Party lines

[poplar1]

Most of us have never used a party line. However, it is important to know that party lines were the norm, especially in rural areas. By having two or more--sometimes 20!--different customers share the same line, the cost of outside plant (facilities) and central office facilities per customer could be reduced.

Most of us know the frustration of finding an Automatic Electric, Kellogg, or North phone with a "party line ringer" that won't respond to normal ringing frequency of 20~ or 30~.  Most of the discussion here on the forum has been how to make these phones ring.

Most of the "harmonic" or "frequency" ringers are found in other than Bell System Western Electric phones. While frustrating for us now that we want them to "work," in their day, the fact that they didn't respond to all frequencies meant that if the call was for your neighbor, you weren't disturbed by a ringing phone.

Bell often used a different method of selecting the correct party to ring. Using relays or cold cathode tubes, they could ring 4 different parties selectively---without disturbing the other parties--or 8 parties semi-selectively, where your phone would ring for only you and one other party, but not the other 6 on the same line. In order to know the call was for you, there would be different ringing cadences, such as one long ring or two short rings.

On rural lines and also some others, your Bell System phone would not have either tube or relay, so your phone would ring for half of all parties; thus on a 10-party line, there would be 5 different ring cadences (patterns). By connecting half the parties' ringers from one side of the line (tip) to ground, and the other half of the parties' ringers from the other side of the line (ring) to ground, the 5 patterns thus could serve as 10 distinct signals.

By the 1970s, probably only 1% of the urban lines were party  lines. The ones that remained were 2-party. Again, by connecting one party from tip (green) to ground, and the other from ring (red) to ground, the ringing would be "selective," i.e., you didn't hear the other party's phone ring. That is why most 302s and all 500s had 3-conductor cords, so that the yellow wire could be connected to ground on party lines.

Still, if you lived in an area such as Chicago, St. Louis or New York, where each local call was billed--"message rate service," there had to be a means of determining which party was making the call, so that it could be billed correctly. This is why there are 304 sets, 5304, 203 (D-6 hand set mounting) and 151C desk stands. The 354 wall set and 500 standardized both circuits so that only one phone needed to be stocked. The 354 and 500 can be rewired for "tip party identification" as was possible with a 304, 5304, 203 or 151C set.

Still, it surprises me that they carried this "one size fits all" theory so far. First, they dropped the 302A, B, C, D which had only a 2-conductor mounting cord, so it couldn't be used on a party line that needed the yellow lead for grounded ringing. But with the 354 and 500, they made it so that all phones could be rewired for either

2-party selective (4-party semi-selective) party lines, or
2-party selective, tip party ID, or
used for indidividual (non-party) lines.

This meant not only a 3-conductor cord had to be furnished with every 500, but also a 4-wire ringer since the ringer has to have 2 windings for tip party ID. It was not until about 1983 that WE again made phones that were designated "1-PTY" (one-party), with 2 conductor mounting cords and 2-wire ringers.

[unbeldi]

The wiring diagrams in the Bell System Practices (BSPs) make it very hard to understand the electrical differences between the party-line telephone sets and a simple straight-line station.

For really understanding them, a circuit diagram is a better aid.  Attached is my diagram for the 304 (or 5304) telephone for bridged ringing, which is what most collectors want to achieve to make them work on today's lines.

This diagram is drawn according to BSP C38.555, as indicated in the image.

[unbeldi]

Beyond individual or bridged service, the wiring of the 304-type instrument is slightly different.
Here are the circuits for RING party and TIP party flat-rate service, the two only differing in the polarity of the connection of the ringer leads to ring and tip, respectively.

[unbeldi]

And finally, to illustrate even more complex arrangements, here for example is the circuit for Message Rate and Tip Party identification for the 304 or 5304 telephones.

The ringer is wired here for
* all offices with message rate
* all offices with Zone Registration flat-rate service
* and all standard Crossbar switches with AMA flat-rate equipment

This is according to BSP C68.555 Issue 2 (April 1958) in Fig. 7.

