this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023

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What is the thing that resembles a camera shoe under the handset holder found on telephones with a handset used for? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by tester1121@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

66 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have noticed phones with a handset (like the one in the image) have a little cover that resembles something like a cold camera shoe under the bottom of the handset's top speaker holder. Is there a use for it? It has a line bump in the middle, but it doesn't go all the way from both sides, it leaves a gap. I have also seem some of them have extra space on the top of the cover, and some don't.

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[–] transientpunk@sh.itjust.works 140 points 11 months ago (3 children)

What in the world is a cold camera shoe?

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 53 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's a slot on a camera that you can use to attach accessories, like a microphone or flash. A hot shoe provides power to the accessory, a cold shoe does not.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

Ah, OP was just asking about the flash holder for landlines.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, see what a hot camera shoe is?

Just Leave it outside for a while, and there you are.

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[–] azdle@news.idlestate.org 8 points 11 months ago

Its a non-powered version of a hot shoe, both of which are the thing you use to mount an external flash that's on the top of a lot of (all?) full sized cameras.

[–] turbulentMagma@lemm.ee 111 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why would you attach an image that does not show what you are referring to?

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 44 points 11 months ago

See fig. 1 (unrelated)

[–] OneLemmyMan@lemmy.world 90 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

could had posted a picture of a horse it would be just as helpful but a lot funnier

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 84 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

If you’re talking about this thing, it serves two purposes. It is the hook that opens and closes the line (hangs up and picks up the phone), and it is used by this thing

to keep the handset from falling off the base when it’s mounted on a wall.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 74 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Or maybe you meant this thing. Yeah, it keeps the handset in when the base is mounted vertical. You can see that it’s slanted in the back.

That’s so it slides in and out on this other slanted lip on the handset instead of getting caught on it. You can take the handset off just by pulling it directly away from the wall.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 71 points 11 months ago (18 children)

Btw, on Trimline phones it is reversible for if you’re not hanging it on a wall. It looks like this when you pull it out.

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[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 40 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Exactly this. It’s called a “hook” and when the phone is “off the hook” that’s the thing it is off of. Being off the hook means the phone is powered up and connected to the local loop. When the phone is “on hook” that means it is disconnected from the loop and awaiting the pulsed ring signal.

Desk phones have a reversible hook so that it keeps the button depressed when the phone is in the cradle but doesn’t catch when you attempt to pick it up.

On modem signals in the old days, the + was equivalent to “flashing” the hook, or quickly disconnecting and reconnecting to the loop, and the AT command H1 told the modem to go “on hook” while H0 told it to go “off hook”.

Back before the DTMF network, when everyone used pulse modulated phones, the “pulses” were caused by going in and off hook in a specific pattern. You could actually make a phone call from a rotary payphone by flashing the hook in the pattern that mimicked the rotary dial pulsing the line as it rotated back to home position.

In the really old days, the hand crank served much the same purpose, but actually supplied electricity to the local loop; when the phone was on hook (which was a big metal thing the earpiece sat in) someone else turning the crank would make all the phones on the loop ring; you picked up if the ring matched the number of rings for your extension.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes! Another phone nerd!

One small clarification. There’s not really anything special to the pulses for pulse dialing. One pulse for the number 1, all the way to nine pulses for number 9, and then ten pulses for a number 0.

[–] froh42@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

In the 80s there was a way to cheat phone booths in Germany: With a small tool that had an adjustment screw you could position the hook switch to an exact position where the phone booth had already connected the line but did not yet power up the rest of the machinery (including coin counters)

You could then call arbitrary nunbers by pulse dialing using the hook switch (the rotary dial was still powered down)

Basically a EU pulse dial version of phreaking.

My father, who died this year, used this a lot too make "free" calls in the 80s.

[–] mwalimu@baraza.africa 6 points 11 months ago

Me, deep in the night, reading about modem signals and off the hook. I love forum threads. They have taught me more than I can imagine.

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[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Much better than the older design which cannot be mounted on the wall.

[–] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, cannot be wall-mounted like the one in your picture but those phones did get wall-mounted in slightly different shape. 1000038469

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Interesting. I’ve never seen a phone like that. Usually the wall mounted versions of the Model 500 had a hook for the handset in the front of the base to hang the handset vertically. This one looks like a different company than Western Electric though. I’m guessing it’s a UK company, because it’s 999 for emergencies (or at least it’s not US). You’ve got me curious enough I feel like I’m about to go down a rabbit hole.

