Evening journal., 1902-01-15
TELEPHONE GIRL
Is BACK NUMBER
Automatic Device Will End
Her Calling
Machine Makes Tho Proper Telephone
Connection and Saves Much
Trouble

] NAOi4~s NVheAai' Was one OF the
nineteenth centurys pet phrases. with
us answering cry, in dulcet or sharp
tones, from some, feminine throat far
away, What number. please" Rnt
Hello Centraii" now that the owen
tieth century is here, promises soon to
be a phrase merely historic. SAYS the
New York Herald.
Science has made a stride forward
The hello girl" presiding genius OF
the telephone ever since its ingtalla-
ton, must seek fresh employment be-
/ FORE long. For there has arrived. and
is now in practical, successful opera.
tiom a giriless. centralless telephone
system, with which, with few twists
OF curious dial anyone can get the
number he wants directly, in a few
seconds.
NO MORE REPLIES, THEY'RE BUSY
No delay, no maddening reply.
They're busy; III let Won knowl''
turks in the recesses of this new in
strument- No third person sits in the
tantalizing somewhere, ready to "listen
in If she pleases, to cut off the hur-
ried man or the fiuIried woman ait will.
to juggle with wires, put in and. pull
out plugs, and, when the subscriber is
driven to the verge Of desperation. not
infreouently to talk back"
On the contrary, me who calls up"
now. If he be on the line of the new
telephone. has at once a private wire
in his hand
He slips a finger tip into one Of the
ten little holes along the curving sides
OF this metal dial on the telephone
DoX Cthe holes are numbered TO 81
having first taken the receiver off its
hook. He jerks the dial around sharp
ly until 1t catches. Swung on a pivot.
the dial moves easily and quickly Ii
moves back to its place automatically.
If 416 is the number to be called.
the man inserts his finger in the No.
4 hole and makes the first movement.
For Nos. l and he twists the dial in
the same way
AS the disk finally comes back to its
starting point he presses a button Just
below. At the other end the bell is
already ringing. The connection has
been made, the person called in four
to five seconds.
IS sURER THAN HUMAN HANDS
Had the other end Of the wire been
busy" the man would have heard. af-
ter he had gone through these rapid
motions. a faint buzzing sound Auto
maticaliy, again, does this telephone
Announce the fact that any other wire
Is engaged Otherwise, if the finger is
put into the right holes, the proper
number is secured infalhbly. The deli
cate, complicated, perfect mechanism
behind it all never fails. Operated on
mathematical principles, it is surer
even than human hands
A big, bare room, filled with rows of
thigh keybOards of glistening metal, is
the substitute for central" strange
central" this, indeed It is nothing
but machine room, with a single cleo
trician listening to the constant clicks.
These begin at one row of boards, they
are echoed ON to a second, thence to a
third.
There is no sign of a petticoat or
any sort of a telephone operator. The
man in charge has simply the task OF
keeping this machinery in order Sat
urday night he. with the clerks in the
front office and the manager, locks up
the exchanges, not to return until Mon
day morning. And through seven
nights in the week and all day Sunday
the exchange clicks away, the service
goes on without a hitch with NO hu-
man hands to aid it.
The banks Of instruments in the
; room click away, subscribers call one
lanother as they please, the "wipers'
move up and down the "selectors"
The telephone girl lis truly passing.
She is no more a modern necessity.
Fall River, Mass, has the most COM
lplete largest and most practically
loperated of all the girlless telephone
systems Of America, though 1t is close
llv pressed by those OF New Bedford,
nearby and Augusta Ga. The latter
cities have each more than 500 sub
scribers on these automatic wires.
Fall River has 700, however, and
appreciation Of this service in this New
England mill town is rapidly growing
Yet these cities are but few of those
that operate telephones OF the new or
der with no girl at central"
Geneva, n. Y; Albuquerque N. M
Albert Lea. Mimi; Auburn, n. ";
Madison, Wis; Princeton, n. j.; It'll
laca, n. Y, and even the far distant
wilds of Skaguay, Alaska, all have
lautomatic telephones.
But the going of the telephone girl
e lis on no such small scale as this short
] list would indicate The German Gov
- lernment has experimental and success
q fully. with the new invention. It has
had a trial set of keybOards for 400
Subscribers working in Berlin for a
year and half now, and will soon in
, stall the system on much larger scale
-. THE Stronger patents. operating these
> instruments, are to be taken up in
, France.
e IS BEING INSTALLED IN CHICAGO
T. In Havana. Cuba, the girlless tele-
phone is to be the system of the Cuban
capital Twenty-Five hundred instru-
ments have been ordered to begin with
9 and ten thousand altogether are to be
4 put in place as soon as possible
So dear 'ihellO girl.' goodbye.
fft1f..r off