Slightly different wiring of the ringer portion was used for other switches and service types. See BSP.

As can be seen, this type of automatic number identification and station selection integrates the ringer circuit into the induction coil and uses the center tap (M) of the primary winding of the 101B induction coil. This was the reason for having the M terminal, which was inherited also by the early version of the 500-type sets with the 425A network.

[poplar1]

And last but not least: the more common sets--WE or NE 302G, WE/NE 500, AE 40, etc. When used for party lines, these simply used grounded ringing---ringers connected from one side of the line to ground rather than bridged across the line. Since they did not have the complex circuitry of a 304, 5304, 51C, 151C or 203, they could be used for all classes of service except those indicated above for 304 sets (Tip Party on Message Rate etc.)

Grounded ringing was most often associated with party lines. Per Roger C., even on non-party lines, some companies used grounded ringing so that if the lightning protection (ground) got disconnected somehow, the customer would call in to complain that they were no longer receiving calls.

The 500D (non-modular) sets were shipped with the black ringer wire connected to G, and with the yellow mounting cord (line cord) lead connected to G. The red ringer wire was connected to L2, along with the red mounting cord lead. And the green mtg. cord lead was on L1.

So, if you just connect the red and green wires at the wall, or replace the old cord with a quarter-modular cord (spade tips on one end and modular plug on the other), the phone doesn't ring.

We usually advise just moving the ringer wire from G to L1 in a non-ringing 500. If you are not replacing the original mounting cord, you can either do this, or just connect the green and yellow spade-tipped wires together at the wall.


Since the ringer in a 500D is connected to G and L2, this shows that the phone is actually factory wired for the "ring party"--that is, on a party line, the phone would ring only when the central office sent ringing current over the red wire, which is the "ring" of the "tip and ring" designation of the two line wires.

FOR PARTY LINE: RING PARTY: The installer would connect the wire from the phone as follows:
red to the red inside wire going to the outside protector (where the line comes from the pole), green to green inside wire going to the outside, and yellow to the yellow inside wire, which connected to ground at the protector.

FOR INDIVIDUAL LINE: The installer would connect the yellow AND green wires from the phone to the same green inside wire on the 42A connecting block on the baseboard, and the red to the red inside wire. (The yellow wire in the station wire was to be left disconnected outside.)

FOR PARTY LINE: TIP PARTY: The installer would install the yellow wire from the phone to yellow inside wire, and reverse the red and green because the central office would be sending ring current on the tip lead (green).

Extra credit: if for tip party you change the wiring at the baseboard and not in the set--i.e., connect the green mtg. cord wire to red and red mtg. cord to green--then how would you connect a 1500D Touch-Tone set for the same subscriber upgrading from rotary to Touch-Tone? (The 1500D is polarity sensitive.)

[Phonesrfun]

I would revert to the normal connection at the 42A block, I.E. red to red, green to green and yellow to ground, and inside the phone, I would move the red ringer wire to L1 where the green line cord connects.

[Contempra]

So my question is : really, what is the utility of a party line ?..  gonna write in french... sorry but take a translator please.


je me souviens que dans les années 60 on avait une ligne téléphonique mais la ligne privée n'était pas encore en service dans notre patelin...

Cela donnait lieu à diverses sonneries et tous le monde pouvait entendre tout ce qui se disait sur la ligne de telephone.. Il fallait reconnaître notre propre sonnerie pour savoir que l'appel était pour nous . Sinon, c'était pour le voisin et parfois on était plus de 5 ou 10 personnes sur le même appel. de là les commères de village . Voila ce que j'appelle une ligne téléphonique ( party line )

Sorry for the french language because some words in English are unknown for me and I learn English since  less a year... and.... for certain form  are not translatable.

Certaines choses ne sont pas traduisibles comme les patois, certaines tournures  de phrases....

[WesternElectricBen]

Contempra's English Translation:

"I remember in the 60s we had a phone line but private line was not yet in service in our hometown ...

