The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-27
BY V. E. RUNDY.

The age of the tin can is upon us.
We have canned heat, canned foods,
canned drama, canned grand opera.
and now Topeka has the canned
hello girl" Nor is the slang defi-
milton of "canned''-meaning "given
the air" intended.
Up in the old terminal room of the
Southwestern Bell Telephone ex-
change building on Jackson street
there are more than 1000 tin canis-
ters-at least that is what they are to
the eye of the layman. But inside
each canister there is a mechanical
hello girl who will make a connec-
ton, advise a subscriber that the num-
ber he called is busy or out of order,
never misunderstood a number called,
and never cut off subscriber in the
middle of a conversation.
The genie which the destitute fish
erman of the Arabian Nights con-
jured out of the brass Jar which he
fished from the ocean, was a dub,
compared to the ''hello girl in the tin
can"
These 1000 and more genii were set
to work at midnight Saturday night,
when the old switchboard at which
hundreds OF girls have sat in past
years, deftly manipulating cord and
jack at the bidding of flashing lights
and gentle CD voices Of subscribers,
was cut out, and the new machine
switching equipment turned loose"
The affair was historic in telephone
engineering circles. 1t was the biggest
single district '.cut over" which was
ever accomplished at one operation,
so far as the memory or R. L. Wes-
Ter. who has been engaged for the
past fifteen years in such cut overs all
over the United States. runs.
Change in Five Minutes.
There were $500 lines to be
chine switching system, at the one
operation, and it was accomplished,
thru organization and team work, in
i've minutes and twenty-three seconds
from the time the first wire leading
into the old switchboard was cut. till
the last automatic line was connected.
Topeka was not out of telephone serv-
ice thruout that time, since before all
the old lines had been cut, some of the
new ones had been connected
1T is not only the biggest single
piece cut-over, but the most perfect
that nave ever SEEN" WeSsler said
after the job had been completed.
1t seemed that half the $4,000
midnight Saturday night, just to "see
II the things would work." As the
picks which insulated the new
lines were jerked from their places,
and the new contacts were esta blished,
a frantic clicking was set up in the
cans" which meant that Topeka was
trying out the machine switching sys-
tenn.
Town Tried Dials..
The normal load which the old
switchboard carried at midnight, was
then some, as the sub
scribers seized the first minutes op-
portunity to use the dials from which
they have been unable to keep their
fingers for the past several weeks.
The exchange building was the
scene of a considerable social event,
night. There were officials
of the Bell Telephone company and
Of the Western Electric company,
of the equipment which
has been installed, present in large
numbers, to witness the biggest cut
over of its type ever attempted. In
addition, there were between seventy
five and 100 telephone engineers and
trouble shooters. patrolling the aisIes
between the switching machines and
looking for trouble Most of them had
their wives and friends in the build
ing. Lunch was served to the Off
cials. and there were impromptu