The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-11-25
Twin CITIES have GREATEST
AUTOMATIC SYSTEM IN WORLD
Last Sunday Night the Long Promised Cut
Midnight and A. M. Minneapolis Was Made the Biggest
Automatic Phone City in the World

The cut-over to the automatic sys.
TEN on the lines of the Tri-State
Telephone Co., in Minneapolis, was eff.
fected between midnight and A. NJ,
Sunday, Nov. 10. A couple of hundred
men, expert electricians, working 81
lently but swiftly in the seven differ
ent Tri-State Exchanges in the city
accomplished the work.
While one squad swiftly removed
the tiny wooden pegs from thousands
of telephone switches other squads,
just as quickly, severed the thousands
of wires connecting with the old
manual equipment and the entire Tri-
State system became the automatic ar
rangement promised for months.
Hereafter there will be no Number
Please" to greet you when you take
down the receiver. Instead, you will
dial the party you wish to talk to
yourself, by pulling down the digits
of the number wanted on the little
dial attached to the base of your tele-
phone. Regardless of which particu-
lar exchange your call goes through,
the mechanism is there and ready to
do your bidding with lightning speed,
Minneapolis and st. Paul. including
such suburbs as South ST. Paul, Hop
kins and st. Louis Park are all ham
died as one single unit. The system is
all one system and there are no du-
plicate numbers. In other words, by
dialing the figure seven the subscriber
is instantly connected with the South
st. Paul exchange. Figure eight
throws the call into the Merriam Park
exchange, figure two the Center ex-
change, st. Paul, and figure three the
Center exchange, Minneapolis. Then,
following out the numerical system,
the second figure dialed picks a group
of 10000 telephone wires, the third fig
ure a group of 100 wires out of the
original 10000. the fourth group of
ten wires out of the 100 and the final
digit dialed picks out the one wire
wanted out of the ten and rings the
particular bell on that particular line,
providing it is not busy. In that event,
instead of the calling party hearing the
bell ring, he is instantly given the
busy signal. Thereupon the only thing
to do is to hang up and call again
when convenient. There is no one to
argue with and no one to hear you
declare. Il know that line isn't busy"
1t is busy, because it's machine that
tells you so and machines don't tell
falsehOods.
Every individual or private auto
matte line is secret. That is to say, no
one, not even Central, can possibly
listen in while you are talking. This
secrecy even extends to Inter-city
calls, officials declare. While it is
true. that checking operator will cut
in on an inter-city call long enough to
get the number of the calling and
called telephones in order to make out
ticket, the connection is completely
broken while she is on the wire and
restored the moment she gets off.
While the parties are talking she also
tests the two telephones to make sure
no mistake was made in giving her
the numbers. Should she find that an
error had been made she will again
cut in and ask for correction. Other
wise there is no additional Interrupt.
ton to the conversation. On party
lines this secrecy does not exist eX-
.<cept in so far as the operators are con-
scerned. The second party on party
line may overhear the conversation
of the one who shares the line with
him providing he happens to take
down his receiver while the line is in
use. This, of course, is also true of
the manual system which, in addition,
permits Central to plug anyone she
pleases in on the line or she may
Listen in" herself.
An entire new equipment is neces-
sary to render this new automatic SER
vice and the Tri-State Company has
occupied nearly two years in complet-
ing it. There is serious misappre-
hension in some quarters" said o. Cur
tbs, Minneapolis local manager, ere.
garding what is going to happen to
our former operators. AS matter of
fact, not single Tri-State operator
will lose her position as result of
the installation of automatic equip
ment 1t is true that they will not be
needed as operators, but all will be
found employment at no reduction in
salary in one department or another.
The toll switchboards, pay stations,
private branch exchanges all will re-
quire the services of experienced tele-
phone girls and the operators relieved
of their work at the switchboards will
be found useful in great many ways.
In st. Paul the company employed ten
additional girls two days after the cut
over in that CITY,"
In order to safeguard the company
and the various public departments of
the city against the trouble maker, the
fellow for instance who turns in a false
fire alarm just to see the horses run,
an automatic mechanism in each ex-