The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-12-23
-Fonville Photo.

probably one of the best and most thor
oughly equipped In the city.
on the second floor are the loca
f, swtichboards with positions permitting
| twelve operators 10 work at one time
This Is three more than was provided
at the former exchange. and since the
! operators no longer use the old sys
TEN of ringing each is able to handl,
| fifty per cent more calls. This new
| system of ringing will possible make
| more prompt answering Of calls on tho
part of subscribers, and those who dc
answer their phones promptly will have
no occasion to complain of excessive
ringing of the call bell.
Twelve main cables, with "A total ca.
pacity OF 5000 phones, enter the build
ing and are taken care of by these
twelve local boards. These boards are
of the Western Electric 1C type. and
not only take care of the ringing auto
matically but the moment the operator
puts up the connection, which calls the
other phonet she is automatically cut
out so that she could not. even if she
had time to listen. hear a word that
was being said over the line.
The Hospital Board"
And then the hospital board which
works in connection with the local
boards When your phone is i'll or
cross,edl or anything else is wrong,
which prevents good service, it Is inn
mediately switched onto the hospital
board. where the trouble can be investi-
gated. located and remedied.
On the long distance side of the house
provision is made for four operators
handling calls going out of Ardmore,
L. ~ F.x,...
who answer ''long distance" take your
call, record IL and turn II over to the
proper operator Another improvement
Of Importance in toll work is the in
stallation of the "calculagraph," an in.
strument which begins recording time
on your ticket when you begin talking,
and continues to mark time until the
conversation ends. This absolutely pre-
cludes the possibility of the long dis
tance operator having made an error IL
the time consumed in your talk.
In the operating room also are sta
toned two girls who. at especially ar
ranged boards, take care of all in
quries for toll rates to different places
receive all out of order reports and
answer all information calls.
The new local equipment in this room
was installed AT cost OF slOO,00O. when
the order was first put in II was FOR
eight boards, but the management
realized this exchange would soon re-
quire a greater capacity and changed
the order TO twelve. Since these have
been received four more have been or
dered and are on the way. Four more
toll boards have also been included in
the latest order.
The exact figures are not at hand
covering the cost of the toll equipment,
but il amounts to great deal more
than the local equipment on account
of the fact that the long distance cir
cults are of copper
Operators Rest Room.
The rest room which the company
has provided for the operators is
equipped with all modern conveniences
and furnished with a library table
lounges and easy chairs. The operators
are permitted an occasional ten OF
fifteen minutes relief. for otherwise the
nervous strain would be so great that
they could not do efficient work. Ad-
Joining the rest room is lunchroon,
equipped with marble top tables ana
modern equipment for the convenience
and comfort of the operators. Private
steel lockers are also provided for each
operator. in which she may put her
wraps parasols, etc, and know they
will be there when she is off duty The
Office Of A. X. Harris, district traffic
chief, Is also on the second floor.
About seventy-five girls are employed
in the Ardmore exchange, and more are
being added as rapidly as they can be
secured and trained for the work. Since
December ] the girls work eight hours