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Vintage Phones

Tony in Tarzana

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,276
Location
Baldwin Park California USA
That wall phone is actually based on a ringer box with the addition of a dial, transmitter and hook switch. If you look at it and a ringer box side by side you'll see the many similarities.

Clever bit of design work on Western Electric's part, eh?
 

KilroyCD

One Too Many
Messages
1,966
Location
Lancaster County, PA
Here's one of my candlestick phones. Though not an antique, it's a vintage repro, being about 35 years old. The old Sheppard Field phone directory is original though.
100_0371.jpg
 

scotrace

Head Bartender
Staff member
Messages
14,392
Location
Small Town Ohio, USA
I'm sorry but I spoke too soon. After digging, all I have left is a Monarch telephone bulletin showing products and parts for wall & desk phones plus switchboards from 1915.
 

Forgotten Man

One Too Many
Messages
1,944
Location
City Dump 32 E. River Sutton Place.
dhermann1 said:
So, do you dial out on it? I assume you could receive calls, but the outgoing bip bip bip has to be turned into tones to work on a modern touch tone line, right? (You can tell how technical I am.) LizzieMaine mentioned something about having a black box on the wall that works as an adapter.
This thread has me just crazed to get an old style phone!
BTW, I also see those Philco ads. 613?

I use my '38 Western Electric with no problems on modern phone lines. I have a cordless that I use some times if I'm on the phone and need to run to the PC... I can be on the old phone and just switch over very easily... the only problem that I have with using an old phone is if I were to call my bank and have to punch in pin number and such... rotary will only work to dial out. So, I just pick up my touch tone and do what I need to do, hang it up and then continue on the classic. lol

Not sure how long we'll be able to use these oldies... I hope it's for a good long time to come!

FM~
 

ScionPI2005

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,335
Location
Seattle, Washington
Forgotten Man said:
I use my '38 Western Electric with no problems on modern phone lines. I have a cordless that I use some times if I'm on the phone and need to run to the PC... I can be on the old phone and just switch over very easily... the only problem that I have with using an old phone is if I were to call my bank and have to punch in pin number and such... rotary will only work to dial out. So, I just pick up my touch tone and do what I need to do, hang it up and then continue on the classic. lol FM~

Hehe! You're certainly a lot more determined than I am! I usually end up just using the modern touch tone for calls that require a menu or data entry.
 

MrNewportCustom

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,265
Location
Outer Los Angeles
Mike in Seattle said:
Here's a link to a listing of what ATT recommended be used for exchange names in the mid-50's.
<snip>
I know the suggested exchange they have for the phone number I grew up with isn't what it actually was - Newmark for the 63 beginning of the number in Long Beach, CA.

When I was growing up in La Puente, CA, our exchange was EDgewood 3-3658. The area code has changed a couple times, and the number was changed once.

gluegungeisha said:
My grandparents gave me their phone when they sold their house. Nothing fancy, but I use it everyday and it works very well. I love the ring, and not having to worry about dying batteries.

1-28002.jpg

Exactly the phone we had when I was a kid. I wonder if my mother still has it. Hmm . . .

ScionPI2005 said:
I have that old ringer style on my cell phone too. In fact, I was in a restaurant the other day and I heard that exact ring on some one else's phone...I thought for a moment that I would have to kill them; cause hey, I have to be the only one with that old style ring! :rolleyes:

Remind me to keep my sister away from you. She has that same ring on her cell, and I kinda want to keep her around. lol


Lee
 

ScionPI2005

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,335
Location
Seattle, Washington
MrNewportCustom said:
Remind me to keep my sister away from you. She has that same ring on her cell, and I kinda want to keep her around. lolLee

No worries, Newport Custom, the doctors made me swear of 'offing people. Besides, I'm running out of room in the backyard, and that hobby isn't exactly appropriate for a criminologist. ;)
 

Tony in Tarzana

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,276
Location
Baldwin Park California USA
I think most telephone companies can still handle "pulse" dialing. They use digital switches rather than the old step-by-step, but they're otherwise pretty low-tech. Most of them still use gigantic lead-acid batteries to provide the 48VDC that powers the phone lines. That's why your phone will still usually work even when the power goes out.
 

Starius

Practically Family
Messages
698
Location
Neverwhere, Iowa
Got a catalog in the mail today that had something interesting in it.... an actual restored vintage phone.

Listed as the "Eva Perón Bakelite Telephone," it appears to be a vintage bakelite phone complete with rotary dial with new wiring.

It looks pretty nice, though priced at $299.
 

BigLittleTim

Familiar Face
Messages
67
Location
Boston
I have my grandmother's old Bakelite rotary-dial phone (with leather nubs on the bottom) and it works GREAT!

My parents, on the other hand, have gone through a dozen NEW phones, each more sophisticated than the last, in the last few years.

Modern phones are HORRIBLE: Terrible sound, cheaply made, impossible to fix.

-BigLittleTim
 

Starius

Practically Family
Messages
698
Location
Neverwhere, Iowa
A secret vintage phone society?
Cool, how do we get in?
Dial "0" and tell the operator a secret message?

"Hoy hoy, Operator. Alexander says the pidgins head for Edison at dawn..."

So very cryptic and secretive....
 

Ecuador Jim

A-List Customer
Messages
346
Location
Seattle
Baggers said:
Then there's that whole etiquette thing that most people can't seem to wrap their brains around when out in public...:rolleyes:

Sorry.

Cheers!

Boy, isn't that the truth!

I was looking for an old Navy phone model, that had a retainer clip that kept the receiver in the cradle during heavy seas. You learned to release the clip with one hand, and then secure the handset securely in the clip after using the phone. Very cool.
 

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