Old Telephone Question

[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

[David Nebenzahl]

On 3/21/2011 10:13 AM Tony Miklos spake thus:

foad

(Not you, the person you were replying to)

[HeyBub]

That's because they can't spell, not some shorthand.

[HeyBub]

You can get BIG bucks for that thing on Ebay.

[notbob]

LOL!....

nb

[Jules Richardson]

I don't know, it was pretty rotted-out and probably incomplete (I even have a really fuzzy memory that's telling me it was used for training purposes, rather than a 'live' exchange - I might go chasing some details from folks who know for sure...)

There were a couple of other similar items there - a single operator station which looked like a later version (more metal, less wood and faux leather), and other 'thing' that seemed to be of that same earlier era, but much more complex. Oh, and a little 5-line (IIRC) PBX that was probably late 50s / early 60s (but still all nice banks of relays :-)

That rotted exchange is quite similar to the (much bigger) one that was found in the underground bunker at Burlington:

cheers

Jules

[clare]

Up here you need to dial all 10 now for a local call, and 11 for long distance

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

They did that here. It's been more than 5 years since they started requiring all 10 digits. AFAIK NOBODY uses the new area code.

[HeyBub]

You don't know 'til you try - heck, you've already got the picture.

[mm]

Faxcinating. They had a couple dynamos from crank telephones in the

8th grade science classrom, and we in the ham radio club played with them. Mostly we learned that when our hand or something was connecting the output screws, it was pretty easy to turn the crank, but when nothing was, it was much harder.

[jw]

I wish I could find one of those. I could start my own phone company and make a fortune. Even if I only charged $1 for each land line call, and $2 for each cellphone call, I'd still get rich for doing nothing but plugging in a few wires each hour of the day. :)

[Tony Miklos]

Yes, when I was in PA I had to dial all 10 numbers for all calls. But it's actually easier than here in TN. Down here certain numbers in the same area code may or may not require a 1 plus area code. I still say if the phone system is smart enough to tell me I should or should not have dialed a 1 plus the area code, then it's smart enough to just connect me the first try either way I dialed it!

[Tony Miklos]

That's odd, I thought it would be the other way like a generator or alternator. Actually it seems impossible for it to have been that way, if it was then all electric company generators would need less power for more output. Energy crisis solved.

[mm]

I was surprised too. I think it has to do with magnetic lines of force from the dynamo then acting on the dynamo making a force which would turn the crank in the other direction. If you stop cranking, it doesn't move in the other direction becaue you don't create that force. Something like that.

Well, I don't think it's a staight line. If there were two hands connecting the output, it woudln't be even easier, and to speed up the cranking, to power each hand, or bell, would take more energy.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I thought of that when I got that error message when (I forgot why) I had dialed a 1 before a local call. I would have thought it would cost them (the phone company) less to connect the call than the message-playing equipment.

[Josh]

Some regulatory agencies or state/local laws mandate that the phone company require the "1" before a toll call, so you know you're being charged extra. That extends sometimes to 10/11-digit dialing (10 digits if the call is in your local/free area, 1 required if not). Probably made more sense when even an in-state long distance call could be many tens of cents a minute...

Josh

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

And I suppose that requires the ANSENSE of a 1 before a local number.

[blueman]

My kids "compete" to see who has more text messages per month. Typically

2500-3000 per month. Luckily we have an unlimited plan :)

[blueman]

Well into at least the 1980's, we used to have to pay *extra* for touch-tone dialing (about $1/month) -- and we lived in a bigh high-tech Northeast city! It was considered a luxury feature.

Interestingly, touch tone dialing was often on by default (without charge) back in the days when you had to rent equipment from the phone company. But if you somehow added your own touch tone phone, they would eventually detect it and either start charging you or actually shut off the service.

Of course, this had everything to do with marketing and nothing to do with actual marginal cost since once the technology was installed it probably was cheaper to connect a touch-tone call than a rotary call.

[clare]

I just switched from Rotary to touch last year, when I retired the green wallmount Northern Electric 554 in the kitchen.