Edit: yep, it’s a UK company called GPO. This is their model 741:

https://www.britishtelephones.com/t741.htm

https://gpospares.co.uk/gpo-spares-gpo-bt-741-wall-dial-telephone-two-tone-grey.html

What a cool design! I would love one for my collection.

[–] Silic0n_Alph4@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Not just a U.K. company, the GPO were the General Post Office and ran the entire phone network and more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Post_Office

[–] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 11 months ago

Oh, I was not aware you are into this as a collector, now I feel honored to be able to show you something new!

I live in Europe, not the UK though, so maybe that explains why these are familiar to me. Although another user said they saw one in Ohio.

[–] Indie59@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

We had a yellow one like that hanging on our kitchen wall in Ohio, so they were definitely around.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And the even older design that didn’t even have a bell integrated in the base. The bell was in a separate bell box.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Or one of these real old designs that didn’t even have a bell. It has a buzzer that’s barely audible (it might even just be the phone’s speaker, idk). Also, the microphone and the earpiece aren’t in a convenient handset.

This one is a replica made in probably the 1970s or 1980s. It’s funny, when it was made it was a replica of something vintage, but now it actually is vintage.

[–] A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

Huge props for the unexpected old phone exhibition. It was very interesting, thank you :3

[–] Vacationlandgirl@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

You have a very interesting phone collection and I appreciate you sharing! Unlocked memories I didn't even know I had! 😃

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[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Like and follow for more astonishing technologies from bygone eras!

(Do people really no longer have phones on their desks or what?)

[–] XbSuper@lemmy.world 67 points 11 months ago

You're description only leaves me with more questions. I have no idea what you're talking about, and therefore have no answer.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 31 points 11 months ago

Lots of people in this thread answering the question but they're kind of just guessing what you're talking about.

Perhaps you could circle the bit in question because it's either a holder for the headset or a way to mount the entire device onto a wall or something else depending on if we've interpreted your words correctly.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 22 points 11 months ago (3 children)

English is not my first language and I don't understand what camera shoe mean. But I think I know what you're asking for. That phones can be mounted on a wall and what you're asking for is there so the handset doesn't fall off.

[–] yenahmik@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It's ok. English is my first language and I don't understand what OP means by "cold camera shoe."

[–] name_NULL111653@pawb.social 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Native English speaker here, I don't have a clue what a "cold camera shoe" means either...

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[–] criticon@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This is the camera shoe for a Sony DSLR

Edit: note that this is a "hot" shoe because it has contacts that can power accessories. A cold shoe is just a mount. You can use to to attach a flash or a microphone for example

[–] FrickAndMortar@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not sure if this is what you’re describing, but phones like the one you pictured have a reversible tab for use if you mount the phone to a wall - if the tab is sticking up, it keeps the receiver from falling off the cradle.

Here’s a site selling them, but it has a diagram showing where it’s located:

https://www.zcover.com/store/catalog/zCProduct.php?wp=WP_CI881CTR&zPath=212-213-255

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Thank you for providing a source, even still I've never heard the words "cold camera shoe" before, and nowhere is it written in the screenshot you provided, but apparently some people in this thread know what a "cold camera shoe" means And I find this all very amusing.

and additionally amusing that OP knew to use those words to describe the thing even though OP didn't know what the thing was intended for! Cuz I mean I know what the thing is intended for but I never knew it was called a cold camera shoe 😆

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[–] Fortunatefool@infosec.pub 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit I'm old

[–] al177@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 11 months ago (3 children)

The intersection of people who aren't five figures into photography and know what a hot shoe is, and people who recognize a wall mount phone trend old.

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[–] azdle@news.idlestate.org 9 points 11 months ago

It's for a hook to keep the handset on when the phone is mounted flat on a wall. It can usually be slid/folded down or removed when its not need.

[–] oleorun@real.lemmy.fan 8 points 11 months ago

It holds the receiver in place. Generally the ridged end is used for wall hanging installs, the flat end stores it away until needed since the desk is horizontal.

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