For you old timers out there

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nickelec

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What the heck is this thing see it alot
5bb8825644124ee5c8a16c63e4e0dc55.jpg


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Old telephone block/protector. The incoming line is on the bottom the out going wires have been disconnected. The #10 solid typically goes to the water pipe in old installations.
 
A mid-century "demarc". This lightning arrester was the demarcation point between the incoming Plain Old Telephone Service from the phone company, and the lines inside the building.
 
al hildenbrand said:
A mid-century "demarc". This lightning arrester was the demarcation point between the incoming Plain Old Telephone Service from the phone company, and the lines inside the building.
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I agree about the lightning arrester, but not the "damarc". The phone company used to own all the phone stuff in your house, phone included, which was rented from the phone company.

"Prior to the Bell System divestiture on January 1, 1984, American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) through its Bell System companies held a natural monopoly for telephone service within the United States and Canada. AT&T owned the local loop, including the telephone wiring within the customer premises and the customer telephone equipment. A similar arrangement existed with smaller, regional telephone companies such as GTE."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demarcation_point
 
K8MHZ said:
I agree about the lightning arrester, but not the "damarc".
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I think this is a matter of what one is talking about. At the time of original installation, the contemporary meaning of "demarcation" didn't exist for the exact reasons you supply.

However, after the breakup of the monopolies, the same old lightning arrestor shown in the OP photo IS the demarcation point. That's about three decades, by now.
 
al hildenbrand said:
I think this is a matter of what one is talking about. At the time of original installation, the contemporary meaning of "demarcation" didn't exist for the exact reasons you supply.

However, after the breakup of the monopolies, the same old lightning arrestor shown in the OP photo IS the demarcation point. That's about three decades, by now.
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The telcos around here have been using NID's for at least three decades, I don't think I have ever seen a working telephone connected to an old time spark arrestor. I had one in an old house (built 1913), but it wasn't connected. If the home has an NID, that is the damarc point, even if the arrestor is still connected. Maybe for a short time after 1984 there were some phones with no NID and thus the arrestor would be the demarc, but I doubt there are any still like that.
 
No such thing as a demarc back then, Bell System owned everything from the central office to the phone and would cut your hands off if you messed with any of it.

Can't remember the number of that 1 pair protector, it has carbons in the center compartment for over-voltage protection and those red "rods" on either side are fuses.

Matter of fact it was not too long ago that I dumped my stock of those fuses. They were also used in apartment house terminals, probably still there where copper is still used.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
No such thing as a demarc back then, Bell System owned everything from the central office to the phone and would cut your hands off if you messed with any of it.

Can't remember the number of that 1 pair protector, it has carbons in the center compartment for over-voltage protection and those red "rods" on either side are fuses.

Matter of fact it was not too long ago that I dumped my stock of those fuses. They were also used in apartment house terminals, probably still there where copper is still used.

-Hal
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I remember too that if you "boot legged" in an extension phone you would disconnect the ringer. Ma Bell would apparently routinely measure the line resistance and they could tell if you had illegal extensions due to the ring coil.
 
Andy Delle said:
I remember too that if you "boot legged" in an extension phone you would disconnect the ringer. Ma Bell would apparently routinely measure the line resistance and they could tell if you had illegal extensions due to the ring coil.
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Ma Bell also did not publicize it when whatever changed that allowed third party manufactured phones to be connected to their system. They happily collected the rental fees for their equipment until you figured out you could buy your own phone and give theirs back to them. For some folks it was years.
 
Andy Delle said:
I remember too that if you "boot legged" in an extension phone you would disconnect the ringer. Ma Bell would apparently routinely measure the line resistance and they could tell if you had illegal extensions due to the ring coil.
Click to expand...

As a kid I remember my dad bringing home phones from job sites in Manhattan (he was a tin knocker for Local 28 Sheet Metal Workers) and hooking them up sans ringer. He told us to never mention that these phones had been "liberated" from old offices lest we incur the wrath of Ma Bell.

It it felt as if we were hiding from the SS....
 
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