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What Are Rotary Dial Phones and How Do They Work?
Interesting Engineering ^ | 6/5/21 | Christopher McFadden

Posted on 05/21/2024 10:19:32 AM PDT by DallasBiff

The rotary dial phone was once the be all and end all of the telephones. Like the cellphone of today, everybody had one, and they ruled domestic communications for decades.

But that all changed in the 1980s when they were supplanted by a new upstart, push-button telephones. Their days were numbered (pun intended).

Many born after the 1990s have likely never seen one, which is a shame. But for those who do remember, join us as we take a trip back in time in remembrance of this glorious piece of telecommunications history.

(Excerpt) Read more at interestingengineering.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; History
KEYWORDS: mabell; phone; rotaryphone
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To: DallasBiff

We ‘upgraded’ to a phone chord that could reach into the living room (phone was located in kitchen)- We thought it was the greatest invention ever lol

Years later- we got a TV with a remote- talk about heaven!


41 posted on 05/21/2024 10:51:06 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: DallasBiff

Even without a dial, those old phones would dial using the Hangup Hook button. If you did it fast enough hitting it 5 times was the same as dialing a 5.


42 posted on 05/21/2024 10:51:26 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: DallasBiff

Never a party line but my number was Sunset 1-5090


43 posted on 05/21/2024 10:52:05 AM PDT by shoff (Vote Democrat it beats thinking!)
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To: srmanuel
Originally you could get any color phone you want so long as it was black, until the princess slimline phone came out.

Nope. "Phones of color" could be had as far back as the 30s, and maybe earlier. You probably had to pay more on the monthly charge, however. Original ones are quite rare today, and are highly collectible.

44 posted on 05/21/2024 10:52:09 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "Democracy" like throwing your opponents in jail.)
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To: PAR35
You just picked it up and told the operator the number that you wanted to be connected with. She had a 3 digit number.

Phone numbers back then were handed out in the order a person became a customer. When I was a kid my parents bought a business and kept 'the old phone number' which was 62. Your grandmother could have been one of the first 999 customers

45 posted on 05/21/2024 10:52:58 AM PDT by GOPJ (Watching Judge Merchan in acion is like watching a bought umpire throw a game...)
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To: Hiddigeigei

Capitol 5- 2321....I can still hear my dad calling his office!!


46 posted on 05/21/2024 10:53:46 AM PDT by YouGoTexasGirl ( )
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To: steve86

We had numbers to dial for time and weather, with automated responses. A few years ago, I read that the Naval Observatory was still doing Time; I don’t know if it’s still true.


47 posted on 05/21/2024 10:54:29 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: DallasBiff

Back in the early days, they hired teenage boys to be operators. Problem was they caused too much trouble, so they switched to women, and all was well.


48 posted on 05/21/2024 10:54:44 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "Democracy" like throwing your opponents in jail.)
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To: combat_boots

Same here. I have faded memories of the old wall crank phone we had on the ranch when I was a little tot.


49 posted on 05/21/2024 10:54:47 AM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: DallasBiff

My home number growing up had two 0s, two 9s, and an 8. Calling home from a friend’s house and messing up the last number and having to start over was horrible.


50 posted on 05/21/2024 10:55:34 AM PDT by tnlibertarian
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To: PallMal

About 10 years ago, some of us were talking to a girl in her late teens and mentioned rotary phones - she said,’I’ve seen one of those!’


51 posted on 05/21/2024 10:56:30 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: DallasBiff

Strowger


52 posted on 05/21/2024 10:57:00 AM PDT by bigbob
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To: srmanuel

1st phone party line... 2 longs and a short


53 posted on 05/21/2024 10:59:07 AM PDT by mware
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To: Hiddigeigei

Skyline 2-0332

Can’t believe I still remember that.

Loved the sound old rotary phones made when you dialed them…especially the 9’s, 8’s, 7’s.


54 posted on 05/21/2024 11:00:21 AM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast (We have not yet achieved peak crazy)
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To: MeganC
Ok so it is "Mostly Harmless".
55 posted on 05/21/2024 11:00:46 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
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To: Steely Tom

“this was allowed by the superposition principle.”

Nice quantum application. Is there a cat hiding in there?


56 posted on 05/21/2024 11:01:26 AM PDT by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: Fresh Wind

https://oldphoneworks.com/


57 posted on 05/21/2024 11:01:29 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Blueflag

These rotating bar switches obviated the local operator to complete a local call. The switches connected physical wires, circuits, to make an electrical connection to a specific residence or business set of wires. No more operator plugging A to B. The plug (then switch) connected a pair of wires called tip and ring, a terminology that persisted for decades, even when the technology advanced to digital switches, as did the term twisted pair.

Rings were caused by 40 volts DC flowing down that circuit . That voltage could knock you on your butt.


58 posted on 05/21/2024 11:02:39 AM PDT by Blueflag (To not carry is to choose to be defenseless.)
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To: Billthedrill
Hang it up on what?

Early wall phones had hooks on the side on which to hang the receiver (the part you hold to your ear). The hook operated an internal switch (the hook switch) to disconnect everything so as not to deplete the batteries. So to end a call, you literally hung the receiver on the hook, hence the "hang up" term, which is still in use to this day.

59 posted on 05/21/2024 11:02:48 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "Democracy" like throwing your opponents in jail.)
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To: Billthedrill; Chode; SkyDancer; Salamander; Carriage Hill; Lockbox; MtnClimber; nascarnation; ...
And what’s this “hang up” business, anyway? Hang it up on what?

On the bracket that the Handset rests the Ear Piece and makes the contacts that disconnects the Call. (Wall mount phones)

Or the Saddle of a Desktop Phone.

Those old Phones were tough too, You could hammer in a 16 Penny Nail with the Handset and it would still work.

60 posted on 05/21/2024 11:04:08 AM PDT by mabarker1 ( (Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! A fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I'm a member of Congress!!!)
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