THE OLD-TIME TELEPHONE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 59, 7 September 1937, Page 7

THE OLD-TIME TELEPHONE

A reminder that telephones were not so good in the old days as they are at present is provided by the recent publication of instructions to subscribers which appeared in front of an American directory of fifty years ago. Subscribers are informed "that the central office will riot,respond during a thunderstorm." They are also told, when called, to speak and not wait for the' central office. to start them off. Customers are also informed that "at times, subscribers 100 miles away can be heard with astonishing distinctness; at other times, great difficulty is e>:perienced, andjt it found impossible to hear. Points" within 50 miles can usually be reached without difficulty." New

'"ealand telephone subscribers many years ago also had their troubles during the thunderstorms, as the earth was used lor the return circuit, only one wire being provided for each line. Today all telephone circuits are' completely metallic, enabling conversation to proceed regardless of atmospheric disturbances. As a precaution against the introduction of stray currents either from the atmosphere or power lines every telephone circuit is protected bj a device which depends for its operation on the invariable tendency r lightning to jump a short gap. These precautions are taken at the subscriber's equipment, at all junctions between underground and overhead cables, and at every separate installation in the central telephone exchange.