\ THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER
I Final Check Made Of Equipment
t (he many miles of wires, the thousands of relays, switches, and"other equipment was turned
to the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company here, engineers from Western Electric,
i manufactured all the materials, gave it a final examination to make sure it was all in work
?arder. Standing are A. B. Benson, left, and Tom H. Epting, both installation supervisors with
(urn Electric. The two banks of intricate equipment shown here are a small part of that in
?the W?5rnesville'**change. ? Motrtttameer Phortoh _ - *
'Buzz Of Bee'
Will Be Heard
Instead Of The
'Number Please'
Plenty of people will feel a sense
of loss when the friendly "Number
please" of the local operator is re
, placed bv what has been described
as the "buzz of a bee," but none
theless the women who have been
on duty in the Waynesville office
will still be an integral part of the
telephone company. All the local
operators have received training as
long distance operators. Most of
them will remain right here in the
Waynesville office. Those who wish
will be offered transfers to other
exchanges.
Of the present 63 employees of
the local company, 40 are assigned
to "traffic"?and theirs will be the
voices we hear when we ask for
"long distance". The new
switchboard, of the latest design,
accommodates 11 operators. There
is, in addition, the chief operator,
Mrs. Frances Davis, and a service
assistant. During the night, and at
other comparatively slack times,
not ail the positions at the switch
hoard will be occupied, but any
body considering making a long
distance call can know that when
necessary he will find 11 operators
pulling the stops on tome 30 long
distance lines to complete his call.
Telephone Men
Have Machines
To Make Noises
The "howler" and the "ring ma
chine" are responsible for more
noises than you could hear at a
too.
If your telephone gives out with
a shrill whistle some day. you've
left your receiver off the hook.
What the telephone plant men call
a howler is set to send a weird
sound through your phone, which
will carry clear across the room.
One of the men makes a regular
check to see if lines are open for
an unusual time. If he finds that
your receiver is off?or if one of
your neighbors asks the operator
to "see if there's anything wrong"
?the howler goes into action.
The ring machine takes care of
all the other sounds that your
telephone makes. There Is, of
course, the bell. In addition, the
ring machine supplies your dial
tone .the busy signal, and some
thing very like a pig squeal if
ther? is no such number as the
i one you have dialed.
Few rubies are found in nature
outside of India. _ _
Dial Equipment Is Almost
Human; Thinks, Bui 01 All
Things, It Can't Speak
, . ? ? -
Under the dUI system central
office equipment is "human"
enough to do almost everything hut
talk. Dial equipment includes line
Anders, which And the customer's
line when he removes the receiv
er from the hook; selectors, which
select the proper line from the
electrical impulses set up by the
user's dialing; and connectors,1
which complete the connection and
ring the called party's telephone.
Many complicated mechanisms
are necessary to take care of the
various duties heretofore perform
ed by the operators. For instance,
the equipment must And your tele
phone lne when you lift your re
ceiver off its hook, picking out
your particular line from some
three thousand others.
At the old manual switchboard,
the operator was guided to your
line by signals which operated as
your receiver was raised. The elec
trical mechanism, having no eyes,
cannot be aided by a signal light.
It must hunt "in the dark". To do
so it "feels" electrically. As your
receiver is raised, a switch in your
telephone is closed, and current
Aows along you. ilne from bat
teries at the cm.rat office. At that
office a switching mechanism is
put into operation by the sudden
Aow of current. The apparatus
starts hunting over the terminals
of a relatively large group of lines,
one of which is yours. It stops
when it feels a line with current
in it, and is then ready to do what
you want.
Right now, the girl operator
would ask, "Number please?"
Since the mechanism cannot talk,
it sends you a tone to say it is
ready for your instructions. It is
extremely important that you lis
ten for this "HUM-M-M-" before
you start to dial. If you dial be
fore you hear the "dial tone,"
you'll get a wrong number or no
number at all.
As you dial, you will hear a se
ries of clicks as each digU goes
back to its original position. The
number 3 will give three clicks;
number 4 will give four, and so
on. With each click a pulse of
current passes through an elec
i
It Wasn't This
Warm Putting In
Telephone Cables
Just a breath of this week's
warm breeses would have been
welcome to the men who laid the
underground cables of the new
telephone lines last winter. Dur
ing some of the coldest weather
they were busy with the instal
lation of the ma!-* lines. Old oil
drums were pressed into service
as makeshift burners so that the
workmen could warm their numb
Angers over a fire.
