On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:08:58 -0600, Jon Elson
wrote:


Did you know you could wire in a switch into the phone wire to
those old pay phones that would disable the "drop coins into
coin box" signal that was sent from the phone exchange when the
called party answered? I actually found one of these on a pay
phone at the university years ago.

There was a low-tech way to do much the same on the old style black
pay phones. A small hole drilled in the right spot on the front of the
phone allowed one to manipulate the coin return mechanism with a paper
clip before the coins were sent to the box. The old phones were being
phased out in the early 70s, but quite a few of those left on college
campuses around Boston had that "feature."

--
Ned Simmons