Pulse dialing

Okay kiddo, so pulse dialing is a way of making a phone call using a rotary phone, which is the old-fashioned kind of phone with a dial (like the one you might see in a museum or old movie). Instead of pressing buttons like we do now, to make a call with a rotary phone, you turn the dial clockwise until it stops, and then let it go back to its starting position.

Each time you turn the dial, it sends out a series of little pulses or clicks that go over the phone line to the person you're trying to call. These pulses are like a code that tell the phone system which number you're trying to dial. So for example, if you wanted to call your best friend Sally who lives next door, you would turn the dial to the number 2, and then let it go back to its starting position. That's one pulse. Then you would turn it to the number 7 and let it go back, which is two pulses. And then you would turn it to the number 4 and let it go back, which is three pulses.

After you've dialed all the numbers you need to call Sally, the phone system knows that you want to connect to her phone number. Then it will start to ring and when she answers, you can talk to her just like we do on our phones now.

Pulse dialing might seem a little outdated now, but it used to be the only way we could make phone calls. Now we have new and improved technology that allows us to make phone calls with just a touch of a button or even by using our voice. But we can still appreciate the old-fashioned way of dialing a phone number!