The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-10-13
AUTOMATIC sysrEM WILL Dc
IN OPERATION IN
FEW DAYS.
SERVICE IS SECRET
Connections are Automatically Made,
and You May Get Your Party H.
stantly-New System VIII be In
Operation at $40 O'Clock Thur.-
day Morning.

The Billings Mutual Telephone com.
pany will commence operations under
the automatic telephone system
Thursday morning, and with the
exception Of toll line operators and
information clerks Central" will be
eliminated.
Mechanical apparatus will take the
tDdace Of the young ladies' in making
telephone connections for subscribers.
The telephone user will be his own
central. By setting the dial on the
number he desires and by pushing a
button he will be able to secure his
party In less than half the time re-
CURED by the manual system, which
has been in operation heretofore.1
"a handsome new fire-proof ~tele-
phone building has been erected and
an entire new telephone exchange has
been installed.
Twenty-Five men, under the super
vision OF "A. n. Bennett Of Chicago, an
electrical engineer representing the
Automatic Electric company Of Chica.
go. have been employed three months
in switching the system from the man
ual to the automatic. The change has
necessitated the exchange Of all OF the
1000 telephones In. Billings, the in
stallation Of a new telephone ex-
change and the rewriting Of consider
able Of the system. This was all
completed September al and then.
commenced the work Of testing. BY
the time b eschange Is made, Thursday
morning at $50 o'clock every tele-
phone on the system will have been
tested and put In excellent condition.
It Is not anticipated tina tsubscribers
will have the slightest trouble in the
operating OF the new telephones from
the start.
MI. Bennett, who installed the sys-
TEN in Butte and has been employed
by the automatic company for years,
declared last night that the system
installed in Billings Ia one Of the
most complete and best In the nation.
The system installed in Billings is
what 10 known as the Stronger auto
matte patent. It is the invention Of
A. B. Stronger. who was an undertake
or in Kansas City, and 1t was first
placed Incorporation by Joseph Harris
OF Chicago, now president OF the Auto
matte Electrical company. Mr.. Har-
ris was In Kansas City before the
Worlds fair in Chicago and he adyer-
tised in one Of the local papers for
electrical devices to be exhibited at
the fair. Srowger, who had been trying
induce the Bell Telephone company
to adopt this device for eliminating
central operators, called to see Mr..
Harris In response to the advertise
ment. MI. Harris saw the value OF 1t.
The first exchange was opened in La
Porte, Ind, In 1892, and was q decided
success. Other exchanges were open
ed and then some improvements were
made to the system that made 1t as
nearly perfect as possible. Since then
OF automatic telephones
have been installed. It Is rapidly dis
placing the manual system a. q means
telephone communication.
Where II u used.
According to q recent publication
telephone systems have
been successfully installed In Aber.
deem, 8. OAK; Akron. Ohio; Allen
town, Pennsylvania: Auburn, Maine;
Auburn. New York; Battle Creek,
Michigan; Beaver Falls. Pennsyl-
vania; Bellingham, Washington:
Berkeley. California; Billings, Non,
tana; Butte, Montana; cadillac, Mich.
igan; Champaign. Illinois; Chicago,
illinois; Cleburne, Texas: Columbus.
Georgia; Columbus, Ohio: Dayton.
Ohio; Decatur, Illinois: Dowaxjac.l
Edmonton. Alberta, Cana
da; Ell Paso. Texas; Enaus. P~ennsyl-
vania; Fail River, Massachusetts;
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Hastings.
Nebraska; Havana, Cuba; Haxelton.
Dan HY-Hr--A L--&