THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1249, 6 February 1896, Page 33

THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.

A STUM. [B.A.L.] Hearing that the Telephone Exchange has a lively time on Saturday forenoons, I requested the favour of being allowed to be present. Mr Wylie, the courteous ofheer-in-charge, having got the necessary permission for the New Zealand Mail representative, ushered mo in. A BUSY SCBN'B. Ab the door opened we plunged, into a vortex of noise. It was a babel of voices, all pitched in a peculiar penetrating key, each deliberate - , clear fc.r>d almost incessant; and a clicking of nieial added to ihe eorif usioii. No need to ask whore the noise came from. * There were the operators before us. The "telephone lasses" of whom we heard so much and so favourably one session of Parliament, when they showed their gratitude to Richard the King for the determined firmness with which ho had parried a most unwarrantable attack that had been made upon them. On that occasion their big Bouquet with its ribbons was greatly admired. These are the "telephone girls abou*-, whom there has been grumbling occasionally. Their part of the room, i.e., the main part of the Exchange, is divided by what looks like a narrow wall made up of wires, on which various light metallic structures are strung in compact

orderly fashion. That is how it strikes you the first time you see it. On one side, the dark side of this wall, are the electric

batteries in their chamber, with, I notice, an expert attending to them ; on the other are the operators, the telephone lasses aforesaid, working in a brilliant light from the many windows on that side of the Exchange.

No need, as I have remarked above, for any guessing as to where the babel comes from. The operators are the manufacturers of tho same, and they appear to be remarkably expert in the art. But it is not by any means sound and fury which mean nothing. On tho contrary, there is no fury whatever, though the hurry and haste at times and in parts of the line of attentive workers arc inconceivable to any one who does not see it, and seeing it does not understand what it all means. There is,

I repeat, no fury —a remarkable thing considering the pressure—and the sounds mean a great deal. It is a medley of various expressions, directions, formula) kept up in what may be termed a sort of independent file firing. Not independent, however, in any Eense other than the effect produced on the ear of the casual listener. Some of these words being addressed to those of the impatient general public who are asking to be put in communication with their business correspondents or friends as the case may be, and others to the fellow-operators of these workers who are so hard at it, there is not in this sense any sort of independence. It is the wild working of a perfectly harmonious machine. The voices go to the clashing accompaniment of metal; which gives incessant click, click, click. " Yes, yes, yes," go the voices. " Are you there ?" rises in a dozen places. " Right," "Eight," " Right," in tones of satisfaction mostly, adds to the confusion of sound. "Ring up," that direction wo all know so well, likewise helps to fill the air. The average telephonor is apt to imagine when the welcome words reach him that he is alone for the moment at least in his request, but were he in here with Mr Wylie and your humble servant at the present moment, he would hear the direction in a dozen places. The chorus is yet by no means complete, mysterious orders rise into space—" 913 8.," "317 L.," " 202 Q," "417 C. 2 " come up in rapid succession, and similar cries for numerals in combination with letters are always in the mass of sound. Then there are words explanatory, such as " Number 700 is engaged," " Your telephone is out of order," " You have been ringing for 73." And there is an occasional interrogatory, " Did you say 46? Thanks. Ring up." Such are the notes, as it were, which make up this chorus that never ceases. Some of the operators, I notice, have assistants — these are working on the business sections, in which there is the largest proportion of big warehouses, merchants, counting houses, {jhjpping of&gggj produce stores. .

As the voices eo on with their methodical clamour the hands are not idle. They are in constant motion, flying up _to the annunciators, touching the keys which ring the answering bells, carrying receivers to the ears, and manipulating connecting cords. This last operation appears to ba provocative of endless contusion. Masses of white eord lie about in apparent confusion. In some plac'qs. order is Quickly restored; in others they lie about fuo white cables heaped over one another anyhow. Here and there you see an operator throwing one of thesa little cables on to her shoulder, and when a heap has accumulated then an assistant comes up and takes it away, pops a cord or two by its plug in to some numbered hole to make a desired con neetion, in obedience to the cries in the fir. Behind the line of operators, who are hot and flushed with their incessant duty, is a supervisor watching the whole work, carrying some of the shouted orders to the operators who are farthest off, giving hints, words of advice, pointing out connections that require to be made, observing all the details of the complex working. Her duty is to report any laches or want of application ; anything, in fact, that may require to be reported. This duty she discharges Avith the aid of a book, in which she makes her entries as occasion requires. THE SYSTEM. It is there in what I hare likGncd to a wall of Wire-work carrying various metallic Con* strnctioris: The wall, however, is not a wall at all ; it is the machinery of the Telephone Exchange. First there are the Wires which focus here from all parts of the city. Big black thick fellows as they reach the interior. Once in, the several wires open out and go down into tho machinery, to bo connected in all the ways required for a complete telephone exchange. THE LIQHTKING GJUABD^. First s at the top of what may still be called for, descriptive purposes the wall; is the section ill w'hioli jJro'visidri .is made fdr. dealingl with lightning eflects • the object Being to save the machinery from destruction. Those are. known as ( the " lightning guards." There are two precautionary.methods. The first is the use of what is known technically as the " fuser." Each wire just before it gets through the top section dwindles suddenly iiiGO a thin copper Ihread, and after a few inches returns to its original proportions. Should a flash of lightning 1 come with a sudden rush on any wire or wires the " fuser" is burnt up, and communication cut off. That is one precaution. The other is to meet an extra ugly rush of the electric current. The wire passes at this point into the machinery, and after carrying the ordinary current through the machinery, cdndriotsdt to earth. It comes iii by one plate, and goes.put by another. Here is the second precaution. A third plate is placed between the other two, very near both, but not in contact with either. In case of tho ugly rush aforesaid the current leaps to the second plate, and is carried to the third, from which it is conducted to earth by a simple contrivance. The effect is that any extra electric current which has not been cut off by tho destruction of the ftiscr is intercepted before it gets to the machinery, and conveyed out to earth without doing any damage; " Is there absolute safety in case of electric disturbance r" I ask; . "Yes". The current may not bo completely cue orf, but there is no danger to machinery or operators." On one occasion during a thunderstorm, Mr Wylie informed me how every shutter was thrown down and there was a disturbance which alarmed tho operators and sent then! off in terror to huddle in corners, but that is the worst that has ever happened, or that is ever likely to happen.

