I’ve been feeling guilty about not doing more long-form writing on here lately for all of you who kindly read me. Sorry about that; things are busy, but I’ll get back to it and justify your subscription, I promise.
Thought you might enjoy what I’ve been working on in spare time with Kevin while at his house. I have this 1950s Automatic Electric desk set telephone that’s been needing servicing. The ringer doesn’t work, but it does place and receive calls.
This is the model (but not my phone pictured, just a restored example):
Got it all cleaned out and lubricated, and the metal (yes, metal!) dial spins freely and makes that glorious rotary noise.
Kevin is working on the voice-over-internet adapter so that I can put this in service at my house. We’ll see if adjusting the adapter’s voltage is enough to trigger the ringer bell, or if we need to replace a capacitor.
Handling this telephone is a joy. This is workmanship that used to be standard in America and the West. If you are under 40, you have never experienced that, but it was real, and it was the way we all lived.
The phone is made of solid metal components properly milled for excellent fit. Terminals are easy to see and follow; high-quality screws that take standard tools hold it all together. These machines were built to last a lifetime, and to be repaired when they break (which is almost never).
That world was a good one. No, I don’t think we’ve made a net gain just because our devices can do 16 million things we don’t really need, at the expense of user comprehension, repairability, and service life.
Bonus charm—The ringer consists of two bells with a clapper between them. I struck the bells with a metal fork to hear the ring. They are each tuned a major third apart (on the musical scale). This means that when they ring together, they produce a pleasing, happy implied major chord.
Thank you for sharing this story, and for returning the phone to its useful state. I love old technology...it is durable, and when it does need to be fixed, it can usually be done at home with a few simple tools. My spouse's grandma died recently, and we have her phone from the kitchen...an old rotary phone w the tangled cord. It still works perfectly.
At the risk of sounding like a geezer, I miss those days of excellence in the products that were a part of our daily lives.