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How Does a Rotary Phone Ringer Work?

The rotary telephone faded from common use in the 1980s, according to the Telecommunications Virtual Museum, but the insistent "brrrnngg-brrrnngg" of its ringer leaves many nostalgic for the good old days and curious about how a rotary telephone ringer works.
  1. Components

    • The ringer of a typical rotary telephone can be comprised of a small hammer and one or two bells attached to a mount. The small hammer, which is linked to an electromagnet, rests near the bells without touching them.

    Mechanics

    • Dialing a number sequence on a rotary telephone, according to the Macao Museum of Communications, sends a series of pulses or interruptions in the flow of electric current to telephone company routers. The routers send a ringing signal that activates the electromagnet in the receiving telephone and causes the hammer to strike the bells.

    Fun fact

    • Thomas Watson, an assistant to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, received a patent for a "polarized ringer" in 1878, according to the Telecommunications Virtual Museum. The caller would spin a crank to create an alternating current on the line. The current would magnetize an electromagnet on the receiver's end and send the hammer into action, striking the bells.


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