Model A Era Phones

David in San Antonio said:
In the 1970’s I had a physics professor who was well into his seventh or eighth decade. He delighted in telling us stories about electric technology from when he was a boy growing up in Pennsylvania. He said there were two competing phone companies in his town, Bell, and Keystone. Their systems did not interconnect. If you had a Keystone phone you could only call other Keystone customers, and Bell people could only call other Bell people. The stores advertised both their Bell and Keystone phone numbers.
He also related how he built a crystal (germanium diode) radio and his grandfather (born around the time Lincoln was president) asked him what he was doing. Listen to this, Grandpa, it’s a man talking in Pittsburgh. He said his grandfather listened to the headset for a few moments, then declared it was all a hoax and he couldn’t be fooled like that.
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the Japanese had the same restrictions until around the mid 2000s.
I was stationed there in 2012 and knew guys who used to have three cell phones to talk to people. flip phones were still very commonly used. I bought my then girlfriend an iphone and she flat out refused it.
 
SDJason said:
Well,
Here's the telephone setup that I keep in the car when I have passengers to amuse.


572798



The phone is a Candlestick phone replica from the 1970s bought off of eBay, and it's plugged into a XLink BTTN Bluetooth Gateway. It connects via Bluetooth to my cellphone and I wired it up to a battery pack for power, with all of it stored inside a small travel trunk I got at a discount store (like Marshall's or Ross).


End result:
Passengers have a working Candlestick Dial phone (complete with dialtone) to use.
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this is amazing and im stealing the idea.
is that a working era radio i see up front?
 
He said his grandfather listened to the headset for a few moments, then declared it was all a hoax and he couldn’t be fooled like that.
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Its too bad we didn't listen to the wisdom of our elders...


Joe K
 
serocontra said:
this is amazing and im stealing the idea.
is that a working era radio i see up front?
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Oh, yeah - forgot to mention that:
It's also a fairly modern reproduction, a Crosley CR82 (obtained off of eBay as well; they used to go for around $25 - taking a peek it looks like they're about double that now).
 
I use a plastic circa 70's era push button phone on my landline. My cellphone is left in my F-150 pickup turned off and used for emergencies only. At one time I had my restored "candle stick" dial phone with a separate ringer box hooked to my landline. And I have an original unrestored heavy weight cradle dial phone that works too. The 'ol lady set up a plastic pushbutton portable phone on my system, so no more pre-WWII phones on my landline. Bummer! I really liked dialing up phone numbers and using my "candle stick" phone.:mad:


Bob-A;)




"Skirts are for Women not car Fenders"
 
I have a Grey station pay phone from about 1912. Have been told its older then the one the Smithsonian owns. Only a handful left.
of course, it would be the model T era.
 
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