covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 17-Jul-1990 1414) (07/18/90)
The early news articles on the Shoup, Idaho, phone system correctly described the system as "the last magneto party-line phone system in the U.S.". The key words are "party-line phone system." Magneto toll-stations still abound, but they are not the same thing. Toll stations are not subscriber telephones; they are phones placed by a long-distance telephone company for the purpose of making exclusively long-distance calls. In Shoup, there were some thirty subscribers on the single line. And it was really a single line: one wire, ground return. To ring someone else in the system, you cranked their ringing combination (some number of long and/or short rings). Local calls were free. To reach the AT&T operator, you crank one VERY long ring. The AT&T operator would answer on a normal, non-magneto, cord board and handle the call. Incoming LD calls were handled through the same operator, who would ring the station with its ringing code from the toll board. There was a magneto-to-carrier interface somewhere at the end of the line. Bryant Pond was different. Bryant Pond was the last magneto switchboard in the country. Although many of the customers were on party lines, Bryant Pond had some two hundred drops on the switchboard, which required two operators working very hard to handle the call load. Seeing the board (I have some nice pictures of it) explains the origin of the term "drop." On a magneto switchboard, when the customer turns the crank, a small hinged metal plate actually drops to provide the visual indication that there is a call on the line (or drop). A magneto switchboard also explains the origin of the British term "ring off" which means the same as "hang up". On a magneto board, when done with a call, the parties must turn the crank, or "ring off" in order to cause the drop associated with the cord pair to fall, indicating that the call is over. john