The Generator
Now some of these phones you may recognize, some you may not, and some of the first telephones you just didn’t pick up and talk to. You need to crank this handle and there’s a generator in here. Also, check- STD full form
The generator would make enough electricity to carry it across the line to the operator. Then let’s say you wanted to call your aunt. The operator would answer and you’d say number 53 plays because you know it’s line 53 and she would physically plug in number 53.
In reality, the operators already knew all the people. So if you said Hey I’m gonna talk to my hand, well she would know who’s talking and just get you through.
Now connected to this box was the interface you would speak in this part here and then hang over. Here you could drag this over your head so you could actually hear what the conversation was about.
Down the old black and white movies, you’re probably more used to this one still speaking into the same part but this is the earpiece. You would hold this up to your ear so you can hear. Also, check- The spo2 full form
Usage of Wire
Eventually, the power company would put power on to the telephone lines themselves and these generators were no longer needed; they used the nickname. These fish shockers people would take the generator out of these old telephones and put a wire into the water crank.
There would be enough electricity generated that it would stun the fish and the fish would flow to the top where you can just catch more than that.
It wouldn’t kill the fish, it would just stand them, so they couldn’t swim. You can catch so many fish with this method that I think in the 19 fifties. Thank me. This practice is illegal. Yep.
People would use a wooden boat not an aluminum one as far as I know. The game commission still uses this to track fish. They can temporarily zap the fish. Then release it back into the wild.
The rotary phone talk
Another practical joke they would do is everybody would hold hands. They would crank the generator and only the person at the end would get zapped. Well let me tell ya. You learn fast when the power company puts electricity into the power lines themselves.
You did need the generator. You would simply pick up the phone and get a dial tone. This phone here would connect up to 4 different telephones. You would push one of each 4 buttons. This would be really nice for an office.
A lot of people have probably played with the rotary phone to talk about simplicity. You simply pick up the headset and dial the number of the person you actually want to call and this phone came in many kinds of flavors.
Check out this one. If you wanted to dial a 7 you would flip 7 all the way to the end and it would click 7 times. If you want to dial a 3 it would click 3 times. I couldn’t stand dialing 0 or 9.
Bakelite
Because the stroke was so long. If you mess up, you have to hang up and dial all over again. But with enough practice you get 019 down to. These phones are heavy they were made out of one of the first plastics called bakelite
This type of plastic can not be remelted. I would call it a little more similar to fiberglass. All you need with these old phones is a detective with a big old cigar.
Telephones that hang on the wall
Now this phone you would hang on the wall is absolutely perfect for a kitchen. Now when these phones first came out, they were so expensive. People couldn’t just Byram.
So you would rent them from the power company every month. You pay a little bit of money on these phones. If you move to another house you left this with the house or you’d end up having to pay a lot of money.
Princes very friendly telephone
Eventually you’re able to actually buy this phone and the price of phones dropped substantially. This style of phone was called the princes very friendly.
Just pick it up and in one hand. You can dial, talk, and listen. Wow, kind of remind you of a cell phone. I guess with a lot of imagination if you know who Dick Tracy is.
He actually had a cell phone on his wrist way back before they were even imagined. Let’s say, you were away from home and you couldn’t just pick up the phone and call.
So if you had a dime you could make a phone call on one of these. The pay phone was on every street corner. You just drop your money in the top dial and start talking and if you were talking from a long distance, you just keep dropping money in.
If you stop dropping money in the call drop down a lot of countries still have pay phones.
Tool tone phone
Now that tool tone phone was a huge advancement you would pick up the phone and just simply push the buttons. There was no clicking, no waiting. Just push those buttons as fast as you can.
There were 2 tones on every single button I’ve seen 2 opera singers sing into a phone and be able to dial the phone. So as you can see the phone has made a lot of advances through the years.
So next time you’re watching one of those black and white movies. Now you understand a little more about the telephones USM. I hope you enjoyed checking out some of these old phones and where all this technology came from.
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