The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
they MOVED AT MIDNIGHT.
rpHONE OPERATORS GO TO
THE NEW EXCHANGE.

- a Great Appliance-HOW the
- of the Underground System
The New Office Handsome
weU-Adapted BuiIding-Im-
,-ameuts That Have Been Made.
,eIenbone exchange was moved last
s-,-,, the old location in the building
n7 corner of Bay and Bull streets to
,asome new quarters that have just
been completed - Ia
,vben the telephones of something
-. ON of the subscribers, that remained
.bs last in the old quarters, were trans
- n the new. The work, having IN
IFS consummation this removal
w., the old quarters, was begun by the
-, company about two years ago.
T., January, 1896 the construction OF the
,.r-ro,,nd conduits was commenced
va rras completed a few months later
os found necessary to extend these
ANTS in the spring of 1897, however, on
ut of the rapid growth of the ex-
The condults consist of cement
- iron pipe laid in a bed of concrete,
.,,s making what is regarded as very
,,bla and satisfactory underground pip
Through these pipes are drawn large
,.-5 cables. each of which contains 24O
Tres thoroughly insulated from one an
other
r.tno. underground at once, the cables
leave the central Office for points of dis
..r,,tion At these points parts of each
oobis are carried up tall poles and dis
.-n,+e5 from their tops to the subscrib-
ave in the vicinity. Thus fully four-ffths
an the subscribers have their wires en-
,trelv underground, with the exception of a
small span, varying from 100 to 800 feet in
length running from the top of the dis
chatting poles to the subscribers prem
,sos Nv this method the number of line
troubles. such as crosses, grounds and
breaks. will, it is thought, be reduced to
a minimum.
Mr.. W. T. Gentry of Atlanta, assistant
sunerintendent of the company, is now in
The citv and is giving the conduct of the
new exchange his personal attention. He
has been in the city once a week ever
since the work has been in progress, and
last night he remained at the new ex>
change until everything was seen to be
working we'll.
MIR. James A. Wotton, the electrical en-
gineer of the company, has been here for
several weeks, overlooking the fitting up
of the new central office, and he now
pronounces everything in complete order
off
operators have had sufficient practice with
the new apparatus, that has been put in
place. to handle it with the same expert
ence that was had with the mechanism
of the old office. Mr.. Morgan B. Speir, the
company's special agent has carefully
tested all the subscribers lines and the
new Supervisory switchboard.
It is claimed by some that Savannah
now has the most completely equipped
telephone exchange in the country A gen.
ueman, who was here the other day as an
interested observer of all that has been
done for the perfection of the service,
stated that the central Office is the most
complete in every particular that he has
ever seem and this gentleman was, up to
a short time ago, the superintendent of
ono of the greatest telephone companies
in this country.
SaYannahans are well acquainted with
the exterior of the exchange building,
which is at the corner of Congress and
Drayton streets, and a visit to the interior
would well be worth the time of those who
take an interest in electrical appliances.
All of the electrical machinery is wonder
1ul and Of the latest and most serviceable
and effective patterns, but the most mar
velOus of all is the switchboard. This is
the grea test change in the central office.
D. It the operators have a full view of
everything that is taking place on any
circuit Hereafter it will not be necessary
for a subscriber to pull down a lever or
Ting bell when he wants the central Of
flee By simply taking the hand telephone
of the hook he signals the operator and
shows exactly who is calling. The sub
scriber win not have to give his own num-
Der any longer. When desiring to call up
number he will take the receiver from
The hook and place it to his ear. The
operator will say: Number,
pIease?" The operator will
then be told the number that may be
Wished. The operator then makes the con-
necton, and the connecting cords are so
arranged that she can see when the sub
scriber called for, answers. If he should
not respond to the first signal she will
call him again.
Visual signals that are arranged so that
'hey may catch her eye without fail, an
nolnce instantly when the conversation is
over. She then disconnects the two sub
senbers. All this seems very simple, but
1t demands a delicate and very costly
apparatus. This is the more complete of
ue two Supervisory switchboards that
tae company has in service. There is one
al Charleston, but it has not all of the
appliances that make this in the Savan-
nan exchange perfect.
Inc new system provides a metallic cir
Cllt which has two wires instead of one,
10, each subscriber, and after this those
Using the telephone will not. Mr. Gentry
s5ys hear any ticking or frying noise
~ their phones, while carrying on con-
gTelsauons, This will be a great relief.
40 accomplish this improvement it was
|cessary 10 completely double the num-
LSs, o- wires in the city, and if these wires
,S1 been put overhead on some streets,
e. nave raised ladders in the event Of
"lSs would have been found very difficult
an OF the operators who had not al
I9'S gone over to the new office left the
1 oNe last night at II o'clock. The lines
M Delns transferred from the old to
sa ne" office all during the afternoon,
IN ma there was not as much remaining
otbo uohe at midnight as there would
ny. wise have been. The transfer was in
80 INSTANCES smoothly and exDedftiotislv