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When did the four-prong connector come out?

Started by deedubya3800, September 13, 2010, 01:20:13 AM

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Dennis Markham

A short while ago I refurbished a D1 Body (Model 102) that was attached to a 334A Subset.  

(http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2433.0)

Here are a couple photos showing the box with the female end of the jack.  At the end of the mounting cord for the phone was the male end.  I don't know the date of the 334A, but it was originally for a stick phone.  The 102 was dated about 1934-1935.

HarrySmith

Dennis, what is the smaller box with the lever on top?
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

JorgeAmely

Harry:

It is a nuclear deterrence trigger lever.  ??? ??? ??? ;D ;D ;D
Jorge

Dennis Markham

Harry, I never did determine if the smaller switching box was to switch off the ringer or to switch to a second line.  I believe it was designed so that the ringer could be switched off when desired.

HarrySmith

Interesting, I have not seen one of those before. Do you have any pictures of the inside?
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dennis Markham


HarrySmith

You still have it? I thought it was part of a restoration you did. Pictures of the inside would be nice but they may not answer my questions ???
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dennis Markham

The guy didn't want that switch or the plug back. I have them both.  I may have some pictures of the inside when it was connected if that's what you're interested in seeing.

HarrySmith

Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Phonesrfun

Those switches, or "keys" as they were called in the day, were used for both 2nd lines and ringer cut-out switches, and sometimes to switch a business line over to an answering service at night.

They are large and seem in these days to be overkill, but that is what was once routinely supplied by the telco.  Of course, telco also wired them and maintained them, and the subscriber paid for it.

The actual key is very similar to what would be mounted on the keyshelf of a cord switchboard, although there were many, many configurations of how they were used and the number of contacts, and whether they were latching or momentary, and yada, yada.
-Bill G

Dennis Markham


JorgeAmely

My 283B plug made (or perhaps licensed) by WE.
Jorge

McHeath

I remember thinking how marvelously exotic the four prong plugs were when I was growing up in Bell System Daze.  My folks would never ever have paid extra for such a device and our single 500 was of course hardwired to the wall.  If someone had told my dad he could have paid a few extra bucks and had some plugs installed so he could move the phone from room to room to talk to people he would have probably responded with a few choice expletives followed by something like, "And why the @#$%^* would I want to do that!?"

I can only imagine the commentary he would have if he were alive today and knew that I carried a phone around in my pocket at all times. :D

Our house went modular in 1984 right as Ma Bell was breaking up.  Pac Bell came in and was rewiring all the homes for modular, which was the coolest thing since sliced bread to me as I could replace the handset cords with super long 25 footers and have conversations on the couch now while watching the TV. 




JorgeAmely

Jorge

KeithB

I think the saddest thing about hard-wired phones were all those line cords that were simply cut with scissors or a box cutter to 'disconnect' them.  :'(