THE TELEPHONE IN DUNEDIN.

Evening Star, Issue 5966, 26 April 1882, Page 2

THE TELEPHONE IN DUNEDIN.

The Edison and Bell telephone exchange just established in Dunedin was opened to-day, The centre of the business is the Telegraph Office. In an upstairs room is placed the annunciator, which is a sort of cabinet about 6ft high and rather more than 2ft broad. One hundred holes appear in the upper portion; these are numbered and represent the means of communication. Bach subscriber is furnished with a «©t of instruments, and has of course a wire laid from his office or residence as the case may be to the main Btation. Each wire is brought to a terminal in the lightning guard, which is situated above the annunciator, and is then led to a small coil of wire iu the indicator. This wire, when the current is towelling, is attracted by a magnet, and this causes a small shutter over the hole to di<»p. The dropping of the shutter signifies to the attendant that the subscriber who owns the v?re leading to this particular indicator wishes to \* put in communication with some other substriber. Tho attendant thereupon asks with vhom the speaker wants to correspond. The answe* being obtained, the attendant closes the connects the two parties by means of a switch cord, and the conversation may proceed, While subscribers are speaking the attendant U altogether cut off; he can tell if he wishes whether the parties are speaking, but cannot make out the words employed. When subscribers have finished talking they are directed to hang up the telephone and ring the bell; both shutters thereupon drop and the attendant is thus apprised that the communication is ended. Persons using the telephone should be careful in speaking not to place their mouths too close to the transmitter ; if they do the voice is too powerful and a blurred sound is produced. The lips should be kept about six inches away from the instrument. Subscribers should also be careful to ring off directly their conversation is finished, because so long as the shutters aro not rung down the attendant naturally concludes that the talk is still going on, and in the event of a third party wanting to communicate with either of the others he cannot do so. At present there are sixty-four subscribers; but as stated above the annunciator can accommodate 100. All these may be speaking to each other at the same time, but anyone wishing to speak with a subscriber who is engaged has of course to wait his turn. Possibly also a few moments' delay may occasionally arise owing to several parties ringing at the same time to be put in communication; but the process is very simple, and with a smart attendant the delay will not be for more than a moment or two. The whele of the instruments were imported from Chicago They worked well on the first attempt, the hitches being few and easily remedied by a man who went round examining the wires. Mr Logan was in charge of the annunciator this morning. He had a lively time of it for the first hour or two, for a great many subscribers, probably desirous of trying the affair, kept up a perpetual string of requests to be placed in communication with their friends. The trial may be pronounced an entire success, and there is little doubt that before long all the vacancies will be filled. A good many business men were present at the opening to-day, and they one and all expressed admiration of the simplicity and utility of the invention, the operation of which was courteously explained by Mr Lubecki. The cost of a wire for any distance within half a-mile of the station, with hire of instrument, is Ll7 10s per year. The hours observed will be from nine to five o'clock, but we understand that persons who may be talking will not be interrupted at the closing hour. In some cases, by special arrangement, communication may be kept up all night. For instance, the Police Station and the Fire Brigade Station will be always connected after hours.