Mystery padlock

[Phillip Tibbetts]

Can anyone identify this little padlock and its intended use?

 

[HFP]

It is for locking the dial on a rotary phone.

 

[Caryc]

It is for locking the dial on a rotary phone.

I can see it now but never would have guessed it without your post.

 

[DoubleO7]

It is for locking the dial on a rotary phone.

You are on a roll Sir !

 

[Phillip Tibbetts]

Thanks, it makes sense. Probably wont be very useful now

 

[bc]

It was good for keeping the kids off the phone at night.

 

[Caryc]

I grew up in the rotary phone era but never saw one of those locks. I pulled up to a small country store that still had a rotary pay phone in front of it. As I sat there in my car, a kid walked up to the phone. He was trying to call someone. I don't know if he actually put a dime in it but he would put his finger in about the #6 hole and rapidly throw the dial as far to the right as he could. He wasn't actually dialing it to the stop. He just kept zipping that dial as fast as he could to the right. Didn't look like he was dialing an actual number. I guess he thought if he could zip it fast enough, he would get through to someone. It was very funny.

 

[Steve in VA]

I grew up in the rotary phone era but never saw one of those locks. I pulled up to a small country store that still had a rotary pay phone in front of it. As I sat there in my car, a kid walked up to the phone. He was trying to call someone. I don't know if he actually put a dime in it but he would put his finger in about the #6 hole and rapidly throw the dial as far to the right as he could. He wasn't actually dialing it to the stop. He just kept zipping that dial as fast as he could to the right. Didn't look like he was dialing an actual number. I guess he thought if he could zip it fast enough, he would get through to someone. It was very funny.

Remember when one of the OG hackers discovered that the toy whistle in boxes of Cpt Crunch could emit the tone needed to fool the phone system and make calls?

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Thanks, it makes sense. Probably wont be very useful now

Yeah, kids these days don't know how to dial a rotary phone so there's no need to lock it.

 

[Caryc]

Remember when one of the OG hackers discovered that the toy whistle in boxes of Cpt Crunch could emit the tone needed to fool the phone system and make calls?

I don't remember that one but there was another one us kids used to use. You could take a girls bobby pin and pull the rubbery stuff of the ends so you had bare metal. Then you would stick one end into the mouth piece of the phone and stick the other end on the bare metal part that surrounded the coin return. Once you made that connection a dial tone would come on ready for a call. Maybe it still works ?? Haven't used a pay phone in many years.

 

[chvet73]

I don't remember that one but there was another one us kids used to use. You could take a girls bobby pin and pull the rubbery stuff of the ends so you had bare metal. Then you would stick one end into the mouth piece of the phone and stick the other end on the bare metal part that surrounded the coin return. Once you made that correction a dial tone would come on ready for a call. Maybe it still works ?? Haven't used a pay phone in many years.

I think pay phones are just about extinct.

 

[Mule Meat]

I think pay phones are just about extinct.

Still have one left here in the corner of a grocery store parking lot. It is one of those newer type ones in the aluminum box without a booth.
I see people using every once in awhile. Have been told it is free to use and that you can only make local calls to other landlines and emergency numbers on it.

 

[MarkB_MI]

That company probably made tens of thousands of those locks. I feel like I've seen one, but can't say when or where. But now, of course, they are totally useless. The last rotary phone switches were removed years ago.

 

[zuhnc]

Todays' pay phone is in your pocket! And, costs a lot more than a dime to make a call. zuhnc

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I grew up in the rotary phone era but never saw one of those locks. I pulled up to a small country store that still had a rotary pay phone in front of it. As I sat there in my car, a kid walked up to the phone. He was trying to call someone. I don't know if he actually put a dime in it but he would put his finger in about the #6 hole and rapidly throw the dial as far to the right as he could. He wasn't actually dialing it to the stop. He just kept zipping that dial as fast as he could to the right. Didn't look like he was dialing an actual number. I guess he thought if he could zip it fast enough, he would get through to someone. It was very funny.

Swipe right. Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

 

[SamV]

Still a few pay phones in my area for the Amish community.

 

[davyfireball]

I worked for Maytag . The Forman use to call quality control for piece count . It didn’t have a dial but had a connection like an electric guitar. I took the mouth piece out . When he called in he could hear . But couldn’t talk . After 3 min he jerked the cord . Hit him right between the eyes. Just about put him down . I thought the other guys were gonna tell on me . But I got away with it . The guys were laughing so hard . That even made him more mad. I forgot to add when he went to quality control . I screwed the mouth piece back in .

 

[tractorguy2]

My grandparents had a rotary phone till they moved off the farm in 2003. They wanted NOTHING to do with a phone with BUTTONS!

 

[Brian G. NY]

I remember back tn the day you could "dial" a rotary phone by simply tapping the handset cradle the number of times of the number you wanted to dial with a pause between each number. eg: 2 taps = 2, 3 taps=3 etc. There were several types of dial locks but you could bypass any of them with this system.
I guess there isn't much sense in even talking about this except for historical purposes 'cause there ain't no way the old rotary phone will ever come back again..

 

[bc]

My grandparents had the big black phone with a ringer crank handle on the side. Cranked it a few times to get the switchboard uptown. I was in the phone office as a kid and when someone would ring she would ask what number or name (small town) and pull out a cord with a plug and plug it into the right hole. I forget how she knew when they hung up except sometimes she would listen in on a line to see if they were still talking.