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Amazing how much can be found in a dial card holder

Started by unbeldi, August 09, 2014, 06:34:30 PM

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Dennis Markham


unbeldi

#16
Quote from: unbeldi on August 10, 2014, 08:58:37 AM
Quote from: Scotophor on August 10, 2014, 02:14:15 AM
More food for thought: "Shadyside" is in the list of recommended EXchange names from Notes on Nationwide Dialing, 1955. But of course, SHort Hills is not.

Indeed, the SHadyside number could have been typed onto the card after 1955.  The area code addition "area 201" has a distinctly lighter impression yet.

I am beginning to think those stickers arrived much later, I haven't found a mention in 50s or 60s BSPs on Station Number Cards.

Ok, I have been confused...
In any case...  Mapping out the splits in NJ by time, when those stickers where printed doesn't matter in this case.


NJ area code history

1947     1958    1991      1997 1999   2001
|        |       |         |    |      |

201------201-----201-------201--------[201,551]--
         |       |         |
         |       |         |
         |       |         973--------[973,862]--
         |       |
         |       |
         |       908-------908-------------------
         |                 |
         |                 |
         |                 732--------[732,848]--
         |
         |
         609--------------------609--------------
                                |
                                |
                                856--------------


So, Red Bank, 732 today, is possible.

unbeldi

#17
The Red Bank Register reported on Thursday, January 31, 1957 that on Sunday (Feb. 3) the local Bell Telephone company is cutting the town's telephone exchange over to dial.  The new exchange name was SHADYSIDE 1 and 7.

The old manual exchange was RED BANK.  It appears most of the communities in the area, perhaps in all of NJ, used the geographical name as exchange name, under manual service.  So also did the community of Lakewood.  The Red Bank Register has wanted and for-sale ads that ask readers to call a Lakewood or LA number in Lakewood.  In 1940, this was Lakewood xxx (or LAkewood xxx?), but in 1950 it was already LA x-xxxx.  So, in 10 years time, they changed their numbering plan at a minimum from perhaps just 3 digits, to 2L-4N, and 2L-5N.

So, my dial card backside was typed sometime around or after Feb. 1957.
A 1955 article in the same newspaper already reported more details on this. It appears that DDD service would be available immediately after the cutover.

In 1961, the Red Bank Register reported then that other nearby communities were just switching over to dial and were receiving either DDD service, or ANC, or both, at the same time as well.

These newspaper articles are illustrative of the planning and logistics that went into the switch to a nation-wide system. It also shows how long it took to get small communities onto the system that large cities had for many years.

poplar1

#18
The 1955 article lists the phone number for the Red Bank Register as RE 6-0013. It was still a manual line at that time. The original number was probably 13, and from outside the area one would ask the operator for "Red Bank 13." Zeroes were added later to make old numbers a standard length.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

#19
Quote from: poplar1 on August 10, 2014, 11:25:55 PM
The 1955 article lists the phone number for the Red Bank Register as RE 6-0013. It was still a manual line at that time. The original number was probably 13, and from outside the area one would ask the operator for "Red Bank 13." Zeroes were added later to make old numbers a standard length.

I saw numerous telephone numbers in the paper from Red Bank and surrounding places, with anywhere from two digits to four digits, also the party-line letters, J, M, R, W appended, found a Red Bank number  445-J-2 (an extension on a pbx? it was a saw mill), in 1940 all these were just location names.  Red Bank 6263-3 was a liquor store, another PBX?

The 1957-01-31 issue presented two pages of businesses announcing their new SH numbers.  Most regular ads in the paper already had the new numbers printed, but some still had old RE-6 numbers.

The Red Bank Register also sported the number SH 1-0010.

I also learned that a Bell Telephone Laboratories (Holmdel) employee, Fray Hardwick, tried committing suicide on 10/30/40. Nervous breakdown... wrong number?  Telephone research was tough, I suppose.

unbeldi

#20
On June 16, 1963 the Red Bank Register published an ad by New Jersey Bell announcing the conversion to all-number calling (ANC), commencing June 22.

Moreover, if that wasn't enough numbers to remember.... the ZIP code system was implemented in parallel...


