The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-05-11
Dial Shift
on Saturday
Telephone Firm PIons
Smooth Transfer

SUtOOtU tIouStSI
Mount Clemens new dial tcle-
phone system, two years in the
making is ready to 90 into OPP
Grafton at midnight Saturday.
Revealing that the improve
mcnt program leading TO the in
itiation of dial service here in
volVcd am expenditure Of S7l2,-
600. officials Of the Michigan
Bell Telephone Company said IT
is the largest project of It's kind
in the company's territory since
the outbreak Of the war and is
the last of its kind for the dura
ton.
- Robert / WinsloW, manager
for the company here, pointed
out that the War Production
Board made an exception of the
Mt Clemens program when 1t
ISSUED restrictions, shortly after
Pearl Harbor, against dial-con-
version projects in order TO con-
serve materials. The exception
was due TO the progress that al
ready had been made on the
program here and It's import
ance TO nearby Selfridge Field
as we'll as to the general war
Job.
DELAYED YEAR
Even though the company was
accorded the go-ahead sign, the
scarcity of materials and war
time demands upon the Western
Electric Company. makers of
Bell System equipment, brought
a delay of almost a year in the
completion Of the program. AT
the time that construction be-
gan on the new Telephone
Building at 100 South Gratiot
Avenue on May 8, l94l, it was
estimated that dial service
would start last June, but that
estimate was based on cOndi-
tions before Pearl Harbor and
the outbreak of war for America
changed II all.
The Improvement program in
volVed the construction of the
modern American style, 2-story
central office building, complet-
cd more than year ago at
cost of over 1921 900; erection
of 20-car brick garage for COM
pany motor vehicles; inStalla-
ton Of central office equipment
valued at more than $500. 600;
installation Of dial telephones in
the homes and offices Of sub
SCribcrs; and improvements and
re arrangement Of the cables,
lines and other outdoor tele-
phone plant.
NEW OFFICE
For more than a year, the
company business office has
been located in the new building.
which has a total floor space Of
approximately $4,000 square
feet and stands on a site with a
frontage of III feet on Gratiot
Avenue and depth Of 240 feet
extending 10 South Walnut
street.
Manager WlnsloW said the
new telephone system here will
be comparable with the best
and most modern i'm the COM
pany territory. Some concep-
ton Of the complicated job of
setting up the local and long
distance central office equip
ment is indicated by the fact
that Western Electric installers
made 2ll.000 individual hand
SOldcrcd connections while in
Stalling the apparatus in the
new building. in addition TO
many thousands made at the fac
tory. More than 100000 con-
ductor-feet OF telephone wire
was used in the equipment and
there are over $4,000 electrical
relays of the various types ne
tcssary for the operation Of the
~ lANlAiliS thblt'iiltiit.
KEY ARTERY
Mount Clemens is the long
distance gateway to Selfrldge
Field, where there are $50 tele-
phones connected with the Army
switchboard Eight sections of
the most modern type of toll
CQ1tDmCpt T. n n "A N / n n %
switchboard positions for opera
tors, have been Installed in the
new central office building. The
switchboard will provide 159
long distance circuits, including
direct circuits TO Detroit, Sell
fridge Field, and TO seven COM
munity dial offices in the vicin-
ity OF Mount Clemens.
Graphic indication of the war
time effect on long distance
4o1c,,iAna affin - NTa,,,,t