I hear, howevor. that shocks arc frequent. Sometimes in storms ; sometimes through the impatience of the dear delightful public. In the former case the extra current somehow overleaps all precautionary barriers as in the above instance. In the latter, the subscriber rings his bell just as ihe connection is being made and before it is complete, and if the operator's hand touches the metal part of the plug she gets a sharp electric shock. Moral : Always give time for a connection ; wait awhile while being "put on." It is well to know that every telephouc in the city is supplied with the fusor and the diverting plate, as Mr Wylie was courteous enough to show me. I may mention in this connection that I know an instance—it occurred in the New Zealand Times oilice—in which during a violent thunderstorm one of our people who was using the telephone received a rather violent .shock. I m iy add that thereupon I directed that during electric disturbances no one of our people should use the telephone. It is, I fancy, a precaution which the general public should adopt, except in cases which warrant the risk —which is, as Mr Wylie explained, minimised by the precautions in use —such cases for example as fires, sudden dangerous illnesses, wrecks, railway accidents, and so forth. For people to telephone possip at such times, or to scream excitedly, " Did you ever in all your life hear such AVVJFUL thunder r" or to yell triumphantly, " Cissy's taken to her bed, and Jemima's got under her's," such things ought to be penal. So ought the soulmoving enquiry, " Can yon meet me by moonlight alone r" Rut a sensible public - the dear, delightful Public if sensible —requires no more than a gentle hint. THE ANNUNCIATORS. Below the open wire-work of the lightning guards comes the collection of "annunciators." Hero are all the numbers of the whole telephone system, arranged in sections of 50. Between every two sections is an ordinary telephone receiver and transmitter, a switch, and a key with button for the answering ring. Happily there is no sound of bells, or the babel of sound which I have described would be simply intolerable. Each number is contained in a small receptacle of horse-shoe shape, and is covered by a little metal shutter, in shape like a Gothic window. The shutter is hinged at the bottom, and kept in position by an armature at the pointed or upper end. Each operator has charge of two of these sections of fifty. When a subscriber wants to telephone he turns the handle of his instrument, the operation ringing his bell and releasing the corresponding shutter, which, falling and disclosing the number, lets the operator know where the demand comes from. She touches the button of her key, thereby giviug the subscriber the answering ring, closes the shutter with her hand, and taking up her receiver hears the subscriber's demand, and speaks to him through the transmitter, and makes the necessary connection. The subscribe* rings up, his shutter falls, and is replaced. It falls again when he is answered by his correspondent, and is again replaced by the operator. When the subscriber rings off the shutter falls for the third time (not counting, of course, tiie first or demanding ring), and