PS: I always thought that the 3L- and 2L-whatever systems were a real dumb idea to begin with. If they had believed more in A.G. Bell's vision, they would have implemented a more scalable system from the start.

unbeldi

#21
The NJ Bell advertisement mentions that customers will receive new telephone number cards.  These were likely mailed out to customers and were probably the smaller sticker-type that could simply be affixed on top of the celluloid window.

In my case, it appears that the sticker was applied to the back of the original dial card, as the circumference of it is still visible and is a an exact match.  Alternatively, however, the top surface of the celluloid disk is very rough and it could be that the sticker was first applied there, which caused the glue to ruin the surface, perhaps it fell off at some point, and someone stuck it behind the window. That would require an entirely different analysis.

Alright... have we found enough in that dial card holder ?

unbeldi

#22
Perhaps I may add that on November 13, 1958 the owner of my phone placed a for-sale ad in the Red Bank Register to sell an "ACCORDION GUERRA".   Hmm,  Ernesto Guerra ?


Also by 1958, some Lakewood numbers were listed in 2L-5N notation, such as LAkewood 0-0858, with proper capitalization.

poplar1

Quote from: unbeldi on August 11, 2014, 09:20:57 AM
The NJ Bell advertisement mentions that customers will receive new telephone number cards.  These were likely mailed out to customers and were probably the smaller sticker-type that could simply be affixed on top of the celluloid window.

In my case, it appears that the sticker was applied to the back of the original dial card, as the circumference of it is still visible and is a an exact match.  Alternatively, however, the top surface of the celluloid disk is very rough and it could be that the sticker was first applied there, which caused the glue to ruin the surface, perhaps it fell off at some point, and someone stuck it behind the window. That would require an entirely different analysis.

Alright... have we found enough in that dial card holder ?

The seller may have rearranged the card and sticker in order to display the oldest (LAkewood) rather than as he found it (sticker on top of the plastic as placed by the previous owner c. 1963).

445-J-2 probably indicates a semi-selective  (8- or more)  party line. The 2 indicates the ring cadence (2 rings per cycle) and the J indicates which of 4 keys the operator pressed to select the correct ringing current (-) Ring, (+) Ring, (-) Tip or (+) Tip.

Manual phone numbers were originally different lengths because numbers were assigned to the "early adopters"  beginning with single digits, then longer numbers as required. In exchanges with only one central office, the geographical location and the exchange name were usually the same. When an exchange had more than one central office, then it was necessary to distinguish the offices, with names such as Main, East, etc.

The names of course originally did not have 2 or 3 letters capitalized. This was done only after dials were introduced. Capitalizing two letters indicated that only the first two letters were to be dialed. For most locations, 2L-4N phone numbers were sufficient (8 x 8 x 10,000= 640,000 numbers; however some letter combinations didn't exist--so actually fewer than 640K). In the US, only Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago had a large enough local calling area to require 3L-4N. The 3L-4N numbers were later changed to 2L-5N in order to create more combinations with the same number of dial pulls (even though in Paris and London, finding enough 3L codes didn't seem to be  problem). Changing to ANC (all number calling) allowed up to 640 NNX combinations and after c. 1995 up to 800 NXXs. Originally, it was thought that subscribers would have difficulty trying to remember a 7-digit telephone number.

Party line letters were not retained when a central office cut over to dial, but the last digit of the new telephone number still might indicate the party and ringing cadence, particularly in terminal per line central offices.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

#24
Quote from: poplar1 on August 11, 2014, 11:47:23 AM

The seller may have rearranged the card and sticker in order to display the oldest (LAkewood) rather than as he found it (sticker on top of the plastic as placed by the previous owner c. 1963).

I am sure he did.
Or someone did before him.

I asked the seller about his history with the phone.... hope to hear back.

unbeldi

#25
Telephone Service First Came to Red Bank in 1883

For the history buffs, a more extensive history of the Red Bank magneto exchanges is in the attached PDF, published on Aug. 28, 1958, about a year after cutover to dial, and at the 50th anniversary of Red Bank as a Borough.