Kellogg wooden phone

[countryman]

It's always a good idea to keep things original. Modifications, if necessary, need to be fully reversible and well documented (inside the object!).
It would be hard to fit a dial in an acceptable way on the wooden phone discussed here. At least holes would have to be drilled and that would be a shame. My suggestion is to disconnect the ringer from the speaking circuit and connect it only to the magneto, like TelePlay did. That way the magneto can be cranked safely and rings the own bell. A second telephone then can be connected in parallel with the woody and both takes over the job of dialing out and signalizing incoming calls.

A relay based circuitry exists that allows using the magneto safely while the bells still ring on incoming calls. A source for a pre-made kit was mentioned before in this thread.

[HarrySmith]

I agree it is always best to keep these antiques original. The phone I built was empty when I got it at a local auction so I built it with what I had to make it work. The box I bought was the easiest way to get the ringer to work both on incoming calls and with the magneto. As I stated earlier, there is a number of ways to set up the ringer & magneto depending on what you want it to do.

[bdoss2006]

I agree it is always best to keep these antiques original. The phone I built was empty when I got it at a local auction so I built it with what I had to make it work. The box I bought was the easiest way to get the ringer to work both on incoming calls and with the magneto. As I stated earlier, there is a number of ways to set up the ringer & magneto depending on what you want it to do.

I hadn't planned to put a dial on it, just get it to receive calls. So the thing you gave the email for to make the ringer work when receiving dials as well as the magneto ring it?

[HarrySmith]

Yes. That box he makes allows the ringer to work both ways without sending any current down the line. Works great and easy to follow instructions on how to hook it up.

[bdoss2006]

Yes. That box he makes allows the ringer to work both ways without sending any current down the line. Works great and easy to follow instructions on how to hook it up.

Ok, I may go that route, if I can figure out how to do it that is...

[poplar1]

You could also obtain another local battery set such as a Leich convertible desk/wall set, and connect the two phones together as an intercom. Then, no modification would be necessary.

[bdoss2006]

Yes. That box he makes allows the ringer to work both ways without sending any current down the line. Works great and easy to follow instructions on how to hook it up.

would I still have to put a battery in it?

[TelePlay]

would I still have to put a battery in it?

Only if you have it hooked up to another local battery phone (using it as in intercom between two rooms in your house), only if you want to talk to another phone.

The battery powers the talk circuit. Location in the circuit is in the red box.

If just for display, not hooked up to any other phone, no battery is needed.

[bdoss2006]

Only if you have it hooked up to another local battery phone (using it as in intercom between two rooms in your house), only if you want to talk to another phone.

The battery powers the talk circuit. Location in the circuit is in the red box.

If just for display, not hooked up to any other phone, no battery is needed.

would I need it if I connected to a phone line with the box to make it ring when called and when the hand crank is turned though?

[TelePlay]

would I need it if I connected to a phone line with the box to make it ring when called and when the hand crank is turned though?

No, a POTS line is Common Battery (CB). The DC voltage needed for the talk circuit is provided by the Central Office.

Your old wood phone is a Local Battery (LB) phone that required batteries to power the DC talk circuit (3 to 6 volts typically) and the magneto generated the high AC voltage to ring all the phones on the two wire party line.

Lift the receiver to see if anyone is talking on the party line, if not hang up (close the talk circuit) and crank the magneto to ring all of the phones on the party line (2 long for Fred's home, 1 long and 1 short for Betty's home, 2 short and one long for Ed's home, etc.).

Cranking the magneto when two people were talking would not be a good thing, as would generating magneto voltage into a Common Battery CO line.

Search the forum for this stuff. There's 13 years of LB and CB information already posted. All of the above plus more.

[bdoss2006]

No, a POTS line is Common Battery (CB). The DC voltage needed for the talk circuit is provided by the Central Office.

Your old wood phone is a Local Battery (LB) phone that required batteries to power the DC talk circuit (3 to 6 volts typically) and the magneto generated the high AC voltage to ring all the phones on the two wire party line.

Lift the receiver to see if anyone is talking on the party line, if not hang up (close the talk circuit) and crank the magneto to ring all of the phones on the party line (2 long for Fred's home, 1 long and 1 short for Betty's home, 2 short and one long for Ed's home, etc.).

Cranking the magneto when two people were talking would not be a good thing, as would generating magneto voltage into a Common Battery CO line.

Search the forum for this stuff. There's 13 years of LB and CB information already posted. All of the above plus more.

Thanks for this information, when I bought this phone at an antique store, the lady at the register said that she remembered having them and they were 2 longs and 1 short or something like that. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but now I know. I'll ask one more question then I'll shut up. I assume they didn't have local battery party lines like these in bigger cities. I don't see how that would have worked. I guess they had an operator in bigger cities, correct? And if I am thinking correctly you turned the crank to ring the operator instead of a certain person.

[TelePlay]

I think you are right on that, remember Sarah on the Andy Griffith Show? That was post magneto, most likely CB to an operator at a switchboard, but others can speak to  magnetos ringing into a central switch board, don't know if those were LB or CB. I am not that into the history of that era phones changed from LB magneto phones to CB dial phones.

There are areas today (Northern California IIRC) that still uses magneto phones connecting 10 to 20 homes miles apart on two wires, some places even used insulated barb wire farm field fencing as the 2 wires from home to home.

Yeah, the directory back then was a list of neighbors with ringing longs and shorts so each home would know if the caller was trying to reach them.

Ask any questions as you learn more but run into a wall.