[telecom] Re: ringdown non-dial pay station (was History -- increase in pay phone from 5c to 10c?)
Mr Joseph Singer
<<All coin telephones on post were served on a manual dial basis (No
dial pad on the coin phone equipment). To place a call, one would pick
up the
G type handset, wait for the local operator to answer on her cord board
incoming subscriber lines. Then advance the call in the conventional
operator dial manner, or manual ring down if to another pay phone. I
don't know if there were any regular 1FR subscriber lines were full
manual.>>
When I went to Maine Music Camp in Farmington, Maine around 1967 at the
site of the then Farmington State Teachers' College all the pay
stations were three slot coin phones that were dial-less. You'd pick
up the receiver and wait for the operator to answer to handle your
call, The Farmington CO as well as operator office was there on Main
Street. Since it was the summer and most CO's did not have air
conditioning you could hear the step machine doing its thing quite
clearly on the street. The operator office must not have been very new
or big since when you called the operator to place calls you could
always here the operator spinning a dial to complete calls. This was
in contrast to where I grew up in Portland where the operators had "key
pulse" and you could hear them clacking on keys when they placed calls.
Further more on the manual pay station thing. I had some friends who
lived in the little town of Bowdoinham, Maine. All the pay stations
were fortress style big clunky pay stations but there were no dials on
them. In the middle where there would normally be a dial with the
outside letter ring there was just a small number plate like you'd see
on a Trimline or later Princess phone. Most places in Maine for coin
service they were "post pay" in that you'd have to wait for your party
to answer before depositing money. When the end party answered you'd
get solid tone that sounded like a dial tone as a signal to deposit
your coins.