Abilene weekly reflector., 1922-04-13
NEW BOARD IN USE
Cut-Oyer Was Made In an Instant
Sunday Evening

GO!
Pull!
In the twinkling Of an eye over
I, 900 telephones, serving the city OF
Abilene and vicinity and the toll lines
leading out Of town, were switched
from the old board In the Brown
block to the new board In the new
building.
The "cut over" took place at S:46
Sunday evening and the operation OF
disconnecting the telephones from
the old board and connecting them
with the new board consumed just
exactly 30 seconds. II is quite likely
that not u person In Abilene outside
Of the men who had worked fever.
ishly for the 4S, hours preceding the
cut over, without wink OF sleep,
the operators who were waiting ut
the new board ready for the signal
of the "cut over and those who
were watching the. operation. knew
that the change had been made.
While the actual operation OF
"cutting- over" the new board only
consumed few brief seconds, the
preliminary work has taken weeks
and months Of careful planning and
testing.
Board Of Latest Type
This board was entirely designed
by the traffic and commercial depart
ment after an exhaustive study of
conditions and requirements in Abb
lene; it was built by the engineering
and plant department and was in
stalled by United Telephone Com
pany engineers and experts. 1t Is a
fifteen position board anu combines
all the improved features of the very
latest type Of common 'battery mul-
tiple board, with the toll positions
and the private branch exchange pO-
sition for the Associated Companies
offices all installed In the same frame
with the local and ruref boards.
Rural Lines on Special Board
Another Improvement over the old
board. is that all the rural lines have
been arranged similar. to the toll
lines, so that those now wishing to
call person on rural line, will call
for rural operator" when central"
answers and give the rural number
they desire to her, instead OF to the
local operator as before
The old board, which winked out
at s:45 Sunday night, had been In
service almost seventeen years, and
aside from C. L. Brown, general
manager of the United Telephone
Company, who pulled the cords "cut-
ting-over' the lines to the new board,
and A. J. Paige of the engineering
department, the only other person
present last night, who was present
the day the old board was started in
the Brown building In December,
1905. That person was Miss Mary
Kane, night chief operator. As the
last light blinked out on the old
board, Miss Kane remarked with
what seemed to be touch of pathOs
in her voice, "Well, that is the last
of this good old board" To her the
"old board" represented something
more than just piece OF obsolete
machinery. In its almost seventeen
years of service it had recorded hun
dreds of thousands Of messages of
JOY and sorrow, of successes and
failures. If diary Of the experiences
could be told it would be the history
of the growth and development of O
very large and important section OF
this rich inland empire.
'ToO much praise cannot be given
those who worked so faithfully with
out thought of themselves, in order
that this 'cut-over' might be made
without mishap," said G. L. Brown
his morning 1T is loyalty and de-
votion to the service, which made the
change possible last night, and 1t is
this same kind of loyalty which has
enabled the United Telephone Com
pany to overcome difficulties that
would have been impossible without
"a.