Los Angeles herald., 1906-03-04
LONDON CLAIMS
PHONE TRIUMPH
NEW EXCHANGE SERVICE is
FINEST OF ITS KIND
Faults in Old Observation-Disclosures
and Other Appliances Made Fire.
proof - Other New
Features
:pecial Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald.
| LONDON, March 3.-London telephone
service, according to an American critic
who has Travelled much, was declared
recently to be the worst in the world.
Now London claims that 1t has achieved
q telephone triumph and possesses the
| finest exchange in the world. That, Of
course, remains yet to be discovered.
but be that as it may, between tonight
and Monday morning an important
change, representing great development
| in telephone work, will take place in
the city.
| At given signal over 1900 sub
scribers who are at present on the CEN
trail exchange will be transferred to
what will iii the future be known as
the city exchange, the construction and
equipment of which is just completed.
That the new exchange will prove the
finest in the world appears to be not
| only the opinion of the postoffice au-
thorities but also of every independent
expert who has seen it.
Former Plan Out of Date
The central exchange, opened only
four years ago, is out of date in many
respects and obsolete in others. Many
| of the Improvements are purely tech
nical, such as the method of wiring cir
cults, and others will bring about
changes which are calculated to in
crease the efficiency and speed with
which the system is worked.
| Everything has been made as fire.
proof as human skill can make it.
Switchboards have been constructed in
such a way that the risk of fire is re-
duced to a minimum. The switch
boards themselves are made of iron and
the woodwork in front of the boards is
lined with metal. All the power in the
wires is isolated, either by being
| sheathed in lead or carried in iron
troughing. The great inconvenience
which was caused recently by fire
in the city exchange showed how de-
sirable it was to make future ex-
changes fireproof.
In another respect the new exchange
represents an entirely fresh departure,
which other countries may copy If it be
found success Hitherto it has been
the rule to have subscribers lines null
tiplied. One result was that no switch
board could be designated to provide
for more than 10000 subscribers. The
system would have suited admirably
and it would have been necessary to
retain it IL the majority of calls were
change, but in London it has been
proved that not more than 20 per cent
of calls originating at one exchange
can be completed without the assist
ance of the operator at some other ex-
change.
Multiple System Cumbersome
The multiple system, so far at any
rate as large exchanges are concerned,
is therefore needlessly cumbersome.
What has been done at the new city
| exchange is to have the lines multiplied
on the junction board only, in addition
to increasing the speed at which the
system can be worked. The change
overcomes the limitations as to the size
of the exchanges. At the city exchange,
for instance, $4,000 subscribers can be
provided for, whereas on the principle
in operation at the old central eX-
change three different exchanges would
have been required to accommodate
this number.
The arrangements have been so well
perfected that the change from the old
to the new system will be carried out
almost automatically. 1t is proposed
to bring the central exchange up to
date in view Of futur. extensions. Sta
tisticians may be interested to know
that nearly 1000 miles of wire have been
used in the exchange, and that the
soldered connections number 100000.