Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 12:20:30 EDT From: Tony Harminc Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Old Phone Wiring Puzzle Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 489, Message 10 of 12 Lines: 31 Lynn Goodhue writes: [description of problem with phone that won't ring] > For the moment, this mystery has actually *solved* the original > problem, which was to have the phone available for Mum, without it > ringing in her room. (It's one of those old, reliable desk sets that > will never die, and you couldn't turn the ringer off, just down a > bit.) If your mum's phone is an old 500-type set, there is a neat trick you can do with the ringer. This is very easy to understand if you are looking at the phone, but harder to describe. The ringer volume control rotates one of the two gongs so that it is closer to the clapper (low volume) or farther (high volume). There is a small, springy piece of metal that stops the gong being rotated beyond the lowest volume position. This piece of metal can be bent out of the way. Then the volume control has an "off" position. Note that this is not a happy accident -- it is a design feature. There is an extra piece of metal on the armature which is clamped tight when the volume control is moved to the "off" position, and this prevents any residual chatter of the armature or tinkling of the bells. In field documentation this was called something like "enabling customer usage of the ringing disablement feature". Tony H.