AND MUST SHE GO?

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1135, 24 May 1911, Page 11

AND MUST SHE GO?

■ fr—-— TEE TELEPHONE GIRL. • DEPARTMENT LOOKING AFIELD. Is the telephone girl doomed? Well, the "automatic - ' notion looms near and, meantime, ono waits to see. One of the special branches of inquiry to ho made by Mr. T. Buckley, Chief Electrician to the Department, on his- present visit to America is the automatic and semi-auto-matic telephone systems. The common battery system is already installed in two or three towns in New Zealand, but, before proceeding further with that system, which dispenses with, ringing up, and gives warning (by the very net of removing the receiver from the hook) that a connection is required, the Department deemed it advisable to inquire thoroughly into the working of the ''automatic." Mr. D. Robertson, Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, in the course of a short interview . yesterday, stated that the Department's officials maintained close touch with the outer telephone world by means, of technical papers, and magazines, and were generally au fait with what was going on in America, England, and the Continent. Mr. Buckley was, however, to study at first hand the new automatic systems which were in operation in some of the American cities—notably at Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Los Angeles, 'and the policy of the Department would be guided by'the result of his investigations. While on a visit to America jl_ year, ago Mr. Robertson hadexperienco with the "automatic" at Chicago, .which appeared to work very well. "The only trouble then," said Mr. Robertson, "was that there were a number of branch exchanges, and it was necessary to employ girls at the central exchanges to plug from ' exchange to the other. Since then, I believe, thev hare got over that difficulty, and a client is able to speak right through without any human aid." What tho automatic system is may be easily explained. The subscriber has a dial fixed to his telephone, and, to get the number he requires, he turns the indicator to ..register that number, having luted- the .-.receiver-, from its lever resting Pitice. He is. then in direct communication with the number required, and the other,end hiis been "rung up," without any intervening colloquy. What the process, so easily performed, consists of indetail .is., interesting. """ I t ,-i«5-to..be.set..in turn, for-the thousands figure, the hundreds, tho tens, am ] tho units. It may seem., to.be a clumsy operation, but in point of fact the whole task occuDies an average of four seconds only. In ..the exchange there arc- what.are called "banks" of connections arranged in horizontal rows ™,-f,,? 5 ' terminating on a concave su face. In front of this there revolves a spindle' having an arm which touches the terminals. On this spindle are two sets of cogs, ono to provide a vertical movement, and.the other to give a horizontal- movement. If (he subscriber urns the dial indicator to nine for a number of the 9000 series, the movement sends nine impulses, and the spindle is raised nine cogs to tho level at which this setlot subscribers 15 connected. The apparatus has thus counted the thousands. Tho row- ot connections on that level is connected to the "hundreds selector. Tho wipers at once-sefrout to pick an idle line, {hey feel each, terminal till they find one disengaged, and at.once they are-in direct communication with a vacant hundreds s ,° lc ,9 t . ol ':. ' IJ i?n..tlie subscriber, turns.his mat indicator again, the hundreds spindle is raised to the appropriate level, and agai;i the wipers pick an idle line to n tcns-and-units.selector calleda"6olihector." iicro tho process is a little different.' Iho raising of the wipers to the appropriate tens "banks" is as before, but the horizontal movement to the units is governed, not by the finding of a' vacant line; but by tho series of impulses sent out by the dial on the last or unit revolution. Then the connection is complete, and the apparatus rings the bell of the subscriber whom it is desired to call up. In order that the quality of speech may not be affected, tho whole of tho automatic apparatus.is cutout by-the Inst operatipn, and the line is placed directly through from tho. calling to the called person..'; '.. -.'■■}■■ t lt; is possible to arrange the apparatus so that tho-hundreds selectors may be in different places; thus an.exchange in one portion of a town may be connected automatically with an exchange in another part, and the- proper- subscriber caller up, precisely'as if all the apparatus were in ono building."" This is of great value in saving a.considerable length of wire from the subscribers' offices' or residences to tho exchanges. v (Ingenious devices for recording the calls are installed, either at tho central point or at the'subscriber's end of the line, and they. register"only those calls upon which 'speech is practicable. . >