|
Thread Number: 45116
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Old phones |
[Down to Last] |  |
Post# 467736 11/28/2023 at 15:25 by electrolux137  (Los Angeles) |
||
 I've had this old phone (late 1930s I think) for many years but never tried to use it because I didn't have a modular jack adapter for it. I found an adapter, tried the phone, it works! Well, kinda — you get a dial tone and can talk on it if someone calls you, but since modern phone systems no longer support pulse-dialing technology you can't place calls on it. It was manufactured by North Electric Company of Galion, Ohio. I also have a lovely yellow wall phone that I love. Many people had these in their kitchens back in the day. | ||
|
Post# 467739 , Reply# 1 11/28/2023 at 18:58 by JustJunque (Western MA) |
||
That's great, Charles!
I have a thing for older phones, and I own several. We still have a landline in our house too. I have a few Western Electric 500 sets that we use. Like you experienced, we couldn't originally dial out on them. But, we found converters that plug into the wall jack, then you plug the phone into the converter. It was called Dialgizmo. I'm not sure if they're still available, but something similar should be. I also have a few different colors of the 554 wall phone. I grew up with that model in either ivory or beige. Eventually, I intend to have a converter wired into one or more of them, so I can dial out on it. Until then, we have a 2554 as our kitchen wall phone. It's the touch tone version. I installed a polarity guard in that one, so it functions properly. | ||
| Post# 467756 , Reply# 2 11/29/2023 at 12:09 by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
I remember those phones. I had a 1957 vintage Western Electric desk phone that was black and had a black metal dial. The handset cord was straight, not coiled. Sometime in the late 2000's, my dad bought a green wall phone, like Charles' yellow one, except the handset cord was permanently attached, for something like 50 cents at a yard sale. He'd built a four-bay garage in the back yard for his antique cars and put it out there so he didn't have to walk back to the house to answer the phone or carry a cordless handset out there, which he would inevitably forget.
| ||
| Post# 467939 , Reply# 4 12/7/2023 at 12:28 by texaskirbyguy (Plano, TX) | ||
|
A picture of my phone, plus the North Pole phone directory just right for this time of year. The phone book is real, not a novelty. | ||
|
Post# 467940 , Reply# 5 12/7/2023 at 14:14 by JustJunque (Western MA) |
||
|
Nice!
That looks like the Western Electric 500 set. Is that a Norman Rockwell print on the phone book cover? I see those handset trim pieces on eBay sometimes. They're usually like a filigree design or something. Yours looks like it has a name engraved on it, but my screen is too small to make it out. | ||
| Forum Index: | 
| Other Forums: |
|
|
|
|
|
Comes to the Rescue!
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}