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 I don't know what the 'fuses' are to which you refer, but our home phone installed mid-60's and I don't recall any, nor did I see any on our friend's which was a mid-50's jobbie with 300-type telephone.

Just inside his house on the incoming line from the pole was a fuse box (before the block, terminating) with two longish (2"-3") blade type fuses alongside each other.

If instead of putting them inline you re-arranged them in a cross it reversed the legs.

I don't know how common they were or why some properties had them and others not.

I always assumed it was just for party lines.

I always had an exclusive line (from the early 60s) and the incoming line went straight into the block.

 

Keith

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Just inside his house on the incoming line from the pole was a fuse box (before the block, terminating) with two longish (2"-3") blade type fuses alongside each other.

If instead of putting them inline you re-arranged them in a cross it reversed the legs.

I don't know how common they were or why some properties had them and others not.

I always assumed it was just for party lines.

I always had an exclusive line (from the early 60s) and the incoming line went straight into the block.

 

Keith

They might possibly have been to protect against mains contact. Even today, there are quite a number of older homes with an overhead power supply as well as overhead phone lines, sometimes even sharing the same poles. I suspect that by crossing the fuses over each party would be getting the others party's dialling tone, and therefore metering, but I would have thought it would cross incoming calls too.

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They might possibly have been to protect against mains contact. Even today, there are quite a number of older homes with an overhead power supply as well as overhead phone lines, sometimes even sharing the same poles. I suspect that by crossing the fuses over each party would be getting the others party's dialling tone, and therefore metering, but I would have thought it would cross incoming calls too.

He only did it for outgoing calls, replacing them in the correct position afterwards.

 

Keith

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He only did it for outgoing calls, replacing them in the correct position afterwards.

 

Keith

So yes, he would have had the other party's dialling tone as well as it metering against their number. If his phone had rung before he got it switched back, I expect it would have been for the other party!

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