THE "CUT OVER"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 21, 20 October 1919, Page 5

THE "CUT OVER"

WELLINGTON SOUTH'AND EAST ON THE AUTOMATIC 'PHONE GOOD-BYE TO THE " HELLO !' GIRL Few people imagine on passing down Courteiiay Placo tliat in the moilest concrete building behind the somewhat oldfashioned ■ plain-faced post office is located one of tho mechanical marvels of the age. ' There the newest sub-exohaiigo in connection with tho Western Klectric automatic telephone system' has been installed in nil its ramifications, and -from midnight on Saturday has applied the needs of some - 2500 automatically-supplied . subscribers, without any trouble, to speak of. The "out-over/ which took place at midnight, only occupied a few minutes, but tho6e few minutes constituted an epoch in telephone development as far as Wellington is*concerned. It will mean the end of tho telephone girl and 'lie end of many little' troubles that .the manual telephone was heir to. It really moans a r.ew ora in perfected mechanics as applied to the telephone, and as such a better service ma-y bt> anticipated. ■The two sub-stations at Courteiiay place and Newtown are fitted at present 'for 2500 and 500 Subscribers respective- , ly, but the number which can be supplied from those points is not exhausted. The telephone officials have looked ahead, and provided stations at both points capable of taking 10,000 subscribers each. . The' annual machinery which does the work is installed in a series of screens or bays'that reach from tho floor almost to the ceiling, and each' screen consists of battalions of ismnll machines ranged in vertical precision ona above the other, 1 and all operated by tho neatest arrangements of shafting' and '• cogged wheels. : Though at\ first glance . tho individual maohine—each with its arc, each lined with dotted terminal points.-of phospher bronze,- which: are swept, by a' detector brush as soon as the impulse is received—look alike, but the likeness they bear one to the other is only cousinly,,as, each has its separata . work to do in connection with the' registering of a call. There are actually ' five machines -employed before a subscriber gets into touch with the nerson he wants, and it is not till the last of . these has operated that communication Is established, but the time they take to do the work is so infinitesimal, that ona would nevor believe ,it without a practical demonstration of the working relation of one machine to the other that such could be the case. Themachines are called the "first finder," •I ho "second finder," the* "first , group snitch" and 'second group switch," and the "final." By_ ■ the names one may gather the function' of each machine. The first two find a macliino that is unemployed, the next two locate the group ■ in which, tha number of the .calling'anil called subscribers, and the "final" links i them up. There is no describing tho neatness and mechanical sedateness with which each machine does its work. On every hand one sees the brushes, in operation,/clicking their way round' tha terminals to find tile number or group required; and then, tho conversation having ended and the receivers replaced, the brash carriages are seen to revolve ever so sedately into position again to await its turn for 'further work. The perfection oi' tlie watch-like action is fascinating. .

A little illustration mav be worth a yealth of words to prove this. Supposing a subscriber ivlio is' in a hurry or does not wish to be bothered with telephone calls, leaves the receiver off the nook—a practice which some people adopt at night, so as they shall not be disturbed—tho mechanism at once reflects the action by showing a tiny electric light on a. faults board (which is dotted with numbered' electric bulbs in miniature). Sooner or iabr the officer in chargo notices the fixed light, and gets into touch with_ the number, only to find that tho receiver is off. As he cannot rin® that subscriber's bell he attaches a ' howler," and the subscriber who has been- lax enough to leave his receiver off the :,hook is forced by the oft-repeated-ho rls to readjust his receiver. After a time, if there is no response, the assumption :is made that the people must, be : outy' and 'thereupon the'- telephone is cut off altogether.- The sound reason'for this is that so long as a receiver is off the hook a machine is kept "hung up," and that must not be. With the Western Electric system there aTe nine seta of machines for each GO subscribers. That proportion .'is provided as experience in practico has instructed the officials that that number suffices undor normal conditions. The'hours immediately succeeding the "cut-over" were very quiet. There was nothing much doing in the way of calls, nnd yesterday the-amount of work was about up to the standard of a- busy Sun. .(lay. Things will get, livelier this-morn, ing. Everyone knows 'that a telephone has to be electrified before it becomes a means by which spocch may be communicated l>etween two points. With the" old manual, each subscriber; was . supplied with, batteries which-had to- be charged from time to'time, liv men who s yent their rounds for that purpose. That is. all dojio away with in the case of the automatic. The whole of the lines radiating from the new sub-stations i.re electrified from the station, by means of batteries that. can be recharged- from either the tramways or electric lighting power-houses as occasion demands. What is surprising is to. know that the whole station wnji only using 4SO kilowatts.' (half a horse-power) yesterday: morning, and that it is anticipated that under ordinary circumstances nut more than four times that power will be, needed (luring working hours. There were a large num. ber of experts employed throughout yes. terday making adjustmcnts ( and adjusting trivial faults (mostly in the lines), but when the Conrtenay -Place station is ■working noi'mally two men will be able' to attend, to the work during the daytime and one at night. The experience with the Western Electric at Masterton has been that the officials do not need to remain at the station on Sundays at all. Tho station runs itself. On week.'nights the station is left to itself aftir-10 p.m. Subscribers using the "new automatics will notico the voice comes to one wither loudor than with the old automatic or manual. That is due to tho provision of a little "booster" in the.tKle, phone itself, which makes it perfect for long-distance communication. For ordinary, city iiso subscribers are risked "not to speak loud—soft, clear speech .records perfectly, and at the same. time, it makes for confidential conditions so desirable under certain circumstances. As to the position of Wellington generally respecting its automatic telephone installation, the southern and eastern half of the city is provided for in tho two stations which cut over on Saturday night. Tho Khandallah station will be ready fairly early in the new year, and a building is about to bo erected for'the Kelburn sub-station. Tho main station in Feathoniton Street is still in the misty distance, but it is hoped by the optimists in tlio Department that Wellington will be wliollv automatic within three years.