"ANTEDILUVIAN"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 647, 27 September 1933, Page 3

"ANTEDILUVIAN"

HANDLE TELEPHONES DOOMED IN ENGLAND. The "antediluvian" telephone is doomed. The Post Office has decided to abolish every surviving example of it, land is starting immediately ^ with thirty-five important exchanges in all

_____ ■ j parts of the Kingdom (says the Daily { Express). This museum-piece of the telephone system, still common enough in many countries besides England, is known •to Post" Office engineers as the mag'neto" type. It is distinguished from all modern telephones by having a handle which must be turned rapidly by the person who wants to use the telephone iand must first draw the attention of the exchange. The exchange operator, in turn, has to turn another handle in order to call the p:rson or exchange to which he is transferring the call. | This furious rotation of handles is : not only physically exhausting to telei phonists and exchange operators, who j are at it all day; it also wastes a I great deal of time. i As an outlet for fury on the part ■ of those who| were unable to get an answer, the handle ,however, had its use. A spell of ringing at 120 r.p.m. enabled many a subscriber to express J his opinion of the service. j Although it was the first important ' system introduccd in this country, and lso was at one time universal in | goahead eentres, it has now become a puzzle to liarge numbers of people who have been brought up on the present manual or automatic systems. Every magneto exchange is now to be converted to automatic, and the | start which is being made immediately, with magneto exchanges serving more than 700 subscribers each, will affcct Elstree, Erith, Cleethorpes, Kettering, Fareham, Seaford, Shan- | klin, Newport (I.O.W.), Ilfracombe, ! Exmouth, Swindon, Rhyl, Galashiels, Arbroath, and parts of Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Belfast and other districts.