Palisadian., 1922-05-27
Telephone men PUT
over BIG JOBS
New York Company Add $4,000
Telephones to System
in Three Years.


Yory Telephone Company faced the
greatest construction task in telephone
history, says an article in the Tele-
phone Review. The existing service
was below normal in quality; the ex-
listing plant was called upon to handle
load of traffic far greater than it's
capacity for efficient service; the COM
pany's working forces were depleted;
practically all their reserve of plant,
which in normal years had enabled
them to meet new service require
ments promptly, was in use; the de-
mand for new service was the greatest
they had ever known. The demand has
continued to be abnormal for almost
three years.
Today the service of the New York
Telephone Company is even better
than that furnished before the war
and has been for a great many months.
Its plant facilities have been enlarged
to an extent that three years ago
seemed almost impossible. New serv-
ice has been given and is being given
In greater quantities than ever before.
The goal of the company, the old
status Of ability to furnish the best
service Immediately in any reasonable
quantity, Is In sight.
It would take many pages to chron-
icle all the accomplishments that have
produced these results. Everyone in
the organization has helped. Everyone
has worked in way that at times has
seemed to set a new limit for human
capacity and ingenuity. Cooperative
effort delivered in large and continu-
Gus doses has carried the company far
along the road toward its goal.
Consider some striking facts which
Mr.. G. c. Allen, General Superintend-
ent of Plant, gave to the company's
supervisory forces at q recent general
conference.
Record Installation
''In the past three years." said Mr.
G. C. Allen, 1--WE have added nearly
35O,OO0 telephones to the number in
service in our territory. To make This
net gain it was necessary to connect
or disconnect more than 100000 sta
tiOns Our plant men in 1921 Installed
removed or changed 100000 stations.
In those twelve months they made
10000 gross connections; 5000 more
than in any previous year and 25,0OO
more than in any normal year.
The net gain in stations for 1921
was 10000, a new record This year
we should gain about 10000. That
will mean another new record. Right
now our men are installing stations
even more rapidly than last year.
During the first three months of the
year they made gross connections in
New York City at rate of 20 every
Il minutes; the total was $4,000 sta
tions. The net gain during those 68
working days was 31,623 stations, or
nearly one every minute"
1t takes time and skill to install,
remove or change telephone. Re-
member that the instrument is only
per cent. of the equipment required to
furnish telephone service. Try to
imagine the job Of providing the other
9S per cent. which is made up of build
ings, switchboards, cables, conduit,
distributing frames and other appa-
ratus without which service could not
nave Deeu given W liic uSSIS VI luSSC
thousands of telephones.
Billions Of Feet of Wire
In 1920 the Plant Department put
in 1921 100000 feet Of conductor cable.
Anyone would call that pretty good
Job, but it did not satisfy the plant
men, for last year they installed nearly
three billion feet of conductor cable
(actually 1892 100000 feeD. If all
this cable was 300-pair size it would
reach from New York to Chicago. And
this year, just to show that no matter
how much you have done it is always
possible to do more. the plant men
expect to put in 4,O000O0,000 feet of
conductor cable.
One of the biggest plant iohs is the
transfer of lines in central offices to
improve the handling of traffic. In
1921 in the down-state territory alone
they transferred 100000 lines in vari-
Gus exchanges. Many of these trans
fers were huge jobs in themselves; 80
of them affected 10000 stations.
Cooperation Wins
The achievement of the plant men
is good sample of the work done
by all departments. The results re-
corded were made possible because
telephone men and women see the
sporting side of hard job, realize the
Importance of their work to the public
and to the company, and stick with the
Job and deliver no matter what the
obstacles. They know how to tackle a
job and the bigger the task the better
they like it.