Phone Thread

[dnastrau]

Picture phones: 1964!

Wow - I never knew that the pound button had to do with picture service. I found this Wiki link that talks about picture phones and that they were actually available in special booths in NYC, D.C. and Chicago in 1964! The limited residential service started later and was dead by 1972.

Based on the 1964 print ad in Wiki: A three minute picture call from NYC to Chicago was $27 plus tax!

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cultureandcommunication.org

 

[MrX]

Here's how the GPO in the UK saw the future

This is quite an amusing video.

It's an early 1960s mock-up of "ViewPhone" which was what the GPO was proposing as video phone. It also describes an idea for some kind of bizarre version of a HD fax machine involving UV light.

Starts of with a very badly acted tongue-in-cheek piece about how it might be kind of useful to be able to see people on the phone.

 

[whirlcool]

In the mid 60's & I think until the 70's some time the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago had a Picturephone booth that was connected to (I think) Disneyland. You could talk to a visitor there for a minute or so. I do remember that the picture quality (B&W) was quite bad. Kind of like a very early satellite TV program would be.

Move to the future. A few years ago I bought my crazy sister & her husband a camera for their computer so we could Skype. We got it connected and she said she didn't like it. I asked why and she said "you mean I have to get up, shower, get dressed and put my makeup on just for this damn thing? I don't think so". And that was the end of the computer camera for them.

But I did hear from my niece that her mother did use the camera to contact & chat with previous boyfriends from her past on occasion.

 

[rp2813]

I remember the picture phones at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  I was there in 1967.  I honestly don't remember if the transmission was between the museum and Disneyland, or just to another phone in a nearby booth.

 

And in yet another example of Ma Bell's resourcefulness, the pound and star keys were given other uses that continue today and have more or less been standardized, even within private PBX systems.

 

[superelectronic]

Meanwhile, across the pond...

Here's my mini collection of standard issue bell ringer/rotary dial phones from around 1970s. Not as vintage as some of you may have, but they sound fantastic!

 

Please excuse the grainy photos...

 

[superelectronic]

A little close up of my regular use model...

 

[superelectronic]

Minor grief...

Foolishly, I pulled the cord too far a couple of days ago: the phone went flying and ceased to function properly after I tried to give it a mini-overhall, thinking the bells had gone out of alignment. I've had to part out some of the other phones to get it back up and running.

 

Repairs are mostly guesswork, I'm afraid to say!

 

Here are the errant parts: circuit board and an expired ringer.

 

[countryford]

Here is another one of our phones. Sits in the den. Not sure of the brand.

 

[countryford]

This one is in the kitchen and still works.

 

[countryford]

This next one isn't that old, but still cool. Its in our bedroom. Its a speaker phone type since there is no handset. When the person on the other end of the line talks the bear's mouth moves and the eyes move as well. If you talk to long on that phone it almost feels as if your talking to the bear. lol

 

[rp2813]

Justin, both of your phones are Western Electric products.  The first one is a model 302, like the one I posted in reply #17, except yours has a thermoplastic case.  I'd guess your phone is 1946 or newer.  The 302 was a serious workhorse and phones were regularly tested out and re-deployed with components being changed out as needed.  For this reason, many of the 302's found will have components from more than one date inside the case.

 

The wall phone is a model 554.  If the dial is any indication, the phone is no older than late-ish 60's.  It appears it lived in the S.F. Bay Area prior to ending up in your hands.

 

That bear phones is . . . off the hook!

 

 

 

[countryford]

Last one. Not sure what brand. Got it from a friend a few weeks ago. Kind of cool. Not sure if it works yet.

 

[washernoob]

Wow!

You guys in the uk have everything backwards! Lol your phone dials are in reverse from ours.

 

[rp2813]

"your phone dials are in reverse from ours"

I'm not seeing it.  There's a larger gap on the finger wheel between the 1 and the O, but otherwise those rotaries would dial the same way as anything made in the USA, by non-Western Electric manufacturers in particular. 

 

[ptcruiser51]

Just so's you know...

On rotary phones, your dial-pulse signal is sent when your dial returns to position (after you've removed your finger when it hits the stop).  It doesn't matter how fast you're dialing, the fingerwheel will always return at the correct speed. 

 

Now ask me anything about algebra >blank<

 

[petek]

Not seeing any/many GTE phone sets here. Does anyone have any. They never seemed to be as sturdy as the Western/Northerb Electric sets

 

[washernoob]

I'm sorry. It appears as though 1 was the furthest away in the uk phone but now I see there is just a big gap. Lol.

Hey what's that non dialed phone with the brown cord shown above worth? I was at an antique store that had several at $40. I want one!

 

[spankomatic]

Commission Gordon may have to call Batman on the Bat phone for this vintage phone investigation....

 

[westie2]

That non dial phone is what I grew up with as we were out in the coutry and had the old crank party line system.  We had the phone in the back hall and the phone sit on top of the box with the hand crank and the bells.  The phone itself just had the receiver.   Our number was 23 two long cranks and 3 short cranks.  1 long crank got you to central and then you could go to another party line or long distance.  Our central operator was Effie and she and her husband lived in the house and had their bed in the phone room.  In 1963 when I was 14 we got a dial system and still had party lines.  Our number then was ATlas 7 2367.

 

In the larger town they had these phones but you picked up the reciver and got the operator with number please and yo told them the number in town or that you wanted to talke toso and so and tghey connected you and used the toggle switch to ring that number by pushing it forward and releasing.  They did not get dial phones until a year later.  Made it much easier to call my girlfried (now my wife of 45 years) as before that had to dial our operator then ask for central in the town and they connected to them and you had to ask for their number 897.  This cost for a 14 mile call $1.00 for 3 minutes and $0.35 per minute there after.  So did not make many calss as my parents had fits on the cost.  To this day on any long distance my mother won't talk long at all as it cost money even with our cell phones and nationwide free calls.

 

[rp2813]

Back in the early 70's I stayed in a remote cabin in a tiny community on the Feather River in the Mount Lassen region of northern California.  It had an ancient crank wall phone and a single mimeographed sheet on the wall beside it with ring codes.  I remember just cranking "one short" a few times over the weekend because it had no designation. 

 

That's also the same place I first saw a gas Servel refrigerator in operation.  There was no electricity in the cabin.  I honestly would not be surprised if the same phone system was still in place today.