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Two examples of a telephone "butt" set, these were devices that could be connected to the phone system to do troubleshooting. Once connected, they acted like a regular phone and could dial out and listen to calls. They were sometimes called "buttinskis" due to their ability to covertly monitor lines, and for some reason they were also known as "goats."

These two are examples that are probably 50-60 years apart. The orange unit is a modern Harris TS22L with a BellSouth logo purchased from a show, the black unit is a standard Western Electric issue used by my grandfather during his employment with AT&T Long Lines.

Two examples of a telephone "butt" set, these were devices that could be connected to the phone system to do troubleshooting. Once connected, they acted like a regular phone and could dial out and listen to calls. They were sometimes called "buttinskis" due to their ability to covertly monitor lines, and for some reason they were also known as "goats." These two are examples that are probably 50-60 years apart. The orange unit is a modern Harris TS22L with a BellSouth logo purchased from a show, the black unit is a standard Western Electric issue used by my grandfather during his employment with AT&T Long Lines.

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[–] • 1 pt

They're just the ABC DEF GHI ... you see on a regular phone. There's not enough space to put all the letters, so you just get the first in each series The lineman should have known them by heart.

That's from back when they were actually useful, for example my number (well, my parents) started with MAin-9, aka 629.