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My Dad's 40 Years with Illinois Bell and his "Collection"

Started by MagicMo, November 18, 2012, 12:20:31 AM

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dsk

Quote from: dsk on November 22, 2012, 03:50:11 PM
Maureen, dear fellow collectors, I guess it is the right time to come with a warning.

Telephones may have an effect of addiction, you may only keep one or two as a start...

For us others, we will welcome you, and the most of us will be more happy to have you here, than we we will be sorry for not getting our fingers into your great collection.

dsk

poplar1

Quote from: Dave F on November 29, 2012, 01:17:19 PM
Quote from: MagicMo link=topic=7944.msg88088#msg88088
<snip>...What do the autovon cards look like? Just curious, you never know if I come across it.
Thanks
Maureen
Hi Maureen,

Thanks for asking.  Boy, wouldn't that be something if you found some of those!  Not too likely, as these were only used by the military -- unless your dad also did telco work on military bases.

The phone is called an AUTOVON Card Dialer, similar to more common commercial Card Dialers made by WECo, but it uses different cards.  The special AUTOVON cards (see pic below) are made from white-colored plastic, are about the size of playing cards, and have letters and a star (as well as numbers) printed on them.  As far as I can tell, none have ever been found, and the picture below has been Photoshopped to show what they look like.

FYI, AUTOVON is an acronym for AUTOmatic VOice Network, a 1960s-70s military communication system.  While not as rare as Picturephones, all AUTOVON relics are very difficult to find and are highly prized by those of us who collect them.

It was very nice of you to ask -- Thanks again!

Dave



Here's another style card for the Autovon Card Dialer:
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Dave F

Quote from: poplar1 on January 20, 2013, 10:28:45 PM

Here's another style card for the Autovon Card Dialer:
Close, but no cigar!

Although this card does encode all 16 touchtone frequency combinations, it is not an AUTOVON card.  It is used in a prototype Card Dialer, model number F58554 (~1972).  These sets were designed to be high-reliability replacements for the standard Card Dialers of that era.  The keypad on the phone has only 12 buttons, but the card reader can encode all 16 tones, just as an AUTOVON dial does.  According to anecdotal reports, F58554 Card Dialers were tested within the Bell System and were used mainly for ordering parts from W.E.  The special characters on the cards (a,b,c,d) were part of the order entry process.  About that time, Touch A Matics and other dialers with solid-state memory became available, essentially making Card Dialers obsolete.  The F58554 never went into mass production, and today both the phone and it's associated cards are rare relics.

I have only seen two of these phones.  One is in my collection, and the other is in the JKL museum.  I had been planning to present a more complete discussion of this phone at a later date, and may still do so.  In the meantime, here is a picture.

DF


poplar1

"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.