The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-29
A NEW TELEPHONE CENTRAL
NOT THE GIRL WHO IS ABUSED
WHEN YOU DON'T GET YOUR
FRIEND
But New Mechanical Central.
Where Tiny Incandescent Lamp
Signals Your Desire to Talk and
Keeps Watch Till You Finish.

Some time shortly-a young man with
Kit of tools and contrivance that looks
something like telephone, save that it
hasn't any crank attached or any box
for the battery-will saunter into your Of
flee, or ring your door bell, if YOU have
a telephone in your house, and after
few turns of a screwdriver he will cut
the old telephone from it's mornings and
the queer looking new thing will be suck
up in its place
And II 1t were not for the inquisitive-
ness OF the newspaper profession, that
would be all that you would know
about the installation in st. Paul of the
most modern system Of metropolitan tel
ephone mechanism, until after trying the
new machine on the wall or desk for a
week or less, you had observed a cessa-
ton of the annoyances which have been
apparent during the past few months,
and especially during the last few weeks,
but which, it IS promised will vanish as
entirely as annoyances can vanish under
arrangements Of other than divine or
igin.
To convey an adequate idea of the work
before, the chief outward sign of which
to the subscribers will be the removal of
the old-fashioned telephone, is impo.s be,
either In a technical or a stats ical arti-
Gle 1t must have been watched to be
fully. realized.
AT this instant, every telephone In st.
Paul is connected with two switchboards
-one the old plant, outgrown in the de-
velopment of the city and the perfecting
nf he fol
you rang your bell, a drop" Iii front Of
the operator gave the signal to the Wig
liant young woman who, mayhap a thou
SAND times, has been accused of sleeping
at the post of duty. The other board is
the newest thing in existence in the line
OF telephone Capitalization Just as soon
as the connections between every tele-
phone in town and the new board have
been tested from the Office and any de-
around with the new cranklass telephones,
and 1t is expected that they can be put
in at the rate of 100 a day
Your new telephone will have a receiv-
rer which will hang as the present does,
on spring lever, the rising Of which
when the weight of the receiver Is re-
leased will be all that Is necessary to
signal central, and before the young
woman white disk under the number of
Your telephone line will suddenly glow
with the soft, mellow light OF the IN
candescent carbon filament shining
through frosted glass. And that lamp
Will burn until the operator attends to
your wants, as will a larger disk, similar
ly glowing, which will be visible from the
eyre of the chief operator, which COM
mands view of the horseshoe-shaped
switchboard, ranged about three sides of
the new operating room, and behind
which, easy of access TO the experts, but
meaningless tangle of insulated wires
and miscellaneous cables TO the outsider
are the $500 lines
When the operator connects with YOU
by corded line, your signal light will
go out, and when she finds the number.
please, the other end Of the connecting
cord will. be inserted in the aperture
which designates the number wanted,
whether 1t be 1 or 1900, for every line in
the service, and there are accommoda-
tons ready for that many lines as It
stands. is within reach of each operators
arms length, and another tiny electric
bulb will glow until the party wanted
takes his telephone off the hook These
bulbs are In pairs each pair representing
the ends of a single cord the tie that
binds In telephone central office and
each one Of the pair representing to the
operator its end of conversation. AS
long as your receiver Is off the hook your
hight VIII be out. If one bulb glows, the
assumption Is that the party at that end
Of the line has hung up the receiver to
look at something, while the ether party
+ the darkened bulb. is holding the line
When both incandescent lights glow to-
gether, both phones are hung up and the
conversation is done. The operator dis
connects the lines. Your gain here will
be the saving of labor of ringing and the
interruption which has been necessary
during lengthy conversations to know If
you are through The central office
will gain In knowing the instant that the
conversation Is finished
Aside from the crank, you will miss the
battery box, with It's cell, requiring now
and then visit from one of the compa-
ny's employees to replenish IT, There will
be one battery. engaged In the central
telephone exchange in ST. Paul, hereafter
and 1t occupies room by itself, a good
sized room, too.