Vintage Phones

[Rick S.]

Thanks!

I, was told that these models were used commercially in hotels and such. Not sure of the validity of that, but it does make sense to me. Also, this is the first model with an internal ringer.

rick

 

[Elaina]

In the 50's my dad ran across an old bar that was selling its public phone, and got the candlestick that was late 20's early 30's and wooden booth (with "Telephone 5 cents) across the front, and it has a little cup/bank bolted inside for the calls, underneath is a shelf for a phonebook. I've used it since I was old enough to talk on the phone, and have it hanging in my kitchen (where my parents had it) now. Dad repaired it in the 50's and modernized the cords, but it's worked since, and it IS a rotary, even though we have a cordless in the living room, about 15 feet away.

Now, I've used it so much, I can actually keep the earpiece to my ear with no hands, and carry the mouth piece in one hand to a point I can still use both hands, and often I'll be cooking dinner while I'm on it.

 

[Edward]

Something similar happen to me a while ago. I was on a guided tour through an old WWII bunker in Berlin. Also in the group was a mom with a little boy, probably around 8 or so. There at a wall was a rotary dial phone and this little kid had a very confused look on his face. His mom noticed and said to him: "You know, that's what phones used to look like back when I was young. You used this little rotary thing to dial the numbers."

And that in Germany, where rotary dial phones where common until the mid-80s at least. I know them very well from when they were still in use and I was born in 1978.

Jens

We got our first push button touchtone in, I think, about 1982 or 83, and at that time we were the first folks we knew to have one. Dad worked for Post Office Telecommunications (Later British Telecom) for years, and if I remember rightly he bought it from the BT phone shop with employee discount or some such. I don't think I can remember the last time i used a rotary; I suppose they all disappeared once we started having to talk to machines at the other end by pressing buttons. Maybe when we no longer have to press buttons they can make a comback - last year, before I started to pay by direct debit, I paid my electricity bill by telephone. The electric company's system was entirely automated - and entirely voice recognition. not a single mistake in picking out anything I said, all recorded spot on. It was almost frightening!

 

[ScionPI2005]

Now, I've used it so much, I can actually keep the earpiece to my ear with no hands, and carry the mouth piece in one hand to a point I can still use both hands, and often I'll be cooking dinner while I'm on it.

Now THAT'S talent!:eusa_clap

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Reminds me of the guy they stopped in Israel because he was talking on two mobiles at the same time - and steering with his knees.

 

[Elaina]

Now THAT'S talent!:eusa_clap

Nope, that's going on nearly 30 years of talking on that phone and spending my entire teenage years using it. Heck, my teenage years alone would be another few decades of experience alone.

 

[Kishtu]

I used to love the noise a rotary phone made when you dialled out....

that lovely click brrrrrrrr.... click brrrrrrr......

somehow what I always consider "singing phones" don't sound like real phones to me [huh]

 

[SamMarlowPI]

only rotary i grew up with was a Winnie the Pooh, holding a butterfly in one hand and the reciever in the other...wish i could find it..i know its still around somewhere...

got a question for the phone smart people...i always wanted to hook up a WWII field phone to a land line...is that possible?? i think it probably could be done with a few modern cords and doodads and some quick jerryrigging...thoughts?

it would make an awfully unique phone to have in the house...

 

[cookie]

That is one extremely sharp looking phone!

Man that is the hottest lookin Art Deco phone ever:eusa_clap - I expect see Jack the Lad on the end of it ...oops Mr Gittes I mean...lol lol

 

[ScarlettTurner]

I used to love the noise a rotary phone made when you dialled out....

that lovely click brrrrrrrr.... click brrrrrrr......

I agree - that is a nice sound, and exciting at the same time, somehow.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I used to love the noise a rotary phone made when you dialled out....

that lovely click brrrrrrrr.... click brrrrrrr......

somehow what I always consider "singing phones" don't sound like real phones to me [huh]

Does anyone else find that when they have a rotary phone on their desk, they sometimes get distracted with what they're doing? I find that sometimes I just start dialing away to hear the "brrrr" and "click".

