On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:38:06 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote:

In article ,
"TWayne" wrote:

A lot of the materials I've seen (including wiring diagrams for
jacks) say yellow/black is for a second line. Also, if you have
a third pair, blue/white for a third line.

Hmm, please cite your source?

Aw, he can cite ME. I did it for 30 years.


Thanks for providing confirmation. I was wondering why there were so
many 2-line adapters and other things for that "nonexistent" wiring
scheme.

[snip]


Dial light transformers were introduced in the late 50s or early 60s to
illuminate the lamps inside the (then) new Princessr telephone. The
Trimliner phone followed shortly with an illuminated dial.

When dial light became "line powered", it was no longer necessary for a
dedicated transformer somewhere in the house - the ORIGINAL wall wart.

Those can not be lit all the time, but only when the phone is "on
hook" since there is very little power available before activating the
telco's off-hook detection.


There are probably hundreds of thousands of such transformers still in
service today - virtually unused.

I never had one of those phones, but when I moved into my first
apartment (an old one) someone had left one of those wall-warts, still
connected to the yellow/black wires to the phone jack. I still have
the thing. It's beige (dirty white) in color, made by Western
Electric, and has screw terminals marked "SEC: 6-8V 1.75VA".
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."