Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-11-26
REPAIRING FIRE LOSS
IN RECORD TIME.

a-..z4
Replacing the Elizabeth City, North
Carolina, switchboard after the fire in
the telephone office of that town was a
good example of modern crush order"
business methods. The switchboard
that had served the telephone users of
that vicinity was totally destroyed on
Saturday, November 5. On Wednes-
day of the next week, exactly FIVE
days later, new one was shipped from
the factory at Hawthorne, Illinois, by
express.
The fire broke out in the back of the
switchboard itself. Before help could
arrive it had completely consumed the
telephone Office equipment. 1t is said
that the blaze was the result of spon-
taneous combustion. Elizabeth City
was in bad way without its telephone
service. When fire of this sort oc-
ours, crippling the entire telephone
facilities of a city, business and social
affairs of every sort are bound to suffer.
1t was, therefore, up to the people in
charge to see that as little delay as pos
sible would ensue before service could
be resumed and everything running
smoothly again.
Word was at once wired to the house
of the Western Electric Company at
Atlantic, Georgia. The Norfolk &
Carolina Telephone Company, which
supplies service for Elizabeth City, is
an adjunct of the Bell system, and the
Western Electric Company makes all
"Bell telephones and apparatus.
Atlanta was able to furnish at once
a small iodine emergency board to
take care of the toll business, which
was most urgent at the Elizabeth City
office. At the same time crush
order" was entered for duplicate of
the original installation, which was a
common battery, lamp-signal switch
board, completely modernized.
So it was that Hawthorne, just out
side of Chicago, where the principal
factory of the electric company is sit
uated, telegram was received early
on that Saturday moning, stating that
a duplicate Of the original board was
wanted in a great hurry The details
were given briefly, with orders for
haste, to relieve Elizabeth City from
it's plight. The Hawthorne people
wired to Atlanta on Sunday night in
reply, stating that the replacing equip
ment would go forward on w ednesday,
November 10.
All possible speed was made at
Hawthorne. The factory was able to
make good on the job, and Wednesday
saw the new board on its way.
Replacing swictboards under time
pressure is one of the situations which
it is very often necessary to face. 1t
will not do for any city or town TO be
long without telephone service. The
superiority Of American methods in
this respect was demonstrated when
about a year ago fire destroyed the
Gutenberg exch ange at Paris, France.
All Of the telephone traffic of the bust
ness center of the French capital was
handled through this switchboard,
which was really very extensive
piece of apparatus.
The French Government, which has
telephone matters in charge, notified a
number of European concerns, which
were invited to bid, informing them
that time limit of sixty days, with
penalty for each day over the sixty,
would be imposed.
All the European makers baked at
at these terms. Paris was crippled
without her telephone service, and
turned to this country for aid. The
Western Electric Company at Haw-
thorne, Illinois, was able to make the
board, send it to Paris, have it INSTALL
ed and accepted by the government,
all within the time limit, incidently
affording foreign companies demons
tration of up-to-date American meth
DDS.