 

[Josephine]

I have friends who have a number of old phones like the ones already posted, from the 40's on up, I believe. They also have a (decommissioned) pay phone in their kitchen which I think is cool. I love dialing out on them, turning the rotary dial and listening to it click back. They got their phones from Larry Kolb of Phone Quest in Haymarket Virginia. Wendy and Matt are over the moon about him, he's bent over backwards to help them get their phones working. Unfortunately he doesn't have a set "I have these for sale" up on his site, but if you're looking for a particular style he doesn't have he might be able to find it.

I have an old maybe 1970's yellow phone in the basement, I think I am going to turn down the cordless phones' ringer and turn that one's up, I like the bell much better.

 

[Sefton]

My wife tries to get me to use our cell phone at home because the plan covers local calls and the land line charges,but it just feels wrong pushing those tiny buttons when I long for Clickity-Clickity of one of my real telephones!

 

[Travis]

I have a rotary phone from maybe the 60s that my dad gave me. I never get phone calls at my house because the only number I give out is my cell phone. If anyone calls, it's for my grandmother, straight and simple. The phone I have works great except the bell doesn't work. Some would see that as a downside, but for me it's perfect. I can dial out on it, but don't have to worry about hearing it ring when it's not for me anyway. I want to get a phone from the mid to late 30s, but for now, this will have to work.

 

[Kishtu]

In the place where I used to work, one of my colleagues had previously worked at the Town Hall. (This is going back what, 10 years that she was there?)

Apparently when she first started working there, they had still got one of the old-fashioned plug-in switchboards, where the switchboard operator had to manually connect you with a phone jack, and there was a bank of switchboard staff.

*sigh*

what a job that must have been.... She still used to say whenever she was putting a call through, "Connecting you now, caller!"

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the place where I used to work, one of my colleagues had previously worked at the Town Hall. (This is going back what, 10 years that she was there?)

Apparently when she first started working there, they had still got one of the old-fashioned plug-in switchboards, where the switchboard operator had to manually connect you with a phone jack, and there was a bank of switchboard staff.

*sigh*

what a job that must have been.... She still used to say whenever she was putting a call through, "Connecting you now, caller!"

When I was born, my mother was working as an operator for the telephone exchange in the county seat (which didnt go dial until I was two), and she still remembers the guy who kept trying to flirt with her whenever he picked up his phone. By company regulations, the only two phrases she was allowed to say to subscribers were "Number Please" and "Thank You," which she kept saying to this guy in an increasingly strident tone until he finally gave up...

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I have been trying to find 1950's rotary phones here in Maine and all I'm finding are overpriced non-working models that aren't even sexy (I don't want a beige phone.). I put a "wanted" ad on craigslist but haven't gotten any replies. I guess I'm going to have to pay a lot and get one on ebay.

 

[Mike K.]

- QUESTION -

Around 1938-1941, what would be the most common household telephone?

Western Electric 202 or 302, Stromberg-Carlson, Automatic Electric 40, or were they all pretty common? I've read that the WE302 was a more utilitarian phone, while the AE40 was could be found in more upscale homes & hotels. Was this true?

 

[LizzieMaine]

It depends on your phone company. If you were a Bell System subscriber, you would've had a Western Electric phone, period -- if you lived in an independent phone company's territory, you would have likely had an AE, a Stromberg Carlson, or a Kellogg, depending on the company's preference.

Around here, non-dial candlestick phones were still common into the fifties -- once installed, especially by Bell companies, phones tended to stay put until a system-wide upgrade or until the individual phone failed. Most of those phones, when they did come out, were replaced by non-dial versions of the 302 -- the 202 seems to have been more of an urban phenomenon, as a stopgap between the candlestick and the 302, than any kind of lasting trend. Most of the old dial phones found around here are of the 500 series, since dial service didn't become common in Maine until the late fifties.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I have been trying to find 1950's rotary phones here in Maine and all I'm finding are overpriced non-working models that aren't even sexy (I don't want a beige phone.). I put a "wanted" ad on craigslist but haven't gotten any replies. I guess I'm going to have to pay a lot and get one on ebay.

Not necessarily. My refurbished Stromberg/Carlson was just under 50 bucks shipped. Ya just gotta keep looking,....