Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-29
TELEPHONE DEVICE
GIVES WARNING OF
LISTENERS ON WIRE
Pleasure of Eavesdropping
Made Hazardous by In
vention Which Identifies
Culprit Besides Announc-
ing Presence.

A. c. Howard. a Nebraska man, has in
vented a device which sounds a warning
when third party breaks in on the
wire. and which also Identifies the culprit
phone.
AS there are about 100000 party line
telephones in operation in the United
States, 1t can be seen that the device is
| destined to affect n great many people
and to check firmly established custom.
The man whose invention marks the
doom of eavesdropping is the possessor of
honda fde photograph, showing a
| farmers wife at work a: her sewing ma
| chine with the receiver of the telephone
firmly bound to her ear so that she may
not miss a single word of the conversa-
| ton of her neghbors throughout the en-
| tire day.
| Howard's device has been tried out on
a number of party lines and has proved
practical. 1t is the result OF II years
| experimentation.
zone of the questions most frequently
| asked of me by new subscribers" says
Howard, who himself is in the telephone
| business, "is this: Does every one on the
| line have an opportunity to hear what |
say when I am talking to another party"
1 am forced to acknowledge that such Is
the case. One farmers wife asked me
that question II years ago. When l re-
existence a telephone that would give
private service on party line. When
told her that I had never heard of such
an instrument she said some bright tele-
phone man had better get busy and in
vent one; it would make his fortune. I
took the tip, got busy and believe l have
solved the problem"
Mr.. Howard's device can be readily at
tached to any telephone. The user oper-
ates his telephone in the old manner, e&-
cept that he turns little switch just as
soon as he begins to talk. This switch
starts a mechanism which is timed by
small clock. An Indicator points out the
time the conversation continues and the
telephone connection Is automatically cut
off at the end of four minutes. If during
the conversation some other subscriber
on the line picks up his receiver, the re-
moval of the instrument from the hook |
produces a musical sound. which not only
notifies the users, but Identifies the one |
who is listening. |
DISC PRODUCES SOUND.
The identifying sound is produced by |
means of a disc carrying toothed pro-
jections on its extremity, which come in
contact with a pair of keynote tongues
These tongues produce the musical signal,
which Is of a high or low note. to
represent the long or the short ring used
to call the different subscribers on the
party line Inasmuch as most party lines
have from four to twenty users. there
are the corresponding number of diff
ferent signals or musical sounds by means
of which the location of the receiver just
removed is learned.
The device thus has the twofold effect
of measuring the length of a conversa-
ton and identifying the eavesdropper
The inventor believes that cutting down
conversation, by automati-
cally shutting off the connection at the
end of four minutes, will effect a saving
of 50 per cent or more on batteries, and
that it will eventually result in reduced
rates.
II is however, very doubtful II most
country subscribers will take kindly TO
he device which will cut off some of their
seenest pleasures, for there is no doubt
hat many farm wives meet and talk In
company on the rural lines I'm "A way
which should be regarded as perfectly le-
Ultimate. At such times q frantic call
or a doctor is always regarded and un-
Ter ordinary circumstances there is very
title business need for the telephone at
he hours when II is used for neighborly
ak. But business methods are moving
nto the country along with scientific i'm
rovements on the farm, and forbid the
Sc of even the home instrument for such