I saw the "Old TV" thread this morning and thought I'd post one about old telephones. With all the high tech push button gadgetry in the house, we still have and use two old American-made, rotary dial telephones. It's amusing to watch the cell phone button-punching texter generation try to use a rotary phone. Most have never seen one and they are almost mesmerized by the sound of the mechanical ring with its real bells. These things were and are just part of life for me, but to the younger folks, they're part of history.
Old Telephones
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cowboy117
Member
We had a hand crank phone till i was almost 16.Our ring was a long,short,long,short-my best friends was a long,short,short,long.In case of fire,etc.a person could just crank the ringer 10 or 12 times and everyone would listen in and respond.Also,when you heard a ring,usually in the evening,of a young person who was dating,you could listen in to hear the sweet nothings!My aunt and uncle lived in town-when calling them,a central would come on and you would say "122,please".She always knew you.I grew up 5 miles from a town of 300.Good times.
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Last year the grandsons found great-grandma's rotary phone while exploring the upstairs. Older one convinced the younger to try it out by dialing 911. It worked. The sheriff called grandma to check on the hangup call. Boys knew they were in big trouble.
Possibly when they inherit the house they may be allowed back upstairs.
Possibly when they inherit the house they may be allowed back upstairs.
JamesSion
Member
Old Phones
Cowboy, we had a twin to the one you show in your picture. Our ring was one long and one short. In the 1960's a telephone company man from New Orleans who was a friend to my father took the phone and placed a rotary dial in the inside and kept the receiver and speaker as is. So it looked like always but was the latest techology of that time. My son has it today on his wall. Great memories of that old party line.
Cowboy, we had a twin to the one you show in your picture. Our ring was one long and one short. In the 1960's a telephone company man from New Orleans who was a friend to my father took the phone and placed a rotary dial in the inside and kept the receiver and speaker as is. So it looked like always but was the latest techology of that time. My son has it today on his wall. Great memories of that old party line.
Faulkner
Member
The picture below shows an old Delco radio and a old bakelite pre-rotary phone with cloth insulation on the wiring. These and the S&W 'bicycle gun' were passed on to me when my grandmother passed.
indiandave
Member
My sister still has one in her kitchen. They use their cell phones 99% of the time. Still it looks cool on the wall though.
I still have one of those old wooden phones hanging on the wall in the dining room.
We had a barb wire net work between ranches as I grew up. We were two short rings.
A cousin got a mobile phone in the late 50's. Can you imagine having your adult cousin's wife call to make dates for you?
Hello?
Hello this is Chip's cousin. I'm calling to see if you would like to go to a movie with him next Sunday afternoon......
Long pause..... Why isn't he calling himself?
He doesn't have a phone to call out with, I am relaying the message for him.......
He doesn't have a phone??
No, I am on a mobile phone and calling for him. He can hear us talking...
Who are you again?
I'm his cousin, I live 6 miles from him and he is on another party line.
Uh, I don't think so..... I don't understand.......
Chip did you hear that?
Yeh, thank you.. I think I'll crawl back under my rock now....
It was nothing to drive 30 miles to a pay phone to make a date and 100 miles on the date if I was lucky enough to get one.
When ranch kids got married, they stayed married. They din't want to have to go through all that trouble agin.
We finally got connected to the world in 1962. We had to build 65 miles of phone line to Ma Bell's specs and sold it them for $1.00 in order to get phone service. I climbed a lot of poles that summer.
Even then any call I made was long distance until 1999.
We had a barb wire net work between ranches as I grew up. We were two short rings.
A cousin got a mobile phone in the late 50's. Can you imagine having your adult cousin's wife call to make dates for you?
Hello?
Hello this is Chip's cousin. I'm calling to see if you would like to go to a movie with him next Sunday afternoon......
Long pause..... Why isn't he calling himself?
He doesn't have a phone to call out with, I am relaying the message for him.......
He doesn't have a phone??
No, I am on a mobile phone and calling for him. He can hear us talking...
Who are you again?
I'm his cousin, I live 6 miles from him and he is on another party line.
Uh, I don't think so..... I don't understand.......
Chip did you hear that?
Yeh, thank you.. I think I'll crawl back under my rock now....
It was nothing to drive 30 miles to a pay phone to make a date and 100 miles on the date if I was lucky enough to get one.
