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Posted by Steven Lichter on August 18, 2008, 7:45 pm
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hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>> But there indeed might be some magneto lines in a common battery
>> exchange. . . .
>
> That was fairly commoh in the past, perhaps nearby lines in the
> village would be common battery, but the rural farmers would have
> magneto. Pictures of small town switchboards often had a combination
> of drops and lamps.
>
>> Different, and not exacly comparable to central offices, were toll
>> stations and private line circuits used by "right-of-way" companies,
>> such as railroads, pipeline companies and others. In the days when
>> Bell companies and most independents would not connect with non-telco
>> opeerations, "right-of-way" companies were an exception and telcos
>> would interconnect with them freely.
>
> Many magneto private lines were in use through the 1970s on railroads.
> Some telephone sets appeared relatively modern, like a 500 set except
> a handle where the dial should be for the magneto and a push to talk
> button (to preserve battery life). They used two Everready No. 6
> "intermitent service" dry cells wired in series. Apparently the
> chemistry of such cells was such that in telephone service the cells
> would recover after a little use. (When I was a kid I used a No. 6
> cell for experiments and they had a long life span. I wonder if they
> still make them.)
>
> I believe the Bell System allowed interconnection with railroads
> because of the hazards and difficulties involved in maintaining lines
> on an active railroad right-of-way.
>
> The Pennsylvania Railroad had a massive telephone network, including
> its own toll testboards. In some towns the railroad PBX was dial
> while the host town was still manual. In contrast, the neighboring
> Reading Company used magneto phones. Amtrak and Conrail replaced the
> networks. (In more recent years track ways were used to bury fiber).
>
> The Bell System offered a special PBX desk console intended for
> dispatchers, such as in railroads and oil pipelines. The console had
> numerous switches, dials, and a few cords and jacks. I don't think
> they were so much to switch calls from point to point but rather for
> the dispatcher(s) to receive and make calls. If anyone can add
> details about these consoles, please do so.
>
>> * - There were reportedly some very small magneto exchanges where the
>> operator had a magento crank she turned manually. I never was in such
>> an office.
>
> Many switchboards had a magneto crank to be used if there was a power
> failure and there was no machine ringing current. It would've been
> quite tiring for operators to turn cranks all day long. The few
> cranks I've turned had resistance.
>
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> I once saw a temporary telephone office set up in the basement of a
> telephone CO, for use by government employees during a high-level
> visit to Boston. It was composed of two 555 cord boards, with magneto
> hand cranks on each. I asked the obvious question, and the answer was
> "These never break".
>
> The operators, btw, bet us they could outcrank any _TWO_ guys in the
> office. It was a sucker bet, and it cost me ten bucks: after pocketing
> my money, they confided that they were really military men, and that
> cranking magnetos was part of their daily physical training. The held
> the crank with their fingers curled around it, as if gripping a
> hammer, instead of by "pinching" it the way most of us do.
>
> It was my own fault: they had plastic belts on, and the only place you
> buy those is at the PX: having been in the Army, I should have known.
> The boards were, of course, connected to the office ringing machine,
> but it was clear that the operators were ready to do without at any
> time.
>
> Bill Horne
> Temporary Moderator
>
> Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never
> see your post! Thanks!
>
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>
My grand parents farm in Minnesota was on a magneto system, they went
from that to a full digital system, the local company had to send out
people to do training. Some did not want their system to change. I got
the phone and have it in my collection along with a few others that i
got from others in the area; back then no one thought about collecting
them. I remember a barn in Wisconsin years ago that had all kinds of
telephones and parts, they were selling for pennies.
I have the phone hooked to my line with a switch, some years ago when my
daughter was about 18 months she came into the den and pulled the crank,
I was at work and my wife said a short time later Pacific Telephone
repair people showed up, they said it took out the protector in the CO
and one ones on my box. I was told to remove the phone, what I did was
put a switch on the magneto.
--
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