Number PULEAZE! Part Eight:

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All about vintage telephones up to 1989. Advertisements, humor, history, collections, equipment, restoration/repair, technical questions, resources or just plain memories, it's all here. While emphasis is placed on American telephones, vintage telephones from around the world are also most welcomed.

"Hello central???"

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

 

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Bell Telephone Laboratories 1956

 

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The Aristocrat 1963

 

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Bell Telephone System 1947

 

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American Independent System Circa 1902

 

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Kellogg 1902

 

[circlew]

Bell Telephone Laboratories 1956
View attachment 317627

If I remember correctly, the Com-Key phones were the first Western Electric models to use a musical tone ringer. They were introduced mid 1970s.

 

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Bennett Bros. Catalog 1968

 

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Western Electric 1926

 

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Well. I'm tickled pink. Finally acquired a Western Electric 1500D TEN button phone. These were the very first touch-tone phones introduced and were manufactured from 1963 to 1968. This particular one was manufactured March 1966. Does it work? You bet your sweet ringy-dingy it does. Just needs a little cleaning and polish and all set to plug in and enjoy!

 

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Western Electric Colors 1983

 

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Bell System 1930

 

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Automatic Electric 1928

 

[pstehle]

I watched a YouTube video last night, of an early telephone technician who got electrocuted while holding his candlestick receiver to his ear. Seems a high tension line fell across the phone line he was using. These things -land lines, are extremely dangerous and should be outlawed!

On another note, years ago, there was an article in our local paper that stated that you shouldn't even use a cordless phone during a thunderstorm, for fear of electrocution. I guess the author thought the surge could jump across 10 feet of open air to the handset. I wrote a letter to the editor countering that you had the same risk holding a carrot as the phone receiver during a storm... they must've been amused, it got published.

 

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Bell Telephone System 1959

 

[phillymatt53]

I watched a YouTube video last night, of an early telephone technician who got electrocuted while holding his candlestick receiver to his ear. Seems a high tension line fell across the phone line he was using. These things -land lines, are extremely dangerous and should be outlawed!

On another note, years ago, there was an article in our local paper that stated that you shouldn't even use a cordless phone during a thunderstorm, for fear of electrocution. I guess the author thought the surge could jump across 10 feet of open air to the handset. I wrote a letter to the editor countering that you had the same risk holding a carrot as the phone receiver during a storm... they must've been amused, it got published.

Ya know, my neighbor Diane once told me that she never used her phone during a thunderstorm.
She said the same thing that you mentioned - even though she had a cordless phone.
I told her that was nonsense, likely born from the misinformation so common on the internet.

 

[vacerator]

My uncle was an install and wiring tech. for AT&T. They worked in junction tunnels and new high rises. He got zapped once by his butt set. No one knew there was lightning outside yet.

 

[phillymatt53]

My uncle was an install and wiring tech. for AT&T. They worked in junction tunnels and new high rises. He got zapped once by his butt set. No one knew there was lightning outside yet.

Well, ya know, lightning carries millions of volts when it hits the earth.
Whenever there's a severe thunderstorm/lightning here, just for safety sake, I unplug anything expensive that might be damaged.
The tv sets...
The computer I'm typing on now...
My stereo systems... etc...
Of course I'm not being paranoid, just using some Common Sense, ya know, that quality that a lot of humans seem to have lost, forgotten, or never had.