National Republican., 1882-12-30
ANEEDED INVENTION.
How Each Subscriber Cnn Have secrc
Telephone.

AflfAAlbV"s
4 test Of now signal is being made at the
Telephone exchange in this city, which
promises TO be of great interest, not only to
the company. but to its subscribers. This sig
nal is the invention of Mr. James 7. Stablcr
Of Sandy Spring Md, and is technically
known as an individual call" Its princi-
pal object is to enable the exchange to connect
q number of subscribers Offices by Il single
line, and vet give each one of them the adVan-
taac" caiuycd by those having special wires.
Under the present system, all who cannot
afford 20 pay for separate connections are nee
esSarily subjected to much annoyance from
the fact that where several stations arc served
by the same wire 1t is impossible TO sound any
ono OF the signal bells without sounding all
upon hat line. which makes it necessary that
each subscriber shall have signal distinct
from those Of the others, made by u certain
number of strokes OH the bells. In addition
10 the constant ringing caused by this ar
ranccmcnt frequent mistakes are made in
counting the bell taps. resulting in unintcn-
tiona interruptions to communications and
besides this strict privacy Of conversation
cannot he enjoyed.
Ii is claimed that by the new system the
exchange operator can instantly call any one
up,m n ''circut wire" without sounding the
bells of The Others, and that while any ono
subscriber is using the line all the Others are
entirely cut ont and can neither hear nor in
terrupt
A REPUBLICAN reporter called at the Office
of the Stablcr signal company. at 92O f street,
where he was shown the operation of the new
Instruments A small table, having Il box
with numbered keys upon its top and u
trcadlo beneath, sat in the middle of the
room and represented the equipment of the
central Office" \ single wire passed from
this table to the first of n series of station in
strumcnts ranged around the room, passing
a.. E,.t tl,.,g nn1= IN hpg
instruments representing 50 many subscrib-
ers' Offices on II circuit wire. The treadlc
gave motion to q small magnetic generator
placed beneath the table, which sup
piled the current for ringing the bells.
BY pressing any one OF the num-
bered keys the bell of the corresponding
station instrument was placed in circuit and
signal sounded upon il alone. After the
practical working of the system had been
shown our reporter vcnturcd to suggest that
an Office test did not always demonstrate
the success of such electrical apparatus Wheh
exposed to atmospheric change on outdoor
lines and asked whether there was not dan-
ger that leakage of the current during wet
weather would make the operation OF the III
strumcnts unreliable He was informed that
thcy have been in constant use for the past
week on one of the busiest lines of the tcle-
phone exchange connecting that Office with
those of r. w. Smith, lumber dealer; w. NJ.
Gait tv Co.. flour merchants j. II. Plumlcy S
blaming mill, Aclier Il Co.'S stone yard, and
Rorns brewery that it had ,lso been sue
cessfully worked "ver "A line of telegraph
wire eighty-tive miles long during se-
we're rain storm, and that not the
slightest difficulty had been experienced
The inventor stated that not only was this
the case, but that by the use of the magnetic
current far greater reliability of action WIS
secured than is possible with battery systems
besides the great saving Of the expense OF
maintaining heavy batteries. This improve
mcnt seems to be decided step forward in
the development of the system of telephone
communication, as it promises to greatly III
crease its efficiency, and ut the same time
place il within reach of many who at present
arc deprived of its advantages by the expense
Of the special wire" and nnnoyances atten-
dunr upon the joint use of a single wire by a
number of subscribers.