Putnam patriot., 1913-10-03
TELEPHONE OFFICE
Putnam Exchange to be Cut to New
 Building and Common Battery Service
How a Call is Handled

A4N tyEAHtFf AHbIs ltAE 1ictAAaNt DtiA'N VI the local exchange oi the Southern New England Telephone company will be transferred 10 the new build ing, in Grove at the head Of School street, which has been erected espec- islly for telephone purposes. AL the same time the exchange will be cut over from the present msgneto service, which has battery located at subsefi- bers' stations, 10 the common battery or central energy system, with the bat teiies for ali subscribers located in the central office.
 Ground was broken for the new tel ephone building in Nogembef, 1912. II k a two-slory brick structure of mill construction and Is what is known as the l. shape. IL is seventy seven feel two inches deep and has frontage of twenty six feet, four inches.
 The front and returns on the sides are faced with tapestry brick laid up in Flemish Bond, the different colofs in the materials producing an ex- tremely artistic effect. The panels on the sides are outlined with dark head CTS " hieh make q most pleasing ap- pearance. Thes interior woodwork IS Of oak, the walls being plastered and tinted.
 ARRA INCREMENT OF BUILDING
 The basement oi the building houses the heating plant, stock room and quarters for the local liDemen. The business office and the terminal room, which contains the plaBt apparatus incident to a common battery office, occupy the ground floor, the former being located 10 the front and the Int ter to the rear. The front part of the second floor is divided into operators lunch, locker and rest room. Back of these Is the operating room. The building has been planned and erected
 with an eye to reducing the fire haz
 ard to minimum,
 THE SWITCHBOARD
 The new switchboard, which IS per.
 haps the most interesting portion ef
 the equipment 10 the average person, ss technically known as Number lV
 IL has seven positions, four oi which
 VIII be used for local and three for toll
 line and long distance business. The
 present equipment Of this boaId k siN hundred subscribers lines, the capaci " being sixteen hundred subscribers
 circuits,
 Some idea of the delicate and ardu
 ous task it has been to install this
 switchboard may be obtained from the
 following data supplied by the local office oi the Southern New England Telephone company. There are over 70 miles Of wire in the switchboard and 43, ,S29 soldered connections. There
 are 3050 answering and multiple jacks or holes In which the subscribers lines terminate. For establishing cOnnec' lions, there are one hundred and six pairs of cords and associated with these and the answering jacks 10 lit
 tie electric lamps.
 HOW A CALL IS HANDLED In view of the change in the system
 description of ,the manner in which a local call is handled by common bat tery follows: In place Of turning the erHnk at his telephone to signal the operator in the central office, Mr Subscriber will merely remove his re cei3er from the hook. This closes [ circuit which operates d tiny relay located u the central office, and | lights an electric lamp in the face ol | the switchboard directly over the jack 1 in which Mir. Calling Subscribers lint terminates.
 This signals the operator who takes | the rear cord, oi one of the pairs o
 cords in the shelf of the switchboard in front of her, and inserts the meta plug on the end of the cord into Lht lack under the lamp, this eXtinguish ing the light. On the shelf, directly in front oi each pair of cords, is n key By pushing the one in front of tn, pair of cords she k using away iron her the operator cuts her headset anr transmitter in on the line. She then
 asks for the desired number. Upon receiving this information the operator cuts out the connection and does not go in on 1t again unless 1t is impossible to raise the desired party. She then gives the report | Taking the front cord of the pair O | cords she k using, she inserts the plul
 on the end into the multiple jack 1T which the desired subscribers lint | terminates. Ky pressing the key with which she cut in on the line | towards her she rings on the called | line
 THE "sUPERVtSoRY LAMPsp Between the pair of cords in use and | the key are two electric lamps, set tn to the shelf ol the switchboard. Thes' | are technically known as "supervisorN | lamps and do away with the neces | sity of an operator cutting in on th' i line to find If a conversation k still 1T
 progress. The rear light k associated l with the cord connected with the cal | ing subscribers line and the iron light with the front cord, which i plugged up with the called subscri her's circuit.
 Because MT. Calling Subscriber I | telephone is oil the hook the rear ligh
 Is eNtinguisned. The moment tn, | plug on the front cord is inserted into | the multiple jack the front lamI | lights. The remains lighted until tn, | receiver of the called telephone is
 taken oil the hook. Then il goes out As long as the subscribers are talk | ing, the two lamps are eNiinguisued
 when they hang up the two "super | Vis0ry lamps light again and tht
 operator knows that the conversation
 has been completed. She then take down the pair of cords and both line'
 are ready for further calls.
 HISTORY OF THE EXCHANGE
 In the summer of lSs2, The South
 ern New England Telephone Com
 pany lad out the Putnam and Dan l ielson Exchanges, connecting then
 with single, grounded iron line. Mr l.. Il. Fuller, who had telephone il
 his insurance office, was appointe. 1 Manager,
 | The first switchboard was of th'
 crudest magneto type, with capacity l of twenty-five subscribers lines ano | keys resembling the telegraph opera l ting key. There were thirty-hNe sub scribers in the Putnam Exchange, oi | Division as it was then called, and | clerk in MT. Fuller's office found nC l difficulty in looking after the operat
 ing, the office being open only from
 a. m. to ?. m. It was not until lss4 two years later, that all night service
 was given: and even than business