Vintage Phones

[Heather]

Yeah, yeah lol I realized shortly after I posed the question. I guess I thought it was more complicated than it is. [huh]

 

[John in Covina]

Yeah, yeah lol I realized shortly after I posed the question. I guess I thought it was more complicated than it is. [huh]

Some people think it's not complicated at all, but in life things can get complicated very quickly between males and females.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Some people think it's not complicated at all, but in life things can get complicated very quickly between males and females.

lol lol lol Oh brother, ain't it the TRUTH!

 

[MissViolet777]

Picked this hotel phone up at a garage sale yesterday:

 

[John in Covina]

Mr. Mason, Mr. Perry Mason, Please pick up the white courtesy phone!

One thing I have noticed is at hotels and casinos like in Las Vegas, you simply don't hear people getting paged much anymore at all it's such a rarity now with cell phones.

 

[Legion]

My desk.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I have many scattered through my home.

 

[David Conwill]

Tom, Im somehow reminded of the scene in Back to the Future where all the clocks in Doc Brown's lab chime at once. They're not all hooked up to ring, are they?

On a more serious note, how much longer will the phone companies continue to supply current in the line sufficient to power an old fashioned ringer or carbon mic? Has anyone engineered an auxiliary power source for such a circumstance?

-Dave

 

[Forgotten Man]

Picked this hotel phone up at a garage sale yesterday:

Huh, I was under the impression that hotel phones were dial-less.[huh] Nevertheless, that's a nice 302! Is the body metal or plastic?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Dave, the ironic thing is that I have no land line!

Also, it's a curious thing of what will happen if they rid of support for pulse dialing altogether. Already if you have VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), it is likely that pulse dialing will not be supported, although you will likely be able to answer calls, you won't be able to dial out. Now with POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) you can still use rotary phones no problem. My folks have Verizon and I never had a lick of trouble with a rotary phone there.

Many phone collectors buy what is called a PBX, which is essentially a switchboard like device. You can ring phones throughout your home with them, and it leaves you with a collection of phones that aren't useless.

Tom, Im somehow reminded of the scene in Back to the Future where all the clocks in Doc Brown's lab chime at once. They're not all hooked up to ring, are they?

On a more serious note, how much longer will the phone companies continue to supply current in the line sufficient to power an old fashioned ringer or carbon mic? Has anyone engineered an auxiliary power source for such a circumstance?

-Dave

 

[John in Covina]

Huh, I was under the impression that hotel phones were dial-less.[huh] Nevertheless, that's a nice 302! Is the body metal or plastic?

There was a time where the hotel was not able to bill if you were to dial direct for an outside number. Some hotels had no dials, some had dials for calling within the hotel like room to room or hotel services.

"Room sevice! Send up some Shrimp Cocktails, a Quart of rum and some fresh Grapefruits!"

Usually around the hotel were courtesy phones (Indicated by a color) without dials for incoming calls to guests and for people to locate each other by having a guest paged.

 

[John in Covina]

Touch Tone Numbers Device

Also, it's a curious thing of what will happen if they rid of support for pulse dialing altogether. Already if you have VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), it is likely that pulse dialing will not be supported, although you will likely be able to answer calls, you won't be able to dial out. Now with POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) you can still use rotary phones no problem. My folks have Verizon and I never had a lick of trouble with a rotary phone there. Many phone collectors buy what is called a PBX, which is essentially a switchboard like device. You can ring phones throughout your home with them, and it leaves you with a collection of phones that aren't useless.

I haven't seen it in a while but places like Radio Shack have offered touch tone dialer devices that you could store all sorts of phone numbers in. You send the tone from the device thru your mouthpiece on a dial phone to get out. I had seen them on Ebay but can't recall the brand names. Thy were about the size of a small calculator.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

If memory serves, they're called Tone-Dialers.

I haven't seen it in a while but places like Radio Shack
have offered touch tone dialer devices that you could store all sorts of phone numbers in. You send the tone from the device thru your mouthpiece on a dial phone to get out. I had seen them on Ebay but can't recall the brand names. Thy were about the size of a small calculator.

