El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-24

jOyed the DEVELOPMENT that has
marked the activities of voice
transmission. Telephones have multi
piled over and over again until there
are now more than six million in use
in the United States. Talk over wires
has increased to such an extent that the
companies which keep account of their
message show a total of about ten bill
lion conversations year, and these
constitute only about half of the total
number of messages
Ii is said that the Bell Telephone com
pany added 2o00 instruments a day to
It's service during 1909 and that the in
dependent companies did equally well
If not better. New York has 100000
telephones and Chicago 10000. The
exchanges of the latter city are the
busiest in the world. They average %
conversations on each line a day, or
about 100000 messages each "a hours
The average conversation is said to be
200 words long, so that the total num-
Der of words spoken over Chicago tele-
phones in a day would fill 1900 ordinary
sized books.
Wireless Telephone
The wireless telephone Is being per-
fected gradually and inventors conf
IDENTIFY predict that the next ten years
VIII see remarkable progress in voice
transmission. AS the telegraph was the
forerunner of the telephone. and the
wireless telegraph the harbinger OF the
wireless telephone. SO it is believed
that picture transmission by wire and
wireless VIII be followed by actual see
ing by wire. 1t is predicted that people
or this generation may yet behold the
person at the other end of the line
when they use a telephone
Train dispatching by telephone is be-
ing adopted by many important rail
roads, and in the recent eastern biz
yard it proved a last resort in the
handling of trains Between Rochester
and Syracuse the New York Central did
not have single telegraph line in
operation.
In spite of the fact that the telephone
lines were crossed in two places. and
further interfered with by the break
down of the Niagara Power company's
high tension transmission line. they
were able to perform passable service.
The same was true on the Delaware di-
vision of the Pennsylvania railroad
While the telephone wires were crossed
and broken, the operators still were
able to talk the entire length of the
division. The railroad officials stated
afterward that but for the telephone not
a wheel could have been moved until
the telegraph wires were repaired.
Taft's Big Phone booth.
telephone booths ever made. Not only
is ii roomy enough for him. but his
stencgrapher can enter II with him. 1t
Il finished IN a way that makes it a
notable piece OF cabinet making The
white house has one of the best branch
telephone systems ever installed. In
addition to the public system there is a
private system. which leads TO the capt.
tol and the various executive depart
1fc oh, IA,
ness of the government is transacted.
Uncle Sam is the worlds greatest user
of the telephone.
In the past the government was given
a flat rate for its business: today il is
charged so much per mesSag e and the
government clerk cannot use the tele-
phone for his own private business. ex-
cept by resorting TO pay stations Even
when a subscriber calls up a clerk. |
he must leave his number and have the
clerk go TO the pay-Station and call
him. In this way the Washington tele-
phone company gets double pay for
many of its messages
Automatic Exchange.
The automatic telephone exchange |
has been on trial for some time and !
has proved such a success that several |
in America are now manufac- |
turing such equipment On this ex- ,
his own connection. and there is no !
chance for back-talk. On the sub !
scriber's apparatus there is a clock !
like affair with ten holes in its face, |
numbered from zero to nine When |
a person wishes to call 1852. for in !
stance. he takes the receiver from the /
hook. puts his finger in hole and ro- |
tates the disk as far as It will GO then
permits it to return automatically to
its normal position. He repeats the !
same operation for each OF the three /
other numbers
The connection is made through the /
selective principle. used in party-line I
service. When It has been established !,
hanging the receiver on the hook dis ,
connects the telephone and the sub /
scriber is ready to call up another per-
son. 1t is SO arranged that no one can
ring in on the conversation. The
switch board is always IN service. and
he subscriber can be sure there has
been no indifference TO his call.
TelephOniag Fish.
Norwegian fishermen are using a
lew micro telephone apparatus to de-
eCt the coming of Il Shoal OF fish The
instrument is enclosed in water
light box and submerged in the sea.
u is connected with a receiver in the
'cat. and the listener can hear the fish
coming when they are still some dis
ance away
The telephone companies of the Unit