Party Line Phones

[11furby11]

I have a question.  If a telephone was involved in a "Party Line" of 2 other people (3 total- including themselves), does the dial have to be changed out to make it a single line?  The phone is marked Party line 1.  Anybody have any recommendations or comments?  I was looking at a Party Line phone...but I was sure someone had said in a previous "trouble shooting problem" that the dial would have to be changed out.

Thanks for all your help everyone with my last issue.  Ken Stub, Terry,Vern, Jorge, the Guy from Norway, I hope I didn't miss anyone, and anyone else who gave me so much useful information, boy am I learning!!!
Sherry

[11furby11]

I forgot to metion thanks to Larry!!!  Thanks Larry

[RDP]

I'm not positive but, I believe you will only have to do a little rewiring so it will ring on a modern line.

[rdelius]

The dial would not need to be changed. The ringer might need to be replaced if it is not a straight line ringer.If the ringer is a straight line, you might need to move some wires
Robby

[11furby11]

What's a "straight-line ringer?"
Sherry

[11furby11]

I guess a better question is, "How do you know if it is a straight line ringer or not?"
Thanks Sherry

[Phonesrfun]

I guess a better question is, "How do you know if it is a straight line ringer or not?"
Thanks
Sherry

A phone that was once on a party line generally does not need the dial swapped out.  There were cases of older SATT dials that put extra pulses in that may cause a problem, but I don't know for sure.

As to telling the ringer apart, there are so many differrent variations, based on manufacturer that it would be hard to describe, other than to say that a straight line ringer usually pivots on a pivot point, and the frequency ringers vibrate a somewhat flexible and somewhat stiff "tuned" reed of thin metal.

Your best bet is to post a good photo of the ringer and of the back of the dial, and we can tell you.  Without some hands-on with the ringers, it is kind of hard to describe other than the rather poor job I have just done.

Not all party line phones used frequency ringers.  If the phone was Western Electric, chances are that on a 3-party line there was a straight line ringer involved, but the ringing would be straight across the line for just one of the parties, and the ringing would have been from one side of the line for the second party, and the other side of the line to ground for the third party.  (Not necissarily in that order)

So, a little information on the manufacturer and the model of the phone would also help with this.  Getting it to ring may just be a matter of moving one wire.

[stub]

Sherry,
         Look at the ringer in your AE40 . It is a straight line ringer. Look at the bases of both ringers and compare, you will see what Bill is talking about . If the ringer , in question, has a pivot base and a bias spring and it looks just like the base of the 40 it will work. Hope this helps,    stub

         These are AE ringers!!!! The ringer on the top is a  frequency ringer and the one on the bottom is a straight line ringer.

[AE_Collector]

Bill: A SATT dial was my guess as to what Sherry had read in regards to dials and party lines. I don't think that a SATT dial would cause a problem with using a phone on a modern line.

Terry

[JorgeAmely]

Bill, Terry:

I have an AE phone with a SATT dial and it does cause a little noise on the line (audible on the speaker) but the Central Office equipment installed in my neighborhood tolerates it and dials out fine. The recommended AE procedure to remove the SATT capability from the phone is to leave the brown wire from the dial floating (disconnected). In that way, the noise goes away.

For the benefit of members who are wondering what a SATT dial is; SATT stands for Strowger Automatic Toll and Ticketing system. In party line systems, where all the phones are on the same line, a method is required to identify each phone on the line, so that toll calls can be billed correctly. This is where a SATT comes handy on AE installations. When the user dials a digit with a SATT equipped phone, the dial sends out a numeric code superimposed over the party line to uniquely identify the phone placing the call. Code numbers range from 1 to 10. The phone in the album below outputs a code of 3, since there are three lobes on the cam illustrated on the photo.

I believe there were two AE SATT dial systems: A and B. Different designs, same billing concept.

More pictures of a SATT equipped phone here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Amelyenator/AE80InTurquoiseColorFrom1960#

[AE_Collector]

Hi Jorge:

Is the audible noise in the receiver just while you are dialing or throughout a call? I've never paid much attention to wha ta SATT dial actually inserts onto the line but assumed it was a splash of ground during dialing IF the ground is connected to the yellow set cord lead. I could be 100% incorrect in that assumption though.

Yes there is a SATT A and a SATT B configuration. Again I am only assuming that the SATT dial configuration  needed to match the local toll office SATT installation. The other variation of SATT dial has a round disk with something like 3 little set screws on the face of the disk rather than cogs on the outer edge.

Nice closeup picture as usual Jorge....

Terry

[JorgeAmely]

Terry:

The SATT dial only emits a switching sound audible on the speaker only when you release the dial. Each digit dialed contains the SATT dial code.

You are correct about the other SATT dial variation. I have one somewhere, but I don't have pictures of it.

The pictures were taken with the rescued camera.