Trimphone with a Bell?

[Aub]

Hi all,

I don't know anything about vintage telephones, but it seemed odd to see, in an episode of , "Steel Town Murders", what appeared to be a Trimphone ringing but with a Bell, not the chirpy thing they were famous for. Was this normal in 1972 or have the producers of the programme made a mistake?

Cheers

Aub

[Dave Moll]

I think that, as you suggest, the producers of the programme made a mistake. As far as I'm aware the original Trimphone always had its trademark warble. I cannot speak for the later reproductions - though the two I have both produce some sort of warble.

[Boulevardier]

Surely there wouldn't have been room for a bell's dome inside a Trimphone...?
Mike

[paulsherwin]

I agree, the ring has almost certainly been added in post production. This is much easier and cheaper than some arrangement to ring the phone on cue on set.

There's no real excuse for using the wrong ringing sample though. It probably just wasn't considered to be important.

There have been lots of complaints about other historical inaccuracies in this series.

[TonyDuell]

I thought that TRIMphone stood for 'Tone Ringing Illuminated Model'.

AFAIK all Trimphones have the tone ringer. The American 'Princess' telephone does have a bell though.

[g8jzyian]

Hi
There is a distant bell ringing!
I recall a trimphone, it may have been dtmf with a strange compact concentric bell.
but that was 40? years ago
Ian

[Graham G3ZVT]

This "Technology Connections" Youtube video deals with telephone bell "Foley" in film and TV.
It's US centric, but no less entertaining for it.

I'm not what you'd call a natural musician and don't have perfect pitch, but I was always aware of the pitch variations he explores from 8:48, it's nice to know it wasn't just me who noticed!

[Graham G3ZVT]

My apologies, I forgot to include the URL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxXsIQDafog

[nigelr2000]

I saw the opposite in the battery charging section at RAF Marham the standard dial phone had a trimphone sounder in it as they used a big board for battery charge info and cleaned it off with wire wool, the fibres of which were attracted to the ringer and stopped it ringing so an electronic one was fitted to a standard 746

[Oldcodger]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

I agree, the ring has almost certainly been added in post production. This is much easier and cheaper than some arrangement to ring the phone on cue on set.

There's no real excuse for using the wrong ringing sample though. It probably just wasn't considered to be important.

There have been lots of complaints about other historical inaccuracies in this series.

Paul, I'd agree. I " got out" the early 70's when Trim phones came in, and I'd never seen a ringer in a Trim phone. Basically too small to carry a bel set.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

There's no real excuse for using the wrong ringing sample though.

Particularly as the sound of a Trimphone's ringer quickly became what these days would be called a "meme", with every mimic (and parrot) vocalising the sound.

[Cruisin Marine]

This reminds me very much of the original version of My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies, (way before the Bonzo Dog band) you have to listen to the inserted sound FX to understand properly
https://youtu.be/6GH1KQaO_cQ

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

I think that, as you suggest, the producers of the programme made a mistake.

If they'd had their wits about them, they might have argued that the Trimphone happened to be a bedroom extension model and so could've had its warbler turned to 'off', and the ringing was coming from an adjacent Bellset 50 or whatever.

But noooo...

[PaulR]

Oh dear, I commented on this to my wife and just got "a look" in return! I knew a few people who had trim phones and none of them had bells.

I watched it last night and was annoyed by the constant background of telephone bells ringing which never happened in the busy offices I worked in. In particular there was a very intrusive "American" ring which would never have been heard.

[AndiiT]

Hi, I mentioned this elsewhere - it could have been a Plan 4 arrangement with the additional bellset to alert to an incoming call in the event of all the phones being unplugged.
The arrangement is shown halfway down page 4 here

More likely just a production bluff, as has already been mentioned.

Andrew

[Graham G3ZVT]

I had forgotten about the screw that normally prevented the ringer from being turned off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYZYepm_V6E

[beltinge bore]

Hello,

I was a subs apps man in Central London Museum & Gerrard (Soho) exchange areas. The plan 4 trimphone system was very popular with high end multi occupation brothels. The ability to unplug the phone when the user was otherwise engaged!

Unfortunately a small microswitch with a plunger operated arm was fitted to dis the bell CCT and prevent bell tinkle on the bell set when dialling. This only needed a sharp tap to dislodge (given the nature of the users work a frequent occurrence!) resulting in no incoming ring a 30 second fix & 45 minutes (another early home day) booked to clear.

Happy Days!

Regards Steve

[Brigham]

You had to be careful what you said with these.
Covering the mouthpiece didn't stop the caller from hearing you!