No Dial Tone

[Ktownphoneco]

I can't get dial tone on this set.    Any idea's ?

Jeff Lamb

[skyrider]

Looks like dial tone may have leaked out the hole in front of the plungers. I would not try mouth to mouth.


Bill

[Doug Rose]

Obviously the phone is out of air!

[Key2871]

You can't hear the dial tone because the handset is meltissing.

[LarryInMichigan]

That phone was used on a hotline, so there was no dial tone

[Key2871]

Last time I saw a set like that was after a strange thing happened.. this house caught fire in a very high end county club was cleaned out by a bunch of people who lived near by or was playing golf .. then the same house burned to the ground about two months later in the middle of the night when no one was home. Everything was destroyed... Including a black 500 type desk set, that looked very much like this "hot line" phone.

[FABphones]

I can't get dial tone on this set.    Any idea's ?

Jeff Lamb

It's a moviestar thing. Perhaps you should try asking for an autograph. 

[Ktownphoneco]

I love all the replies to the post.   What a hoot !     The set is on display at the Telephone Historical Center in Edmonton, Alberta.     I'm posting a "PDF" picture file of some of the exhibits on display there, under "Telephone Talk - General Discussion".   

Jeff Lamb

[LarryInMichigan]

I figured that it was in Canada given that it is mounted with a robertson head screw.

Larry

[jsowers]

Did anyone else have a "Vac-u-Form" when they were a kid? I did. You could take these plastic sheets and leave them over this heating element until they began to melt and then turn it over onto a form where you could make little boats or fake noses or silly faces. The plastic came in all colors and metallic ones too.

Well, this phone looks like it was melted by a Vac-u-Form and then not completely molded into a phone. You had to push and push on the vacuum pump to draw out the air, so not all the molds were easy to do. That thing and my Creepy Crawlers Thingmaker are two of my most memorable presents when I was a kid. After 50 years in my mom's hot attic, those two things are probably no longer working.

[Ktownphoneco]

Keen eye Larry.   Yes, they are probably the most popular screw drive system in Canada, although Phillips and slot drives are also sold.     Robertson are largely used in the building trades.    But Phillips still reign supreme in the dry wall industry because of the drive system that sinks the screw head to the proper depth.    Peter Robertson invented the square drive system which he received a patent for in 1908.     He tried to introduce the system into the U.S.A., but unfortunately he started to suffer from mental problems during negotiations with hardware manufacturers and it all fell through.    Here's an interesting "blurb" from "Wikipedia" regarding Robertson and Phillips"  ..........

The Fisher Body company, which made the car bodies for the Ford Motor Company, was one of Robertson's first customers and used over 700 Robertson screws in its Model T car. Henry Ford, after finding that the screw saved him about 2 hours of work for each car, attempted to get an exclusive licence for the use and manufacture of the Robertson screw in the US. He was turned down by Robertson who felt it was not in his best interest and shortly after that, Ford found that Henry F. Phillips had invented another kind of socket screw and had no such reservations. Although the Robertson screw is most popular in Canada, it is used extensively in boat building because it tends not to slip and damage material, it can be used with one hand, and it is much easier to remove/replace after weathering.

Jeff

[CanadianGuy]

I LOVE Robertson head screws!

[LarryInMichigan]

Did anyone else have a "Vac-u-Form" when they were a kid? I did. You could take these plastic sheets and leave them over this heating element until they began to melt and then turn it over onto a form where you could make little boats or fake noses or silly faces. The plastic came in all colors and metallic ones too.

Well, this phone looks like it was melted by a Vac-u-Form and then not completely molded into a phone. You had to push and push on the vacuum pump to draw out the air, so not all the molds were easy to do. That thing and my Creepy Crawlers Thingmaker are two of my most memorable presents when I was a kid. After 50 years in my mom's hot attic, those two things are probably no longer working.

I never had either of those toys, but all of my friends had "Thing Maker"s.  Those toys were from the good old days when children's toys were fun and dangerous.  Nobody can sell a toy with any hot parts now (or since the mid 1970s or so).

Larry

[rdelius]

No one mentioned earlier type 80

[LarryInMichigan]

Keen eye Larry.   Yes, they are probably the most popular screw drive system in Canada, although Phillips and slot drives are also sold.     Robertson are largely used in the building trades.    But Phillips still reign supreme in the dry wall industry because of the drive system that sinks the screw head to the proper depth.    Peter Robertson invented the square drive system which he received a patent for in 1908.     He tried to introduce the system into the U.S.A., but unfortunately he started to suffer from mental problems during negotiations with hardware manufacturers and it all fell through.    Here's an interesting "blurb" from "Wikipedia" regarding Robertson and Phillips"  ..........

The Fisher Body company, which made the car bodies for the Ford Motor Company, was one of Robertson's first customers and used over 700 Robertson screws in its Model T car. Henry Ford, after finding that the screw saved him about 2 hours of work for each car, attempted to get an exclusive licence for the use and manufacture of the Robertson screw in the US. He was turned down by Robertson who felt it was not in his best interest and shortly after that, Ford found that Henry F. Phillips had invented another kind of socket screw and had no such reservations. Although the Robertson screw is most popular in Canada, it is used extensively in boat building because it tends not to slip and damage material, it can be used with one hand, and it is much easier to remove/replace after weathering.

Jeff

Robertson head screws occasionally appear around here, being that Canada is only a few minutes away, but they are quite uncommon.  When I am in Ontario, just over the river though, I see them everywhere.  They certainly are easier to drive than phillips'.  I always wondered why such a simple idea of a square hole was able to be patented and then become mostly restricted to one country.  Canada should have a robertson head screw on their flag instead of a maple leaf.  Maples can be found in great numbers outside of Canada, but robertson head screws cannot.

Larry