as the rule is to disconnect after three rings, the operator breaks the connection. Sometimes they know that several rings ate' given for reply, and then they do not disconnect. If there is a doubt whether conversation is going on, or whether the two talkers have left their telephones, the operator just taps the connection cord with one of the idle cords, and finds out in a moment, acting accordingly. THE CONNECTIONS, When the subscriber wants anyone in the two sections in charge of the operator who has to answer lam, the wo'rk of connection is simple. Below the annunciators there is a frame with holes corresponding in number and position to those above, and by mollis of a cord with a plug at each end the connection is made at once by the operator. One plug for each of the two, and the cord completes the connection between them. Up to this point tho fixtures described are vertical, making the bulk of what I have called the wall. Below them spreads a network of wires for making the connections between the various sections. Here is tho cause of mist of the trouble whiclt occurs during the busy moments of the Exchange, such as the' scene' described above. The operator under this system caniiot connect her sections with any of the others except with that portion of the in her | immediate neighbourhood. For that latter ' purpose she has merely to stretch over and plug the necessary hole in the lowest of the Upright sections in charge of her neighbours. But "for the refit she has to call out the particulars of the connections required. The method is as follows : —Each section has a fraulo set up at a slight angle, which looks like a desk. These desks" h'rtve rows of holes, and each row is distinguished by a fetter and numbers. Now each section of is distinguished by a letter, A, D, C, and so on. The rows of holes in the desk-like struc- j turo at tho bottom of tho " wall " are lettered accordingly and numbered, all the numbers of the whole telephone service being represented. For making the connection there is a net of cords- When a subscriber Wants, to bo. oomicctod with a section id which he doc 3 not belong, say, for example, 50 wants 835, the operator calls out the number he wants and the letter of his section, i.e , 832 B.,.the operator in charge of the section to which the required number fin-kes t up a cord, puts one of its plugs into the nuiute reo.ttired, inserting the other in the hole indicated on h'frf extension board by tho letter named in the call. While she is doing this the first operator says " liing up," and the people talk away. THE wo UK. With the above explanation of the system hi \U6, the special difficulty of the work can be understood, arid the babel of sound accounted for. Tho operators stand in a row !■'each oppositoher transmitter. They receive each the request pf the subscriber, and make the connection, or call out the necessary directions for the extended cenrectiori.; and each, while attending to this work,has to keep ro ear open for the calls for extension connections coming from elsewhere. They have to remember at the same time the number of rings, so as to obey the rule to disconnect after the third. AVhcu business is slack the work is comparatively easy. When it is fast and furious, as it often Is both forenoon and afternoon, I wonder how they get through it at all. On Saturday morning I saw half a dozen shutters fall almost simultaneously for two operators, not oiide, but repeatedly • and others kept on falling with incessant rapidity. Something similar was going on at other sections. The operators I was near attended to their shutters with a speed that astonished me, and while they did so orders for extensions came to thorn and were at onco attended to. The same thing went on all along tho line. In the busiest sections there was not only not a moment's stoppage, but the work Wont on at HigHest pressitre. One ear for a half dozen to a dozen subscribers, another car on the extension orders, eyes cn all the falling shutters, hand closing them at onde, the mind remembering clearly the number of rings fdr all those people in possession, the voice growing hoarse with answering subscribers, bidding them " King up," and calling for extension connections. The mental and physical strain must have been simply enormous. Even with assistants and the aid of the supervisor it is a wonder the work was got through correctly. I may say that while I was present there was no evidence of any kind of complaint from the subscribers. Various precautious are taken, i learnt, against overfatiguing the operators. 'Die heaviest sections are known, and each operator takes one hour at them, after which she goes off duty for a short time, and then takes up a section less exacting. Broadly, the day is divided between two .sets, who are on duty six hours each, while many come a::d go at different hours, and there is constant shifting between the sections, and the hu y ones are taken in turn. But whatever the help in this way they all individually ami collectively earn their pay, which is without doubt small. They do no night work, and they have Sunday duty in rotation. THE TELEPHONE BUREAUX. arc attended to by an operator in another part of tho room, screened off by .a green curt tin. She sits at a table beside her instrument, which looks like a large chest of drawers with rows of annunciators, and docs her work in peace and quiet. Hers is a multiple instrument, and she has switches to every section of the ten over the v.-ay. In this part of the room sits tho officer in charge at a desk, and his assistant has another desk and table. THE MULTIPLEX SYSTEM. The present system is, I understand, peculiar to New Zealand. It is adapted to a small body of subscribers ; good enough for six or seven hundred. A thousand subject it to a pressure which is unbearable and almost unworkable—a fact which tho public, so given to gruinble and criticise, should bear in mind. The fault when things are unsatisfactory is chiefly in the system, not in those who work it under such tremendous difficulties. One improvement might be effected by distributing the most used wires more evenly among the sections, so that no one operator should be subjected to such a tremendous nervous and mental strain. But the best possible improvement would be to substitute the multiplex system. In Leeds they have one which accommodates (5000 subscribers, and in Paris one which numbers 15,000. Each operator has 60 subscribers to attend to, and can connect them with any of the whole lot, 0000 or 15,000, or whatever tho number may be, without a word or an anxious moment, and without leaving their chairs. Such a system is, I learn, to be introduced here, the authorities having corrve to the conclusion that the present system has almost reached breaking strain. When it will bo set up is, I believe, not kno->\nfor certain ; but it is not expected to be ready before the end of t&e year. When it is in

position, we shall have the quiet of order instead of the hurry-skmu-y of Babel. Its first cost will be about three times the first cost of the present system, which, by the way, last year' hd& to; acknowledge a small loss. That, however", is a question for the Colonial Treasurer to deal with,- not for the writer of a descriptive article. With that thought in my mind, I bade adieu thankfully to Mr Wylie, made my bow to the ladie?, so intent on their Babel, and went off Jglad that a change is to come some day.