In 1889, the first public coin phone was installed by inventor William Gray at a bank in Hartford, Conn. It was a “postpay” machine, which means that coins were deposited after the call was placed. By 1902, there were 81,000 pay phones in the United States. In 1905, the first outdoor Bell System coin phone was installed on a Cincinnati street. It wasn’t an instant hit; people apparently were reluctant to make private calls on a public thoroughfare. In 1910, Western Electric and Gray Telephone Pay Station Co. signed an agreement for Gray to manufacture coin collectors for the Bell System using both Gray and Western Electric patents.
The result of that agreement, the 50A coin collector, went into production in 1911. By the end of 1912, according to , 25,000 of these coin phones had been ordered for New York City alone. The 50A model had three coin slots–for nickels, dimes and quarters –and was a “prepay” machine. The basic design, though often modified, was so practical and reliable it remained in production until 1964. In 1965, Western Electric introduced the 50A’s successor. Among other things, it had a single coin slot instead of three, and electronic signalling of coins deposited replaced mechanical bells.
