Slipping deeper into the past.

[Firefyter-Emt]

Pen relations? I might just need to find a "phone dialer" desk pen to be cool with this one.

 

History, my home office is slghtly down sized with the recent roll out of new company laptops. I now work mostly on the road (Insurance appraiser) but still maintain my home office. My office desk is one of those nice old oak units with drawers on both sides and a center drawer. Granted, I do have all the modern junk on top, laptop cradle / dual screen monitor / keyboard and a big laser fax. The printer will soon be hidden in a super slick, James Bond powered, "in-wall" mount. (more later)

 

Anyway, now that I need to check my voice mail on the road, or use my cell phone I have to swap to one of those phone system based voice mail systems. I decided that I no longer really need my modern phone, and just bought this on e-bay!

Seeing as many FP people tend to go into other "antique areas of daily life" anyone else still have one of "Ma's Phones" ?? I figured this would be a nice match to that Esterbrook "Ma Bell" pen that I have! :roflmho:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=120371804981

 

http://www.useful-junk.com/images/090131/phoneb1.jpg

 

 

 

PS) my printer is getting built into the wall and will have a powered cable lift to raise a cork board to reveal the printer. This will be mounted in my wall behind the laptop dock. I have a storage closet on that wall so it will look something like a window AC mounted in a wall. From my office, hidden from view unless the door has been opened via hiden switch.

 

[RayMan]

"Ma's phone"? I remember when that was "My phone".

[Firefyter-Emt]

LOL, yea my Mom & Dad had them in the house I grew up in to. We also had one of those mustard yellow wall units as well. I am looking forward to the sound of a real old fashioned bell ringer again

[Gran]

In the fall of 2000, I got one of those from my parents' basement, and used it along with a slimline phone. It was a nice, if short-lived, visit to the days of nice telephones. I couldn't find replacement parts for either phone. And the black, dial phone wouldn't ring, if I used it alone. I miss them, and the earlier models. It was a shock to go from those to cell-phone living.

 

 

 

[Wildoaklane]

My parents still have those phones, both the desk model and the wall-mount! They work perfectly. I remember as a teenager, stretching that cord as far as possible in an attempt for the smallest bit of privacy while talking.

[Firefyter-Emt]

Gran, I do hope you have the black phone still. The "no ring" is a VERY common problem. You see modern phone systems do not have the same ground system that the older ringer phones did. There is a trick wire mod you need to do in order to make it work on many modern wired houses.

 

This should explain what I am taklking about: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/i...php?topic=416.0

[Ghost Plane]

I adore them as there's no pressing 1 for English...

[DanF]

Lee --- If you went back a little further in time, you wouldn't need no fancy shmancy dialer!

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1020193.jpg

 

Dan

Edited February 8, 2009 by DanF

[kazoolaw]

WAY too modern: look at that phone jack.

Hard wire it into the wall for the authentic early look.

gary

[Ted H]

Lee --- If you went back a little further in time, you wouldn't need no fancy shmancy dialer!

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1020193.jpg

 

Dan

 

Now that's a desk!

[Firefyter-Emt]

LOL Gary!! But I want to be able to USE the phone! (Hmmm, can you even still use the old ")" for operator and do anything??) I did score an original still packaged wall socket that fit's that 4-prong plug and will wire it into my office. Kind of an over kill as it will never be seen, but I really want to save that cool socket plug!

 

I agree with Ted.... that is one well used desk for sure!

[Gran]

Gran, I do hope you have the black phone still. The "no ring" is a VERY common problem. You see modern phone systems do not have the same ground system that the older ringer phones did. There is a trick wire mod you need to do in order to make it work on many modern wired houses.

 

This should explain what I am taklking about: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/i...php?topic=416.0

 

 

Firefyter, I did keep it. It's back in the basement at my folks' house, with the trimlines, the princess phones, and the phones I brought back from Germany. Unfortunately, I've gone to a cell-phone only life.

 

I do miss the black phone on the wall and the chair by the phone, and how quiet life was before television.

 

I've heard elderly people talk about how quiet life was before telephones. How they used to enjoy each other's company without interruptions.

[DanF]

Alas, it's not a proper desk, just a 30 x 60" folding table from Office Deopt. I want to build a real desk, with drawers, cubby holes and storage for paper, pens, inks, and whatnot. The plastic woodgrain starting to peel up may hasten the start of that project. In the meantime, at least I don't have to worry about ink stains on cherry wood.

 

As long as I'm in the confessional, the phone pictured isn't really connected to the line, but if it's possible to do so, I might just give it a try.

 

Dan

[Firefyter-Emt]

Well, I just figured I would post a photo of my new 51 year old phone. I got the phone in yesterday and the proper old stock wall outlet. I did cheat and wired a modern RJ11 pigtail to the new wall block and plugged it into a spare jack in my office.

 

The phone came in cleaner than expected and in perfect working / cosmetic order. I still have my modern phone on the desk, but plan to hide it from view. I turned all the "modern" ringers off on my office line and now get to listen to the real bells.

 

http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/212091.jpg

 

 

 

[someonesdad]

Yuk... I'll admit they could take a beating, but who would really want to go back to that horrible dial? You'd be making a call to a number with lots of high digits in it and your best "friend", knowing who you were calling, would jiggle the dial or the hook just near the last digit. Arrgghhh! You've got to start all over again. Of course, now you're nervous and can't operate under pressure, so you're more likely to mess up again.

 

Hey, gimme a computer. If I want to make mistakes, I want to make them at a rate of millions per second...

 

'Course, it would be kinda cool to have phone numbers like Vernon 7-2825 or somesuch (that was mine when I was a kid -- it'll probably be the last group of neurons to croak when I go...).

[AndyH]

YUkon 7-8975 for me... :-)

[Firefyter-Emt]

Rotary phones are kinda like fountain pens, there are people who would ponder why we would want to fill a pen when you an get them free at doctor offices or 10 for a dollar at Wal-Mart. I spend all day in my mobile office, with a laptop, GPS, bluetooth cell phone... Yea, I like the swhoop, swhoop, swhoop sound and the road to a simpler time.

[Paddler]

We usually use a modern cordless phone with the answering villain in the base unit. However, I keep one of the old "Ma Bell" phones around for use during power outages. If phone power goes out too, the phone company is first on the scene with a portable generator.

 

Paddler

[kazoolaw]

YUkon 7-8975 for me... :-)

 

 

You know I can't remember who I am most days, but the phone number from over fifty years ago comes back perfectly:

GLendale 2-0831.

 

gary

Edited February 13, 2009 by gary

[musorah]

PIlgrim 8 8444

 

Now about the rest of the guys fromt he Scout tropp from the Emergency Phone Tree, that might be a bit harder - but some are still there, even though they've moved on - I think!

 

Rick