The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-07-01
BUILDER OF FIRST SWITCHBOARD MADE
 ENGINEER EMERITUS
TT WAS FOR TELEPHONE CON. NECTIoNs AND WAS oPERAT-
 ED IN THIS CITY
One of Greatest Inventor.
How Thomas B. Doolittle Inaugurated Bells Invention in Bridgeport in
 1878 With George E. Betts-The
 Discovery of New Telephone Cir -cuit.

ThOmS tB. DOOl1ttle, formerly or this
 city, but now a resident of Branford, has a warm place in the hearts of the
 telephone men of Connecticut. His connection with the telephone dates thAsnie-, neers in the business of demonstrating the utility of Prof. Bells invention, he canvassed the state of Connecticut. It has extended through all the interven- ing years with scarcely a break. Throughout this period of develop ment, MT. Doolittle has maintained his place in the foremost ranks of ica's greatest inventions. About a month ago he was retired as engineer emeritus and in recognition not only of his long but of his extremely val uable service in behalf of the telephone development he was the guest of honor at a dinner given by his inn mediate friends at the St. Botolph Club, Boston.
 MT. Doolittle began his valuable ca reer in Woodbury, Conn.,, June 30th, 1889, was brought up a farmers boy; entered machine shop when a young man where he developed into a skill ful mechanic; made guns in the Colts armory in Hartford during the Civil war; worked in the Brass shop in this city; and then later on started busi- ness in this city under the firm name of T. B. Doolittle & Co. The company manufactured light metallic goods. The cial ruin of his partner. He later de- signed a cash register for street car service, becoming director of the company which manufactured these registers, the Hartford Alarm Regis ter Go. He took to the telephone bus- mess at which he has been actively engaged ever since.
 It was in 1878 that MT. Doolitt1e con- structed and operated in this city the first switch board in the world, which, though crude as it was, was the fore runner of the first commercial switch board in Connecticut.
 After the invention of this new idea MT. DooIittle with MT. George E. Betts, at present district manager of the Southern New England Telephone Co, started business in this city under the name of the Telephone Despatch Company. This was about the same time that a similar company started operation in New Haven.
 When the local company was first started a soft copper wire was used which with little sun added was blink. MT. DoolittIe with the same ingenuity that always marked his work, saw that a new kind of wire was necessary. He then invented a hard drawn copper wire, it being his greatest achievement and one with which his name is most generally identified in telephone circles. To- day hard drawn wire is the standard material for all well constructed tele- phone lines, especially those desig- hated for long distance lines. In recognition of this invention the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, in 1898, conferred upon MT. Doolittle the prize coveted of engineers, the Edward LongStreth Medal of Merit. MT. Doo- iittle'S work for the past 20 years OF more, has been the development of toll lines. The lines that criss-cross the United States are as familiar to him as the haunts of his native town.