Bought an Old 13lb Phone with a Crank - My New Phone Number is 14703 x 3 short rings.

[vscience]

This morning, I bought an old phone that sits on a wood box with a crank. The box and phone have a cord that attaches them together.
The box has nice details- dovetail fitting and brass hinge. The handset is "Western Electric, USA, F1W" but I didn't find a mark on the phone body. The handset cord is braided. I could hear a bell inside the wood box. I'm still trying to figure it out. The darn thing is a back-breaking 13.3 lbs. I don't know why it's so heavy but I'm planning to open the box and look inside. So, if anyone wants to call me, my new phone number is 14703 + 3 short rings. No texting plz. tty!

 

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[SusanMN]

Early phones had cranks, but mostly they were wall units. The stuff inside the box is what generates the electricity needed to have the phone ring to the telephone operator. I would be sure not to destroy anything to get inside. Might have some value as is.

 

[AlienLifeForm]

That is called a 'ringer box' - it contains a magneto to send a signal to the operator informing them you wish to place a call.

 

[Simon1]

My dad had worked for Bell Telephone so he was a phone collector. Had dozens of these and the wall style phones. Was interesting. I can remember the looooooooooooong waits when they wanted to call the west coast. They would place the call to the operator and then the operator would call back muuuuuuuuuuuch later after they made the connection. Nice memories, but do not miss the wait. Kind of like using an old Commodore C64 computer versus the new ones of today.

 

[Normsel]

We had both the old kind of wall phone that you cranked to call the operator to make a call. They had the big old cell batteries in them and then we were upgraded to the cradle phone but still had to contact the operator to make call. I think our number was 3 short rings and long and with the cradle phone people had to ask for 440H

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Cool, but, I hope you're not on a party line......
never know who could be listening in......

 

[Simon1]

Back then they "all" were party line.

 

[ARC]

Oh sheeesh... better unplug that thing after giving out the number...

Robo calls suck.

 

[sawmill man]

Everybody must be calling cause i cant threw.

 

[uglymailman]

We had rotary dial but were on a party line. Everyone listened in. There were artful ways to get the "listeners" to hang up. Good luck.

 

[Simon1]

Every time it rang, you had to wait until it was finished to see if it was for you or not.

 

[Ogre1190]

We, along with three neighbors, in Three Lakes WI had wall mounted crank units we used like an intercom. We were 2 long, 1 short, repeat. 😁

 

[randywa]

Inside the wood box is where they keep the fishing tackle.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Even one of the largest telecom companies in the world still supplies telephone party lines in the US. How do I know? Because I still work on them every now and then.

 

[hvacker]

I have a thermometer for a feed store in Ill whose number is 49.
Now that one I can remember. One ringy dingy.

 

[vscience]

OMG, party phone lines? Where? and ... why?

 

[SusanMN]

OMG, party phone lines? Where? and ... why?

Thats what we had at home, no other choice, during the 50’s to at least mid 70’s in our semi rural suburb of a large Midwest city. After you figured out how to gently lift the receiver you could listen in on conversations and learn the most interesting things about your neighbors.

 

[against the wind]

Did you ever blow a fart into the party line??