Vintage Phones

[Tony in Tarzana]

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?

 

[scotrace]

My wife's grandfather worked for Ma Bell throughout the Golden Era. I have all his WE parts booklets and catalogs. Anyone want to see?

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Scott, I would like to see info on the WE302

 

[KilroyCD]

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.

 

[scotrace]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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.

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

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!

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]

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]

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.

 

[Maxwell DeMille]

My phone. Able to make calls anywhere in the world!

 

[Starius]

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]

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

 

[Mr. K.L.Bowers]

I know I promised a link to a source of inexpensive vintage phones, but when I finally cornered my friend for it, He confessed it was a club he belongs to and the phones are not available to the general public. My deepest apologies.

 

[Starius]

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]

Then there's that whole etiquette thing that most people can't seem to wrap their brains around when out in public...

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.

 

[Mr. K.L.Bowers]

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....

Yes it is. He said he would recommend me for full membership, but fears I could not pass.....THE TEST.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Yes it is. He said he would recommend me for full membership, but fears I could not pass.....THE TEST.

Does it involve singing "PEnnsylvania 6-5000"?

 

[KilroyCD]

Does it involve singing "PEnnsylvania 6-5000"?

Yes, but in Pig Latin...lol

 

[Mr. K.L.Bowers]

THE TEST

Well if it does involve singing he is right.