 

[David Conwill]

I want to thank you guys for the responses, but I don’t think we’re exactly on the same page. The problem I’ve experienced with trying to use my AE80 with non-POTS systems is that there is insufficient current in the phone line to actually operate the ringer, or to power the old carbon microphone: You can hear the caller, but you can’t speak to them, and the phone doesn’t ring. Maybe one of the aforementioned switchboard systems would do the trick?

I dimly remember reading that the touchtone dialers aren’t made anymore, as I think they were causing problems for the phone companies.

-Dave

 

[LizzieMaine]

Vintage phones need steady power at about 48 volts DC from the line to operate correctly -- and the ring voltage can be as high as 90 volts *AC*

You could rig up batteries to provide the basic power for the transmitter, but you'd need some kind of AC stepup transformer to handle the ring voltage. There are gadgets called "Ring Voltage Boosters" which do exactly that.

Note also if you have too many vintage phones plugged into a line, you won't have enough voltage to operate them all. Generally no more than five phones should be used on a single line.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Do you have a pic of the ringer. Your AE80 may have a frequency ringer, which is made to use on a party line, instead of a straight line ringer made to use on a standard line. Also, I would suggest going to a POTS system if you plan on using vintage telephones. VOIP is just a lost cause for these things.

 

[vitanola]

Do you have a pic of the ringer. Your AE80 may have a frequency ringer, which is made to use on a party line, instead of a straight line ringer made to use on a standard line. Also, I would suggest going to a POTS system if you plan on using vintage telephones. VOIP is just a lost cause for these things.

Actually, a Vonage device operates vintage telephone sets quite well.

I have a 102 with a 534 subset that I use as my principal telephone instrument on my Vonage line, It works perfectly well.

On occasion I also connect a restored but ENTIRELY UN-MODIFIED Western Electric Type 85 "Fiddleback" common battery set, which dates from between 1895 and 1898 to my Vonage line. This instrument rings and transmits well, although when I attempt to dial out by placing a portable tone dialer in front of the transmitter (a model 295 "White Solid Back") I occasionally will misdial owing, I think, to transmitter resonance.

With the Magic Jack I find that Automatic Electric "Series" sets (designed for use on 24 volts of common battery) work best. In all cases, though, the ringers work, although when using Magic Jack the ringer bias spring MUST be at its lightest setting.

 

[MissViolet777]

Huh, I was under the impression that hotel phones were dial-less.[huh] Nevertheless, that's a nice 302! Is the body metal or plastic?

It's plastic.

 

[vitanola]

Here are some bad cell pics of my phones. The first is a chrome WE 202 with bakelite handset. I LOVE it. The ringer box is on the floor... it works like a charm.

The second is a WE 302. No, it doesn't work.. which is why I bought it. I replaced the original handset with a bluetooth handset. It makes for talking on the cell more comfortable, and more enjoyable. Just wish this handset was a heavy as the original. After I took the cords out, I ran the charger for the handset through the back of the phone where the line cord would have been, and then out the side where the original handset cord would have been. This way, it acts as a charging station as well as a cradle when not in use.

As you probably know, the Bell system did not offer the D-1 handset mounting (what we know as the 202) on chrome plate. A couple of dealers in vintage telephones began offering plated instruments back in the late 1970's and early 1980's, and fount that there was quite a market for these instruments, as they are really quite attractive.

The 202 was originally offered in color, though, Black, White (the most common of the colored instruments, used primarily in hospitals and physician's offices) Old Ivory (highlighted with a brown glaze) Green, Chinese Red, Antique Gold, Oxydized Copper, Statuary Bronze, and Blue.

IN the early 1950's, Pacific Telephone offered refurbished 202 bases, either gold or silver plated, fitted with Ivory F-1 handsets and cords as a special "75th anniversary" model. This attractive unit proved to be so popular that it was offered by most of the Bell Operating Companies for the remainder of the decade, as the "Imperial"

 

[Heather]

I'm having difficulty dating my phone. It has an F-1 handset w/a straight plastic cords. I believe the body is metal and it weighs a ton!! I'm figuring it to be somewhere between 1938 to 1940-something. Is there a way to pinpoint a specific year?