This gave rise to various tones and everyone could hear everything that was said on the phone line .. It was necessary to recognize our own ringtone to know that the call was for us. Otherwise, it was for the neighbor and sometimes there were more than 5 or 10 people on the same call. hence the village gossips. This is what I call a telephone line (party line)"

[Contempra]

thank you Ben

[Phonesrfun]

So my question is : really, what is the utility of a party line ?..  gonna write in french... sorry but take a translator please.

I know no French so I will reply in English.

The utility of a party line was mostly for the convenience of the phone company, and it was also economics.  For example, after World War II, there was a period of large economic expansion after the war and the Great Depression before that.  Once the economy began booming, businesses sprang up, houses were built, and babies were born.  I am one of the baby-boomers.

The phone company was not even close to being able to keep up with the demand of switching equipment and cables.  The phone company offered party lines to solve the problem.  Put two, three, four or more houses on the same telephone line.  They offered a reduced rate to those on party lines to encourage party line use.  This they did until eventually there was enough equipment to handle the demand, but even after that, people often chose to have party lines to save money.

The downside is that a family of 5 or 6 really needed a private line and with so many households sharing one line, it got to be a pain to have to lift up the phone and hear others on the phone when you needed to use it.  As phone service got cheaper, eventually party lines all went away.

I started with the example of right after the war.  Party lines had actually been in place from the very beginnings of phone service.

Magneto "farm" phones were a great example.  In that case many people were on the same line.  Typically everyone up a common road, valley or some other definable group.  A local battery magneto phone could have as many parties as you could make up  and decipher ringing codes.

[DavePEI]

Fun stories originating from Party Line Days here on PEI (not so long ago):

http://www.islandregister.com/phones/partyline.html

[Contempra]

thanks phonesrfun and Dave...

[jsowers]

Thanks, Dave, for that excellent explanation of party lines. I understood most of it, which is more than I can say for reading the BSPs. I always wondered what "semi-selective" meant.

I grew up with a party line, shared with four neighbors including my grandmother next door. Eventually it dwindled down to just us and Granny. We dialed 4-digit numbers (1543 from our house to get Granny, 1534 from Granny's house to get us). You then hung up and when the ringing stopped (it rang the phones alternately) you picked up the handset and hoped your party was still there. Not a very good method, but it was all we had.

This was an independent telco with AE phones using frequency ringers. We had the party line until about 1988 when they did away with them. By then I was on my own with a private line. Sadly they had to replace Granny's AE50 with the spitcup handset instead of just replacing the ringer. I wish I had that phone back! Yes, party line service was cheaper and you couldn't have an extension, or at least that was the rule with our telco.

By contrast, my other grandmother was on a 2-party line with Southern Bell and she had a number card on all her phones that said "answer 2 rings. The "2" was written in. Extensions were no problem, but when she became frail, we had to install a panic button necklace device and it required a private line.

[G-Man]

Frequency ringing was first developed (independently) by a Pacific Telephone engineer and a New England Telephone Company engineer; both employees of Bell companies.

Party-line service was not for the convenience of the telephone company since the opposite was true, but rather because of being forced due to the economics of providing affordable service to the subscribers.

We served some of our subscribers via 20-party lines by means of divided, coded frequency-ringing.

However there were some exchanges that had up to 50-subscribers sharing the same line.

Also note that in most cases those subscribers felt fortunate to having telephone service in the event of any emergency and being able to conduct urgent business. For the most part they policed themselves and kept party-line hogs at bay.

[unbeldi]

Recommended reading:
The early WeCo catalogs (and some other suppliers) of the 1910 and 1920s have nice discussions of these signaling systems, including party lines, and explain with illustrations the terminology involved.

Another good resource with more technical detail are the 'Principles of Electricity Applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work' written by the AT&T Longlines department. Copies of these are plentiful on eBay for as little as $10 sometimes. The various editions, starting in the 1920s nicely illustrate, with great pictures, the development of technology. The editions I am aware of are 1922, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1938, 1941, 1953, and 1961.