Connecticut Direct-A-Call Telephone

[MMikeJBenN27]

I just bought a Connecticut Direct-A-Call phone off of E-Bay, and there is a loose brass spacer in it.  Does anybody know about this instrument?  Does anybody have a picture of the inside of one?  It seems complete and has both cords, the line cord terminating in a round multi-pin plug.

[TelePlay]

It would help if you took a few pictures of yours including the loose spacer and either attach them to the first post using the "Modify" option or do a reply to this.

You can attache the photos using the "Attachments and other options" link at the lower left of the text box.

Is this the phone you bought?

     http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-Connecticut-Brand-Model-R-14400-1-Direct-a-Phone-Telephone-/192273452669

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BTW:  Welcome to the forum. The best place in the world for phone collectors at any level to get good, friendly help fixing and restoring phones.

[MMikeJBenN27]

Yes it is.

[.....]

Welcome to the forum.

[Owain]

There's another one here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Connecticut-Telephone-Direct-a-Call-Handset-Phone-1950s-1960s-Film-Prop-/172475009307

which suggests credit card processing?!?

It looks to me more like an intercom than a phone - a photo of the insides should show whether it has a telephone network and the push button arrangements.

[TelePlay]

There's another one here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Connecticut-Telephone-Direct-a-Call-Handset-Phone-1950s-1960s-Film-Prop-/172475009307

which suggests credit card processing?!?

It looks to me more like an intercom than a phone - a photo of the insides should show whether it has a telephone network and the push button arrangements.

Seller description of this second phone reads:

"Vintage 1950s Connecticut Telephone & Electric Company "Direct-a-Call" handset & Body, model R-14400-1, an antique vestige of long-gone telecommunication devices.

Somewhere along the way years ago I read an article (that I now cannot find online) that talked about this particular device being able to process telephone credit card orders back in the early days of credit cards. I can't verify that, but an old-timer from Connecticut Telephone might be able to say.

If you know more about this please let me know so I can update the listing.

I love old phones like this, and am not sure if it can work, but I bet there is a tech nerd out there who could wangle this amazing piece of industrial design into a working handset. Is that you? It's got a tangle of wires at the end of the cord, who knows that they hook up to.

The handset is in fine condition; the body is solid and has no cracks in the plastic. It could use some detail cleaning, but this thing is in fine use-now--or try to--condition. The CT Direct a Call plate is loose. I taped it from behind to keep it from getting lost. "

[Alex G. Bell]

Seller description of this second phone reads:

<snip>

Somewhere along the way years ago I read an article (that I now cannot find online) that talked about this particular device being able to process telephone credit card orders back in the early days of credit cards. I can't verify that, but an old-timer from Connecticut Telephone might be able to say.

<snip>

Very unlikely IMO.  ..."able to process"...?  AFAIK it's an on-premises intercom.  I doubt it has a reader for the magnetic stripe on the card.  "Process" presumably means to get verbal authorization to accept the card.  That would require contacting the retailer's bank, not something ordinarily possible with an intercom. 

BTW, the discoloration on the fronts of the buttons looks like glue residue.  Many of these simple intercom systems depended on access to a voice paging system and had one or sometimes a few common talk paths.  There may be glue residue remaining from designation caps which were cemented to the fronts of the buttons.

Simple ICMs like this typically were used by getting on the paging system and paging the person needed to pick up the specific talking line the person initiating the call had selected by operating one of the talking path buttons.  This made it possible to have many stations around a premises without having a button on each phone to signal each station directly.  In many establishments, especially factories, people roamed around and could be anywhere on the premises, so a button to signal each station would not even be beneficial.  Paging to pick up a specific talking line was the only practical method of operation.

[Jim Stettler]

I agree with Alex on this being an intercom.  If it was used to process credit, it probably connected upstairs to the credit dept.
Just my opinion,
Jim S.

[paul-f]

Very unlikely IMO.  ..."able to process"...?  AFAIK it's an on-premises intercom.  I doubt it has a reader for the magnetic stripe on the card.  "Process" presumably means to get verbal authorization to accept the card.  That would require contacting the retailer's bank, not something ordinarily possible with an intercom. 

Before national credit cards, stores offered their own credit to qualified customers. Authorizing credit meant contacting the store's credit department, not a bank.  This was certainly possible with a simple intercom.

Even after credit cards were available, many stores preferred to use their own existing credit departments to save the processing fees.

[Alex G. Bell]

I agree with Alex on this being an intercom.  If it was used to process credit, it probably connected upstairs to the credit dept.
Just my opinion,
Jim S.

Exactly!  So in this sense, it's absolutely no different from any other device (usually called a "telephone") capable of transmitting and receiving speech in it's ability to "process credit card transactions".

[Alex G. Bell]

Before national credit cards, stores offered their own credit to qualified customers. Authorizing credit meant contacting the store's credit department, not a bank.  This was certainly possible with a simple intercom.

Even after credit cards were available, many stores preferred to use their own existing credit departments to save the processing fees.

All true but these ICMs probably date from the late 50s at the earliest, by which time credit cards were well established.  Systems like this which had few voice paths would have been limited to relatively small establishments, not suitable for dept. stores of any size.

[TelePlay]

If this is a "vintage 50's" telephone device, there is no way it could have been used with a credit card because up into the early 70's, credit cards did not have a magnetic strip.

As we all remember when we got our first credit card prior to 1970, it was a plastic card embossed with account information and the cards were placed on an imprinter then loaded with a multi-part credit card charge slip to produce a document for the buyer's signature.

IBM completed their two year R&D project in 1971 so until then, paper was used by whomever had the "business' credit card imprinter."

[AL_as_needed]

I recall around 1994 still seeing those manual card "readers" that utilized the raised digits and carbon copies. Ironically I want to say it was when I was with my mother at JamesWay when she bought our first cordless home phone.

Sadly the raised digits, the particular cordless phone, JamesWay, and the mall that store was in, are all long gone...

[Owain]

I recall around 1994 still seeing those manual card "readers" that utilized the raised digits and carbon copies. Ironically I want to say it was when I was with my mother at JamesWay when she bought our first cordless home phone.

Sadly the raised digits, the particular cordless phone, JamesWay, and the mall that store was in, are all long gone...

But you still have your mother?