When ranch kids got married, they stayed married. They din't want to have to go through all that trouble agin.
We finally got connected to the world in 1962. We had to build 65 miles of phone line to Ma Bell's specs and sold it them for $1.00 in order to get phone service. I climbed a lot of poles that summer.
Even then any call I made was long distance until 1999.
Lee in Quartzsite
Member
I remember when my aunt and uncle replaced their hand-cranked phone with the "modern" rotary dial phone. We took the old phone and had lots of fun with it. My cousins and brothers would hold hands and the two on the end would each hold one wire from from the phone. Then my uncle would crank the phone as fast as he could, sending an electric current through the wire and around the circle of hands. Whoever let go first was out, and then we would repeat the process until the last person was declared the winner. Cheap fun on a Saturday night.
Bullseye 2620
Member
Well, I was going to put up a post talking about how, in the pre-rotary dial days, I would just pick up the hand set and tell the operator (Mrs. Pruitt, my across the street neighbor) the three-digit number I wanted, but after reading Iggy's post, there's no way I can top that.
"Livin' out in the country" means different things in different places, fer shore!
Bullseye
"Livin' out in the country" means different things in different places, fer shore!
Bullseye
Talk about memories of my grade school years!!
At that time, mid 1940's, I was living just West of Poplar Bluff, MO.
Our ring was 2 longs, and 1 short........
At that time, mid 1940's, I was living just West of Poplar Bluff, MO.
Our ring was 2 longs, and 1 short........
nicky4968
Member
On the ranch in Keota, Colorado we had the "bob-war" phone system. Could only call other ranches connected to the barbed wire. Dry cell batteries. The magneto was had to crank, as you were trying to ring a lot of bells. My stepfather and mother had a law business in Greeley. Later when we went to the farm outside Greeley, we had contact with the outside world.
I remember picking up the phone. Operator would come on (my grandmother called her Central). Occasionally, as soon as she would hear my voice or the voice of one of my brothers, she would say, "Your parents went to Denver".
I remember picking up the phone. Operator would come on (my grandmother called her Central). Occasionally, as soon as she would hear my voice or the voice of one of my brothers, she would say, "Your parents went to Denver".
kleinkaliber
Member
Those old crank telephones will still work today by just putting a modern jack on the end of the original cord. You can't call out on them, but when you get a call it will ring and you can answer and talk on them.
I have an old Stromberg-Carlson desk phone from the '30's that I hooked up in the bedroom. Had to disconnect it because when it rang while I was asleep, those very loud bells would make me about hit the ceiling.
I have an old Stromberg-Carlson desk phone from the '30's that I hooked up in the bedroom. Had to disconnect it because when it rang while I was asleep, those very loud bells would make me about hit the ceiling.
rcnixon
Member
My family used to bring my maternal grandmother, Nana, from NJ to PEI every summer so she (and we!) could visit "up home". Nana would stay at her brother's house and we would stay with Mom's cousin Theresa. In order to arrange things beforehand, Mom would call Theresa; Mom would call the Charlottetown operator and ask for "circuit 43, three long rings". It worked pretty well but when word got around the "the yanks" were on the phone, the signal would drop until Mom and Theresa were shouting to be heard. Theresa would then scold the others and as they hung up, the signal would restore and normal conversation could continue.
We drove up every year from '59 to about '67 (Nana died in '64) and my folks continued to go every three of four years after that. I remember that the rural electrification commission came around in '66 to install electricity.
It was very rural and I loved it. Going back is on my bucket list.
Russ
We drove up every year from '59 to about '67 (Nana died in '64) and my folks continued to go every three of four years after that. I remember that the rural electrification commission came around in '66 to install electricity.
It was very rural and I loved it. Going back is on my bucket list.
Russ
BLACKHAWKNJ
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I finally had to retire my rotary phone (at home)-which took the place of a touch tone phone that stopped working properly-because of changes in the phone service. Bought a touch tone wall phone at a local thrift shop for $5. I remember a wall mounted crank phone in the house we moved to in Vermont in 1956, though it was soon replaced.
Gaffer
Member
Our old telephone number was 128-31. The old single wire ground system was simple but effective. Was our only system until I went to high school and I am 78 now. Ironically I was a telephone CO man for 32 years and saw all the innovations up to cells and light-wave transmission. We have come a long way and I am not sure it all is that beneficial.
