This is a dial label from Peninsular Tel.Co. in Tampa, Florida, dating from about 1910 to after World War II. The prefix names were Ybor [=5], Wallcraft [=6], Main [=7], Hyde Park [=8], and Seminole [=9]. In the late 40s or early 50s, the single letters were eliminated. Later, numbers grew into a mixture of four-, five-, six-, and seven-digit numbers. In preparation for the change to two-letter-five-digit numbers, Peninuslar hired hordes of off-for-the-summer college students to change the dial plates from numeric to to new Metropolitan ones (1, ABC2, etc.) However, very-few prefixes were changed to 2-5 before the decision was made to continue the standardization, but to seven-digit numbers. - Hugh Hamilton |
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"From the Keystone Telephone Company, Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia was the last large city in the U.S. where there were still two competing telephone companies; Pennsylvania Bell and Keystone Telephone Co. Keystone offered all-automatic dial service and was eventually purchased by Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania in 1945, just shortly after the conclusion of WW II. The names printed radially on the number card are the names of the exchanges in Philadelphia. You would dial the digit corresponding to the exchange name, followed by the number." - Roger Conklin |
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"The number card that says Associated Telephone Company Limited was the original telephone company in Long Beach California and the surrounding area. It was bought by GTE in 1926. I have also seen that logo with the name Commonwealth Telephone Company which was the Wisconsin property of GTE. They did away with that logo in the mid 1950's I think when all of the telephone companys names were changed to just GTE." - Tom Iverson |
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"This was used on the phones at the Atomic Energy Commission test site at Amchitka, Alaska in the 1960's. This is where we tested some of the largest atomic blasts. I have 2 phones used at the site, one a single line, and one a 6 button keyset. A lot of history was made there." - Jeremy Walters |
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"This number card rings a bell (no pun intended.) I think it was from Hawaiian Telephone, as I have vague memories of seeing one on our phone in the mid 1970s on The Big Island. I wish I could say for sure, but it's been a long time." - Tony Dickson "The Dial Center pasted here is from Hawaii. Originally Hawaiian Bell, then GTE, now Verizon." - Jim Morales |
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"This W.E. dial card was used for the 410, 411, or 412 sets to identify the two positions of the switch in the lower left corner of the phone. Line 1 is the vertical bar and Line 2 is the horozontal bar. In this instance, the card was left blank so that the phone number could be stamped in the large grey area in the middle and a station number could be stamped in each of the smaller upper and lower blanks, or the words Line 1 and Line 2 could be typed in, or other designations for the two position switch. It's very likely that this card was used by an independent using the Western type dial." - Gary Goff |
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That "Collins" logo is The Collins Radio Corporation (or Company); producers of commercial and amateur radio equipment. A dial might have been used as a selector switch in some applications. I have an 11-position AECo dial from a similar application. - Dave Kingston |
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Connecticut was a telephone equipment “manufacturer” not an operating company. The operating company in Connecticut was SNET, Southern New England Telephone. I used quotes because they were often more of an assembler. They manufactured some, but bought many of their components from others. - Paul Fassbender |
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Northern Electric was the Bell System subsidiary in Canada. It ran both manufacturing and the Bell operating companies. Northern Electric made many phones that were different than Western Electric. The ones they made that were similar were usually marked Northern. NE also imported some Western sets, where the volume didn’t justify local manufacturing. (Many remote parts of Canada were served by independent companies.) North Electric was a manufacturer in Galion, Ohio. They were completely separate. - Paul Fassbender |
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