PROVIDING INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN AND THROUGH TERRITORIES OF THOSE COMPANIES
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY
MANUFACTURING, PURCHASING, DISTRIBUTING AND CENTRAL OFFICE INSTALLATION FOR THE BELL SYSTEM
BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT WORK FOR THE BELL SYSTEM (INCLUDING WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY)
SUBSIDIARY AND OTHER ASSOCIATED TELEPHONE COMPANIES
PROVIDE TELEPHONE SERVICES AND FACILITIES WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE TERRITORIES WITH THE AID OF SERVICES RECEIVED FROM THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY UNDER LICENSE CONTRACTS
The organization of the Bell System has grown up in a natural way over a period of many years. The American Bell Telephone Company, predecessor of AT&T, owned the original Bell patents. It licensed local companies to rent Bell telephones to their subscribers. Ownership of the operating companies by the headquarters organization came about because of their need to finance expanding service, and as a means of providing the best service at lowest cost. AT&T bought Western Electric in 1882 because it was the best manufacturer of telephone apparatus and because a dependable source of supplies was essential. The Bell Laboratories stemmed from the shop where Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone. The work of the Laboratories is a continuation, on a much larger scale, of early efforts to discover improvements in the art of telephony.
Motor launches pull first segment of the new transatlantic telephone cable toward the Newfoundland shore from HMTS Monarch, world’s largest cable ship. The new underseas cable will link this continent with Great Britain.
Long Lines—When you call across the land
Within its own territory your local telephone company provides inter-city service. But when you make a call that crosses the territories of various Bell companies, you are served also by the facilities of the Long Lines Department. This organization is responsible as well for overseas telephone service to points in countries abroad.
More than 337,000,000 conversations a year are handled over Long Lines facilities. To handle this volume of conversations and its various other services, Long Lines requires: