Abstract
IT is not very generally known that the engineers of the British Post Office have begun to change the telephone system of London into a fully automatic one. The task is enormous and it will be fifteen years before it is completed. During part of this time the system will be partly manual and partly automatic, but satisfactory arrangements have now been made so that this will cause no inconvenience. This book is therefore very timely. It deals exclusively with the Strowger system, which is the one adopted by the Post Office. In this system there is a dial with 10 finger-holes punched in it. If a subscriber wants to call up Gerrard 8830 for example, he has to perform seven operations. He first puts his finger in the digit-hole with a G in it and moves it round to the stop and lets it go. He then repeats the operation with E and R the second and third letters in Gerrard; this connects him to the exchange. He then performs the same operation in the digit-holes marked 8-8-3-0 respectively. This calls up the subscribers. If the line is engaged the usual engaged signal is heard. The causes of delay at present are mainly due to indistinct articulation and to congestion of traffic during the “busy hour.” Automatic telephony eliminates the former hindrance and diminishes the latter. As the change-over is effected, the number of telephone girls will be gradually diminished, the exchanges being entirely automatic, but the number of engineers and workmen required will be increased. This book will make a good text-book for class instruction on automatic telephony.
An Introduction to the Strowger System of Automatic Telephony.
H. H.
Harrison
By. Pp. vii + 146. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1924.) 7s. 6d. net.
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An Introduction to the Strowger System of Automatic Telephony . Nature 116, 276 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116276b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116276b0