The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1908-01-02
new SWITCHBOARD
BEING INSTALLED

The new switchboard, power board
and telephones aud other electrical
apparatus for thu Home Telephone
20. we're received last week aud ex-
perts from the factories are busy in
qtalling il In the new telephone build
ing and expect to be able to have il
in compl te service in the next few
weeks. The switchboard is known as
a Lamp Line Signal Foil Relay Cut
Of Multiple Central Energy switch.
board, and was designated by W. j.
Brownell, L. E., and built by the
omberg Carlson Telephone Manu-.
featuring Co., Cf Rochester, n. Y.
Ibis firm is the largest manufacturer
Of telephone apparatus in the world
and furnishes the government with
its telephones, and has recently in
stalled systems in the royal palace at
st. Petersburg. The Hood River
board is one of the latest boards that
has been built and closely follows the
lines of the new board that is now be-
ing installed in Seattle. The operat-
ing system is simplicity itself. When
subscriber removes the receiver
from the switohhook 1t lights small
incandescent light on the operators
position and be is greeted by "Num.
ber". On giving the number, the
girl completes the connection and In
stantIy rings the subscriber he has
called for In other words, in five
seconds from the time he has started
the call, his party is rung. which will
give the Hood River people very rap
id telephone serviuu When the party
rung answers the call, q light from
the telephone flashes for moment,
hotifying the operator that the party
is answering When both receivers are
hung up. the lights fash again aud
remain lighted until the opei ator has
taken down the Connection. This gives
the operator complete supervision
without having to sten to a conver-
sation enabling subscriber to get
ten parties, one after the other, as
rapidly as he secured the Grst one.
The telephones of the new company
have no batteries and each phone re-
ceives its electric energy from the
central office This is accomplished
by storage batteries. A complete
charging set aud powerboard is in
stalled in the GENITAL flee and the
batteries charged there. This gives
much better service than under the
old system of batteri .s in the phones
for the reason that each phone re-
ceives the same amount of energy
and, consequently all phones "talk"
alike. The selectlve ringing on the
party line phon is very ingenious
invention, aud is called a converter
This runs in different cycles.
The bells on the phones are wound
to correspond with these cycles, so
that the operator may select the cur
rent and ring only The phone called.
This will do away with the continu-
GUS ringing Of bells, as under previ
GUS conditions.
Miss Susan Geary, OF Minneapolis,
has arrived in the city and will be
placed in entire charge of the service.
Miss GeaIy has been chief operator on
one of the large east ern plants for
several years, and her name is a
sufficient guarantee for good service.
A number of features will be installed
in the new system, which will certain
ly meet witn the approval of tele-
phone users of Hood River. For in
stance, morning call system will be
inaugurated, whereby the subscriber
can be called every morning at a GER
tain time; or, it he wishes to be
called for a certain train, his tele
phone will ring continuously, ringing
until the subscriber answers, thus as
suring the operator that he must he
awake.
A new Western Union clock is being
installed and Western Union time will
be furnished the subscribers at anv
time that you wish to ask for it. An
arrangement has been completed with
the 0. r. & N. and Mt. Hood railroad
companies whereby the arrival and
departure of all trains will be given
the central office, so that the sui
scTiber can always ascertain how late
his train is by simply asking central.
The location of fires will also be Civ
en- and the operators will be fully
posted ON current happenings, so that
the telephone will practically be bu-
Ieau of information in conjunction
with its seIv ce,
Messrs. barley and Schluter, from
Rochester, N. Y, are the installers
that have been sent from the factory
to install the apparatus and are rush
ing their work to an early completion.
The construction work in the city is
practically finished, and is what is
known as Multiple Gable Tap sys
TEN. doing away with dangerous
wires. One block of under ground has
been put in and cable installed in it.
and the cable splicers will arrive in
the next ten days to comp lete the
work. Every telephone man who has
seen this plant, pronounced 1t to be a
model plant, and Manager Browneli
expects 10 derive considerable repnta-
tion from it's building. Our citizens
can teel justly proud of the acqulsi-
tion of this plant for the reason that
every dollar of its stock is held in
Hood River aud 65 stockholders live
in the city and its Immediate viclni-
ty, so that excellent service is as
sured. The company expect II hold'I
a public reception on the completion
of installation and expect to entertain
their subscribers at that time.