THE NEW TELEPHONE BY CHANGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1588, 29 April 1882, Page 19

THE NEW TELEPHONE BY CHANGE.

The Edison-Bell' telephone^ exchange, which' it was some time back decided to establish in; Dunedin, was actually opened for business for the first time on Wednesday,' a- number ofgentlemen visiting the Telegraph-office to wit-! 1 n©ss the mode of working the apparatus. ' The i instruments have been imported from Chicago by the New Zealand Government, and appear • from yesterday's .trial to be in. thoroughly satisfactory, working , order. Mr Logan, was uij (charge of the annunciator, and no, hitches or; delay of any moment' occurred, although mdtfeu than once several subscribers ■ were, signalling^ for ( communication at the same time. The mode of working is as follows .'r-^^Each sub-!, 1 iscriber is provided with' a set of instruments atj his office or house, as the case may be, and has, a wire'.'Md on from "that 1 point: to' the central* station. , Here, i in an upstairs room,, an annunciator is placed, bearing 100 numbered, holes on its face, each being .covered with ai small brass shutter., $ach wire is, brought tq<a terminal , in the , lightning - guard, which* , is situated .just above thef, annunciator, and is 'then led into 'a small coil of .wire in-itho, indicator. .This wire, when the. current is 'travelling,' is.: attracted by -a magnet, and, pauses. the shutter over the '.adjacent hple to, drop. „This indicates to the attendant that' the; subscriber whose number it may be wishes to be placed in communication with some .othpr . 'subscriber. The. attendant then inquires with what number he wishes, to communicate, and, the answer having been < obtained, he places in each of the two holes 1 a bras}* terminal con--nected with' a 'wire, and thus jplacesr the tw,<)j subscribers in communication. During the timei* they are talking the attendant is unable to distinguish what is said, although Jie; can -hear whether or no they are speaking. When the Communication is finished the parties ring their bells*, whereupon the terminals are withdrawn arid the , shutters dropped over the holes. Should a third party in the meantime wish to communicate with either of, the, two. engaged, he must, of course, wait until they have finished, when he will in turn be connected. At present there are 64 subscribers, but the annunciator can accommodate 100, and it may safely bo assumed that the vacant spaces will soon be taken up. The cost of a t wire for any distance within half a mile of the station is £1710s,per annum," and £2 extra for every additional quarter of a mile. The business hours will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., although, persons communicating with each other, at closing time, will not be interrupted. By special arrangement the office can be kept open all night, and it is understood that the police-station and the Eire Brigade'will always be connected after hours. So far as trials have hitherto gone, the instruments used have proved . invariably commercially successful. They are not ■ likely to . get out of order, and the use of them can be shown to anyono in a few minutes, as directions for manipulation , are exceedingly simple. One point impressed upon subscribers is that they_ should be careful in speaking not to place their lips too close to the instrument, as in that_ case the sound becomes muffled and indistinct. Six inches is about the requisite distance. ' ■• > 1 ' Lord Erskine had a regular form of reply to ,tho'sb who wrote to him soliciting a, subscription, and the form was this : ' Sir' : I feel much honoured by your application to me, and, I beg to subscribe (here the loaf had' to be turned' over) myself your very obediout servant, ■ Eratone,' |