The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-08-28

Pierce, who has worked with him in
the installation of systems in MANY
cities and who is a consummate work
man. Hummel calls him an ideal cir
cult man. a large compliment from a
large man.
Pierce is bIest with the capacity for
detail which has been ascribed as the
unit of genius. In Los Angeles. one
Of the first large cities to install the
automatic system. John Pierce built I'D
four hundred private exchanges. This
is an engineering feat that can best be
appreciated by engineers.
The few manual operating boards
which there are in the new room are
the work of his hands and are monu-
ment to the delicate working of mans
mind and the exquisite precision of his
fingers. Through the compartments of
these boards wires no thinner than a
hair, carefully insulated, run with a
regularity as of Nature 5 ordering.
carefully, painstakinglv and methodic-
ally distributed in complex simplicity
over the space required in the perform
ancc of their functions.
John Pierce is a quiet. little-spoken
man, who thinks more of his work than
the praise of it and who would have
had fits if he knew that his picture was
being reproduced on this page today.
That it is so is the fault of man
who is much indebted to him and wishes
to see him recognized as one to whom
Honolulu is greatly indebted also.
Others who have been material in the
construction of the system are Messrs.
Dickinson and Styles, two men whom
Hummel brought with him from the
Coast.
Picking Up the Dead.
The changing of the systems last
night did NOT mean the end of work
for the construction staff. Everywhere
there are the "dead' phones hanging
on the wires. and "dead' wires every
where to cucumber the working of the
new system. This must all be cleared
away before perfect satisfaction can
be given About ten places are minus
the new phones and these will suffer
in the change. but it has been impos
sible to oct them installed in time
Mr.. Hummel wishes the people using
the phones to appreciate little the
difficulties of changing the systems and
to bear patiently what inconvenience
NAV result for few hours after the
change is made. With the million
parts that comprise the system it would
he strange if all were exactly correct.
All the phones have been tested but
even this does not insure perfect ser
vice at once.
Two "Centrals'' Left.
The young lady central will not be
entirely superseded by the inoffensive
metallic ones for there will still be two
to grace the mechanical wonderland.
One of these will be responsible for
the connections with the "King' or
country phones and the others duties
will consist of acting as a general in
formation bureau for the subscribers.
In the board of the latter is little
sliding cover that protects card sys-
TEN containing any information that
the subscriber might want. The changes
of phones, of residence of numbers and
other telephone changes; the incoming
and out going steamers and anything
else of general interest will be on tap.
Country Phones Yet to Fix.
The country phones are problem
that yet faces Mr.. Hummel. The pres
ent arrangement by which a manual
board is installed to handle the out dis
trict phones in the old way is only tenn
porary. Another exchange building IS
planned at Waipahu which will ulti-
mately dispense with the manual coun-
try board In the new office.
The wiring of the Islands also pres
ents a problem of no small magnitude.
In most communities where the tele-
phone engineer can figure on Declines,
fiat plains. and inconsequential hills
the task is an easy one but where it
| comes to dropping a conversation down
two-thousand foot pail without
breaking it, it is another matter.
1t has not yet been decided whether
! the "other side Kaneohe, Heea,
Waikane and the other windward dis