Im trying to hook up a vintage phone the wite to the phone only has a red,yellow,and green connect.The wires from the wall have a red,yellow,green and black. I hooked up the colors to match except the black. The phone can dial and receive but there is no ring what should I do

I am connecting a 1950s vintage phone the wire only holds 3 internal colors red green and yellow. The wall jack has red green yellow and black. I hooked up the colors except black. The phone works but the ringer doesn't. What am I doing wrong

Modern House phones use 1 pair. Pay phones used 3 conductors for ground start.

Frank, you should have posted elsewhere, this may help:

http://www.porticus.org/bell/pdf/502-521-410.pdf

And this page:

http://www.porticus.org/bell/telephones-wiring.html

Not sure if you need a transformer with those, I got into phones just after these were around.