Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-04
DIAL TELEPHONES
START IN CAPITAL
DR.. ReicheIderfer Makes First
CaII-58,0 900 Sets Are
Transferred.
Continued From First Page.)

his home, like q veteran. His connec-
ton went through promptly. When
Mrs. Reichelderfer answered the call
he read to her q prepared statement.
do you realize" he said, that you
are taking part in an important event
in telephone history? This Is the first
call made over the new system, which
now Is open for public service"
The "cut over" was made shortly be-
fore midnight for two reasons, telephone
company of5icials explained. First, mid
night Il the zero hour in the exchanges,
when calls reach the lowest peak in o
24-hour period. Second, the time was
chosen because Sunday Is light day in
the exchanges and would give engineers
ample time to remedy any trouble that
might develop before the Monday rush.
Preceding the "cut over" ceremonies,
guests of the telephone company were
taken on a tour Of inspection of the
new building housing the automatic
switchboards Of the dial exchanges.
Lloyd B. Wilson, president Of the COM
pary, sketched the history OF the tele-
phone system in Washington, and In
Produced Burnet L. MENUS, Washing
toms frst operator, and several other
early associates with the company.
MENUS plugged in the frst call Deem
Der /, 1873.
r. q. Macarow. general trafac man
ager, gave the reasons for dial opera
ton In Washington, and explained the
rapid development Of this system In the
past few years.
In washington, in spite Of the dial
conversions which will take place, the
company will have as many operators
five years from now as 1t does today. A
large number WIN 10 required In con-
nection with the diAs system to answer
calls for operator" with still larger
force to handle long distance service,
all of which Is operated on q manual
basis. Other auxiliary services and in
formation will continue to require oper-
ators.
John g. White served as the "cut-
over captain" for the ceremonies. and at
his signal men stationed at the me-
chanicaf switchboardS pulled on ropes,
removing 10000 heat coils from the ter
minal frame serving the manual central
oflces. Service was instantly discon-
tinued over the manual boards.
Lights Appear in once.
Coincident with the removal Of the
heat coils from the manual terminal
frame two colored lights appeared IN the
dial-equipment ONCE, which were signals
to the telephone men to begin removing
the strips from the line-finder frames,
so that the dial system could begin to
operate. DR.. Reichelderfer then dialed
his res dence, ofacially opening the new
service.
When the manual switchboards were
cut out of service, the operators, at sig
mails given by the chief operators. Miss
Edna Poole of the District-National
central Office, and Miss Maud Dickel of
the Metropolitan Franklin switchboard,
moved their chairs back, stood up, and
walked in orderly file to the cabinets
in the operating rooms, where they de-
posted their head sets. One group of
operators was assigned to making a
record of the register readings on tele-
phones formerly connected with the
manual switchboardS, some were given
special duties and still others went to
their homes with instructions where to
report for duty.
5000 Yet Are Manual.
The manual switchboard from which
the Franklin telephones have been
operated did not 60 out of service en-
tirely. for about 5000 telephones on this
board will be operated manually for
about two months. These include pub
lie coin box and party line telephones.
The three washington dial central
ofices are equipped to serve 81 GOO lines
q. 900 more than were available IN the
manual Offices just displaced. The
present dial units will accommodate
600 additional lines before it Is nee
essary to install q fourth unit, accord
ing to announcement by officials Of the
company.