wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) (04/11/89)
In the 60s pay phones were designed with mercury switches on the hook so
that if you tried to dial with the hook the splashing mercury would
defeat you. Otherwise you could make local calls for a nickel instead
of a dime, or some such thing.
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Wm. Randolph Franklin
Paper: ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) (04/14/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0131m10@vector.dallas.tx.us>, wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) writes: > In the 60s pay phones were designed with mercury switches on the hook so > that if you tried to dial with the hook the splashing mercury would > defeat you. Otherwise you could make local calls for a nickel instead > of a dime, or some such thing. Here's a related anecdote. I saw an interview with Walter Cronkite once, where he spoke of his eary career as a newspaper reporter. One day the editor called him into his office, to ask about a reimbursement form Walter had put through for calls from pay phones. "What's this?" said the editor. "Well, I had to make some phone calls to the newspaper, and I want to be reimbursed." At this point the editor laughed and shouted out to another staff member "Hey, show this guy how to make a call from a pay phone," at which point the other person took two straight pins from the underside of his lapel, and stuck one into each of the wires leading to a pay phone in the hall. He then touched the wires together and the phone was powered up. Obviously, pay phones simply used a simple coin-activated switch to enable the connection in those days. -- "FLYING ELEPHANTS DROP COW Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) PIES ON HORRIFIED CROWD!" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef