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That's a North Electric "Galion" phone (of Galion, Ohio). Not to be confused with Northern Electric of Canada.
Why is there such a strange random assortment of letters, rather the 'abcd'?
Quote from: Willytx on February 21, 2012, 01:12:07 AM
Why is there such a strange random assortment of letters, rather the 'abcd'?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a guess.
The dial plate is a "rural" (numbers only) plate. More than likely used in a rural area where party lines were the norm. Early on, phone numbers for individuals were X-amount of digits and a letter designation. For instance 4689R. There were a certain amount of letters used. That looks like an actual North Electric dial as opposed to an A.E. dial which were often used in the Galion phones.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. The Bell System didn't use all those letters in their party line system, but the ones they did use (J, M, R, W), are in exactly the same positions.
(Image from OPW)
Interesting. I didn't even notice at first that the letters are still in the abc def ghi... order. Not random at all.
Thanks for the explanation.
I never realized that until reading your post just now! Interesting that you can look at something so many times, and never see the pattern.