Forgotten Man
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,944
- Location
- City Dump 32 E. River Sutton Place.
Well, if you're lucky enough to find a phone that has the original plug, you could look for an adaptor to plug into and then plug into the wall.
A little history for those who are new to old phones.
In the 20s and into the 40s, phones had short line cords. They mostly sat on small tables, or little built in alcoves designed for telephones. The line cord didn't exactly "plug into" a wall... they were more permanent then that. There would be a small box that the line came out from what I've seen... then the line went into a larger box called a subset or a ringer box. Then, the line would travel out of that box (being approximately 6-7 feet long) and go into the phone its self. The first small box was attached to the wall and that's where the line came from out side.
So, most of the time when one finds a phone from either the 40s or earlier with the original line cord, you'll just see a busted cord or a disconnected cord with yellow, green, red and black wires coming out of it. That's where it was connected to the ringer box/subset. Plugs didn't come into use until the 50s. And the modern modular plug didn't come around until the 70s or 80s.
If you purchase an antique telephone and it has the original line cord you can do one of two things... If the cord is in really good shape and the phone hasn't bells of it's own and you'd need a ringer box, find one and hook it up to that and then call one of many antique telephone business out there on the web and order some line cord with a modular plug and plug that into the wall. But, if your phone is one of many that did have the bells in the phone its self, then order just as much line cord as you feel you need from Phoneco or another place and they come with the modern modular plug already on there!
Answer your question?
A little history for those who are new to old phones.
In the 20s and into the 40s, phones had short line cords. They mostly sat on small tables, or little built in alcoves designed for telephones. The line cord didn't exactly "plug into" a wall... they were more permanent then that. There would be a small box that the line came out from what I've seen... then the line went into a larger box called a subset or a ringer box. Then, the line would travel out of that box (being approximately 6-7 feet long) and go into the phone its self. The first small box was attached to the wall and that's where the line came from out side.
So, most of the time when one finds a phone from either the 40s or earlier with the original line cord, you'll just see a busted cord or a disconnected cord with yellow, green, red and black wires coming out of it. That's where it was connected to the ringer box/subset. Plugs didn't come into use until the 50s. And the modern modular plug didn't come around until the 70s or 80s.
If you purchase an antique telephone and it has the original line cord you can do one of two things... If the cord is in really good shape and the phone hasn't bells of it's own and you'd need a ringer box, find one and hook it up to that and then call one of many antique telephone business out there on the web and order some line cord with a modular plug and plug that into the wall. But, if your phone is one of many that did have the bells in the phone its self, then order just as much line cord as you feel you need from Phoneco or another place and they come with the modern modular plug already on there!
Answer your question?
