us... :)

But, does seem probably the jingle, indeed.

Out here they're generally just named as Such-and-such Electric Co-op, Inc.

This is us'ens...

--

[Kurt Ullman]

Interesting. Growing up in the wilds of Indiana, never heard otherwise. Regionalism, I guess.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 3/20/2011 8:17 AM Mark Lloyd spake thus:

Hey, this is the same situation when I lived in Flagstaff, AZ (until

1989). There were two old exchanges, 774- and 779-, which allowed you to drop the first two digits and dial 4-xxxx or 9-xxxx. I guess this was a common feature at that time in the U.S.

What small town were you in?

[mm]

I only had to do that when I was kidnapped by communist agents and held in a basement for 4 months. Then they changed my room to one with a locked phone. I'm glad 911 is only 3 digits.

[mm]

Kurt and everyone, When *did* they turn on the lights in the country (as opposed to using windmills, dynamos, batteries, and battery operated lights and radios**). The commercials were run in the 50's and 60's, but they used the past tense and never said how much ealier.

**Many, most, or almost all radios were AC/DC

Yes, that's it! And of course ftr they didnt' say Remc, but Are Eee Em Cee. There were more lines to the jingle but I don't remember them anymore.

But you don't say where you are.

Well, these were meant for all of central Indiana

[clare]

OLiver4 became 654, just like MOhawk9 became 669, and SHerwood4 became

744 for direct dialing. And most definitely, not everyone had a phone "back when"

And with the "crank" phone, if you needed to talf to someone on your same "line", you just cranked the "ring" number.

Grandad's farm was line 56, ring 32, so to get anyone on the "line 56" (party line) you just cranked three short cranks, a space of a few seconds, and 3 more, for instance, to get the Visschers on "ring 33"

[dpb]

On 3/20/2011 8:37 PM, mm wrote: ...

I posted a link to the USDA RUS web site that has a nice history and wrote that the initial REA was part of the New Deal w/ founding legislation signed in 1936. Things progressed pretty rapidly after a source of loans was available. I think the first REC connections were made in '37 or '38.

...

Did, too.... :)

...

follow the link and you'll be within 40 mi or so of the house... :)

--

[mm]

Yeah, for sure. I don't know why I made it sound like there was a doubt.

Let me try that. OL4-5633. It's ringing.... I'll post back after I talk to them. I'll tell them Clare at 5622 was speaking favorably about them.

[Tony Miklos]

Had that in PA too but it stopped working in the early 70's.

[Tom Horne]

To this day the firefighters of the City of New York still use K at the end of radio transmissions just as their great grandfathers did at the end of telegraph transmissions. "Start the water K"

-- Tom Horne

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

Henderson, Texas (between Tyler and Shreveport LA). At one time, all the local phone numbers were (214) 657 - xxxx. Now there are too many people, and cell phones. Exchanges now include 655, and at least 239, 646, 658, 720,

722 for cell phones. Also, the area code has changed, 214 is just around Dallas.

[Al Capone II]

Who gives a shit !!!! Who cares what texters do, this is usenet. Texting is stupid anyhow !!!!

[Tony Miklos]

K

[Jules Richardson]

We had this one rotting away in the entrance to a storage building where I used to work:

... not sure how old it was, but probably 1940s. Operator lights visible at the top of the plugboards. I can't remember if the stations on the reverse-side were identical or not. I think they had dials to the right of each of the three stations, but these had been removed and were kicking around in a box somewhere.

(the thing underneath is a printer used as part of seismic monitoring setup, and not related to the rest)

cheers

Jules