Stories of Inventors: The Adventures of Inventors and Engineers

by Russell Doubleday

When you take your receiver off the hook a tiny electric bulb glows opposite the brass-lined hole that is marked with your number on the switchboard of your central, and the telephone girl knows that you are ready to send in a call—the flash of the little light is a signal to her that you want to be connected with some other subscriber. Whereupon, she inserts in your connection a brass plug to which a flexible wire is attached, and then opens a little lever which connects her with your circuit. Then she speaks into a kind of inverted horn which projects from a transmitter that hangs round her neck and asks: "Number, please?" You answer with the number, which she hears through the receiver strapped to her head and ear. After repeating the number the "hello" girl proceeds to make the connection. If the number required is in the same section of the city she simply reaches for the hole or connection which corresponds with it, with another brass plug, the twin of the one that is already inserted in your connection, and touches the brass lining with the plug. All the connections to each central station are so arranged and duplicated that they are within the reach of each operator. If the line is already "busy" a slight buzz is heard, not only by "central," but by the subscriber also if he listens; "central" notifies and then disconnects you. If the line is clear the twin plug is thrust into the opening, and at the same time "central" presses a button, which either rings a bell or causes a drop to fall in the private exchange station of the party you wish to talk to. The moment the new connection is made and the party you wish to talk to takes off the receiver from his hook, a second light glows beside yours, and continues to glow as long as the receiver remains off. The two little lamps are a signal to "central" that the connection is properly made and she can then attend to some other call. When your conversation is finished and your receivers are hung up the little lights go out. That signals "central" again, and she withdraws the plug from both holes and pushes another button, which connects with a meter made like a bicycle cyclometer. This little instrument records your call (a meter is provided for each subscriber) and at the same time lights the two tiny lamps again—a signal to the inspector, if one happens to be watching, that the call is properly recorded. All this takes long to read, but it is done in the twinkling of an eye. "Central's" hands are both free, and by long practice and close attention she is able to make and break connections with marvellous rapidity, it being quite an ordinary thing for an operator in a busy section to make ten connections a minute, while in an emergency this rate is greatly increased.

The call of one subscriber for another number in the same section, as described above—for instance, the call of 4341 Eighteenth Street for 2165 Eighteenth Street—is the easiest connection that "central" has to make.

As it is impossible for each branch exchange to be connected with every individual line in a great city, when a subscriber of one exchange wishes to talk with a subscriber of another, two central operators are required to make the connection. If No. 4341 Eighteenth Street wants to talk to 1748 Cortlandt Street, for instance, the Eighteenth Street central who gets the 4341 call makes a connection with the operator at Cortlandt Street and asks for No. 1748. The Cortlandt Street operator goes through the operation of testing to see if 1748 is busy, and if not she assigns a wire connecting the two exchanges, whereupon in Eighteenth Street one plug is put in 4341 switch hole; the twin plug is put into the switch hole connecting with the wire to Cortlandt Street; at Cortlandt Street the same thing is done with No. 1748 pair of plugs. The lights glow in both exchanges, notifying the operators when the conversation is begun and ended, and the operator of Eighteenth Street "central" makes the record in the same way as she does when both numbers are in her own district.

Besides the calls for numbers within the cities there are the out-of-town calls. In this case central simply makes connection with "Long Distance," which is a separate company, though allied with the city companies. "Long Distance" makes the connection in much the same way as the branch city exchanges. As the charges for long-distance calls depend on the length of the conversation, so the connection is made by an operator whose business it is to make a record of the length in minutes of the conversation and the place with which the city subscriber is connected. An automatic time stamp accomplishes this without possibility of error.

Sometimes the calls come from a pay station, in which case a record must be kept of the time occupied. This kind of call is indicated by the glow of a red light instead of a white one, and so "central" is warned to keep track, and the supervisors or monitors who constantly pass to and fro can note the kind of calls that come in, and so keep tab on the operators.

Other coloured lights indicate that the chief operator wishes to send out a general order and wishes all operators to listen. Another indicates that there is trouble somewhere on the line which needs the attention of the wire chief and repair department.

The switchboards themselves are made of hard, black rubber, and are honeycombed with innumerable holes, each of which is connected with a subscriber. Below the switchboard is a broad shelf in which are set the miniature lamps and from which project the brass plugs in rows. The flexible cords containing the connecting wires are weighted and hang below, so that when a plug is pulled out of a socket and dropped it slides back automatically to its proper place, ready for use.

Many subscribers nowadays have their own private exchanges and several lines running to central. Perhaps No. 4341 Eighteenth Street, for instance, has 4342 and 4344 as well. This is indicated on the switchboard by a line of red or white drawn under the three switch-holes, so that central, finding one line busy, may be able to make connection with one of the other two, the line underneath showing at a glance which numbers belong to that particular subscriber.