Shopsmith Forums

I can relate to that. We were on a 4 party line and well not all of us used the phone as much as one of us(across the street lady). It was a new thing in town and almost everyone got a phone and we were not even close to using up the limits of 4 digits in fact we could have gotten by with 3. We had it only a short time and then when we got one again I was in HS. By then it had evolved to pulse dialing and 5 digits but I was never much of a phone person, well if you don't count working for AT&T, Lucent etc.

Ed

charlese wrote:My favorite phone was one with no dial. When we picked it up and found no one else was using the line, we got an "Operator". She always asked "Number please". We'd give her the 4 digit number we wanted to call and we were then connected.

If I had to call my dad's office that actually had an exchange, I'd say to the Operator, Haymarket 4234. When the rotary phones came along, had to dial, HAY 4234.

charlese wrote:My favorite phone was one with no dial. When we picked it up and found no one else was using the line, we got an "Operator". She always asked "Number please". We'd give her the 4 digit number we wanted to call and we were then connected.

If I had to call my dad's office that actually had an exchange, I'd say to the Operator, Haymarket 4234. When the rotary phones came along, had to dial, HAY 4234.

My grandparents had one with no dial. They lived in Somerset, PA. The lumber Mill was in Berlin about 9 miles away. I spent the summers with them when I was 5-7 years old. Grandpa used to take me to work every day but sometimes I would not get up. I remember grandma calling Berlin by picking up the phone and saying "Berlin xxxx".

So Charlese here is what I don't understand (bear with me). My grandfather bought the H. F Ball planing mill somewhere around 1950. It had been there a very long time. He gave me a rosewood square in the early '50s that had owners marks on the brass and the rosewood "H. F. Ball".

My cousin still owns the company but when my uncle died in 2013 at 92 I wanted to do something special. I had the square. I Googled H. F. Ball and found an almost new advertising thermometer for the H. F. Ball Planing Mill in an antique shop in Bedford PA. She wanted $75. I called her and she was the most nice person in the world. I explained my connection to the thermometer hoping she would come down in price. I did not ask and she did not come down. OK, the item was priceless to me.

So I built a shadow box with the H. F. Ball original square and the original thermometer that commemorates my uncle that I worked for before I enlisted in the USAF.

The last picture is of the plaque hanging in the customer service area of the current Berlin Lumber Company.

After all that here is the question. The phone number on the thermometer is 4-J. I can not find any history of that type of phone number. Any ideas?

John, very nice and a heart touching story!!!

John, very nice and a heart touching story!!!
Could the phone number like a license plate, just a one digit number and a letter? That would give you 234 combinations.

Not sure when that started but the letters Q and Z are not on phones. Zero of course isn't used so 9 digits and 24 letters........

Ed

ERLover wrote:John, very nice and a heart touching story!!!
Could the phone number like a license plate, just a one digit number and a letter? That would give you 234 combinations.

Well, I have researched phone numbers since Mr. Bell invented the system and I can find no occurrence of there ever being two digit numbers in the system.

reible wrote:Not sure when that started but the letters Q and Z are not on phones. Zero of course isn't used so 9 digits and 24 letters........

Ed

Really? 1-800-xxx-xxxx. Please explain. In this case we are talking long before dial phones. I do understand a lot of the conventions before dial phones found their way into the dial phone era. Today, I have no idea what the conventions are. Probably not anything what it was like in the 50's-60's.

jsburger wrote:

ERLover wrote:John, very nice and a heart touching story!!!
Could the phone number like a license plate, just a one digit number and a letter? That would give you 234 combinations.

Well, I have researched phone numbers since Mr. Bell invented the system and I can find no occurrence of there ever being two digit numbers in the system.

No dial phone to look at for my theory, but mom still has a push button one in the sun room.

jsburger wrote:

ERLover wrote:John, very nice and a heart touching story!!!
Could the phone number like a license plate, just a one digit number and a letter? That would give you 234 combinations.

Well, I have researched phone numbers since Mr. Bell invented the system and I can find no occurrence of there ever being two digit numbers in the system.

It is not hard for me to believe that there was a time and place for 2 digit telephone numbers. I have used a phone (in the country) that had no numbers - just a crank.

You would dial 0 to get the operator, a reserved number.
Ed

jsburger wrote:

reible wrote:Not sure when that started but the letters Q and Z are not on phones. Zero of course isn't used so 9 digits and 24 letters........

Ed

Really? 1-800-xxx-xxxx. Please explain. In this case we are talking long before dial phones. I do understand a lot of the conventions before dial phones found their way into the dial phone era. Today, I have no idea what the conventions are. Probably not anything what it was like in the 50's-60's.