Language, and understanding of term rotary.

[dsk]

Hi
I happend to put in a comment in another forum, about Norwegian power systems, and mentioned how i found that forum.

Now I have got a new explanation of rotary who differs from what I thought.

In my head a rotary phone has a rotary dial, or may even have a pulse sending dial pad.

Please take a look at this; http://tinyurl.com/kyo525p but make your comments here.

I do not want to upset the one who had this explanation.

dsk

[DavePEI]

That is an interesting understanding of the term rotary telephone. Sort of a mix between a rotary telephone and a rotary switch 

Dave

Hi
I happend to put in a comment in another forum, about Norwegian power systems, and mentioned how i found that forum.

Now I have got a new explanation of rotary who differs from what I thought.

In my head a rotary phone has a rotary dial, or may even have a pulse sending dial pad.

Please take a look at this; http://tinyurl.com/kyo525p but make your comments here.

I do not want to upset the one who had this explanation.

dsk

[LarryInMichigan]

It looks like a few concepts are being confused.  The term "rotary" has different meanings in different contexts.  On this forum, it is usually used to refer to the method of dialing a phone number with a dial that rotates to produce pulses.  When referring to switching between multiple phone lines, it is used to mean that a switch that can rotate among several contacts to select a line.  The common factor in the various contexts is that something rotates.

Larry

[AE_Collector]

I agree with you dsk. That post on the other forum by "Tesla" is confusing several terms into one post. The fact that he mentions that rotary only relates to multi line phones in a business is is coming (IMHO) from his thought that multiple exchange (CO) lines to a business are sometimes called a "rotary" as in " Rotary Hunt Group". We called them "overlines" here where the CO would hunt over all of the lines to a business looking for a free one to put an incoming call onto.

He then mentions PBX's that "could" be of the automatic rotary technology and talks about cord boards as they can be referred to as a PBX but they can also be an Exchange cord board which is NOT a PBX. And he mentions ringing up to operator as in Magneto technology (but does not mention the common battery technology that came between Magneto and Automatic (dial) where one just goes off hook to get an operator) and says the operator would have a dial. Not normally on a Magneto board unless it also had trunks into an Automatic Exchange in a different area or town, but possible.

So to summarize, the term "rotary" in a telephone discussion would most likely mean a rotary (round, rotating) dial but can also define a switching technology referred to as "rotary switching" but it might also refer to a multiple line "overline" scenario where more than one line is available usually on a single published telephone number for a business.

Terry

[LarryInMichigan]

In the good old days of dial-up modem connections, a frequent problem was a bad modem on one the lines in "rotary" or "overlines" group.  For a while, I used a dial-up ISP which often had this problem.  Many times, when I would try to dial in, the call would ring, but the bad modem would never answer.  My work-around for the problem was to first dial the number with a telephone using one phone line and then, while the call was ringing, dial with the modem from another line.  This would allow the modem call to jump over the bad modem.  Of course, when I would call the ISP's customer support, they would ask me about my account, computer type, OS, model of modem, etc., and I would try to explain that none of that was relevant to the problem.

Back when I was at US Robotics (remember the modem company?), we worked on a modem management system which would automatically detect bad modems and switch a resistor onto the line to "busy it out" so that incoming calls would skip over it.

Larry

[Matilo Telephones]

It seems like mr Tesla here also refers to a magneto phone as a dial phone.

[poplar1]

For modem pools on PBXs or Centrex,  we would always program the lines to hunt (go to the next line if busy) but also call forward don't answer (CFD) to the next line (go to the next line if the one modem was offline or if the pair was open.)

For land lines, "hunting" (or "rotary") usually adds about 50% of the line charge for each line in the hunt group, because the lines are then tariffed as trunks. "Call Forward Busy," on the other hand is usually only $1 per month per line, and it does the same thing. The CFB feature is promoted, along with CFD, for central office based voice mail, in order to route callers to your voice mailbox. The price is low in order to sell telco voice mail service. However, you can request any number for the calls to be routed to. (My home phone has CFD and CFB to a cell phone.)

[twocvbloke]

(remember the modem company?)

I remember it well, I had a couple of modems that forgot how to modem, and used the PCB out of one to plaster up a hole in a wall...

As for the term Rotary, I best not mention lawnmowers...

[DavePEI]

Hey! The P.E.I. Government's latest idea of modernization is to install "Rotaries" on major interssections 

Do we include them, too?

Dave

[twocvbloke]

Aren't those called Roondaboots over there?

[Dan/Panther]

I consider them as two different things.
The Rotary Dialing System, is like stated, using the Rotary wiper system. That describes the system used to transfer the signal from the phone to the telephone network.
A Rotary DIAL Phone, is that, a phone that uses a rotary dial to select the numbers, as compared to a Pushbutton Dial Phone.
JMHO
D/P

[TelePlay]

Aren't those called Roondaboots over there?

If a Wankel powered Mazda were in a round-about, would that be a "rotary²" or a "rotary-rotary" situation?

[AE_Collector]

If a Wankel powered Mazda were in a round-about, would that be a "rotary²" or a "rotary-rotary" situation?

Depends if the driver is on the phone (or cutting the grass) at the same time.

Terry