After waking up and heading to the convention hall only to find that his display was there but all the nozzles, nose cones and casements were gone, Homer knew he'd better find a way to get a new set of them and fast.  Obviously he couldn't just go and buy them from the corner store so he has to get in touch with folks at home.

In the days before cell phones, this meant a long distance toll call from a payphone, something Homer had never had any reason to actually do before.  But he manages after all and things turn out great once everyone at the mine gets together and churns out new sets of everything and ships them up to Indianapolis.