And now that the installation
is romplete, a good many people
would agree that a wintry gust
from a snow - topped mountain
would be a welcome change!
Dial Will Not
Answer Questions
Like Operators
The passing of the local operalor
means the passing of a neighborly
service.
No longer can you pick up your
'phone and ask. "What time is it?"
Local operators were always glad
to give you the inforinaiton, but
long distance operators will be
busy completing calls to Ashevllle
or perhaps San Kranclsco.
Over a thousand long distance
calls go over the wires from or to
Waynesville every day ? except
during the summer, when the aver
age just about doubles. Prompt
service on these calls means no
chance to stop and "give the time
of day".
tromagnet in your mechanical
"central". The selectors and the
connectors go into action and in
seconds you hear either the "burr
rr burr-rr" of the ring telephone
or the "buzz-buzz-buzz" of the busy
Central Chile has a climate much
like that of California.
Beautiful Practical New Telephone Building
This is a drawing of the new telephone building, on Academy Street, which houses the new 41*1
equipment which was put into use here Saturday night. The conversion project coat over $804jM8.
New Telephone Building
Has Every Detail For
Efficiency, Cleanliness
By AGNES F1TZHUGH SHAPTER
The clean, efficient linee of
Southern Bell's new two-story
brick building at 106 Academy
Street are typical of the cleanli
ness and efficiency of the entire
$800,000 plant.
The customer entering the vesti
bule will notice a night depository
for the convenience of those who
must pay their bills when the busi
ness office is closed. The company
has provided a built-in writing
shelf, envelopes for cash or check,
and even pencils. Money put into
the depository goes into a safe
built in to the limestone of the
wall.
Also in the vestibule, which is
never locked, is a telephone pay
station available 24 hours a day.
In the lobby are three more pay
stations, which may be used when
the business office Is open on Mon
day through Friday between 8:30
a.m. and 5 p.m.
Presiding over the business of
i flee are the two women whose
faces and voices are most familiar
to the customer who wants to talk
about paying a bill or installing a
new 'phone. Mrs. Fay Toy and Mrs.
Anne Fie moved from their old
quarters in the Main Street build
ing as soon as their new office
was ready, even though the traffic
and plant employees were still in
the other building. In a private of
fice behind them Is C. T. McCuis
ton, local manager of the com
pany.
Not visible to the caller is the
only completely alr-condHloned
room in the building. Called the
equipment room, this area contains
the intricate network of cords and
wires and all the delicate machin
ery which is the nerve canter of
the telephone service. Some of the
pieces are so sensitive that any
change in temperature or in the
relative humidity of the room
(Continued on Page II
WAYNES VILLE
SINCLAIR SERVICE
DIAL
GL6-5631
washing ? waxing ? lubrication
tires ? batteries
accessories
i
main st. waynesville
L *
BALENTINE'S
SUPERETTE
DIAL |
GL 6 - 4961
i X
GROCERIES
MEATS
FROZEN FOOD PRODUCTS
an\kr ave. waynesville
DRUGS ? COSMETICS ? TOILETRIES
HAZELWOOD
PHARMACY
?
DIAL
GL6-5481
YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS
ARE COMPOUNDED WITH PRECISION
COMPLETE
FOUNTAIN
SERVICE
102 MAIN ST. HAZELWOOD
DIAL
GL6-5131
FOR
SAFE ? PROMPT
I
COURTEOUS ? DEPENDABLE
TAXI SERVICE
ALL PASSENGERS INSURED
JUNALUSKA
TAXI SERVICE
Lake Junaluska >
1 11
Waynesville Is
Now Dialing
i ? . .
GLendale 6 Telephone Numbers
Here are five things you'll want to remember about the
change in Waynesville's telephone service:
1 Effective Saturday midnight, June 6, all Waynesville
telephone numbers were changed when the service
was converted to dial operation.
9 The new numbers consist of the central office name
" GLendale 6 and four other figures.
8 To make a local call you will simply dial the first
two letters of the central office name "GLendale"
and the figure "6", then the other four figures.
4 A new telephone directory listing all the new
GLendale 6 numbers has been delivered. Use the
new directory for all calls.
5 The use of a central office name (such as GLen
dale 6) and four figures is a part of a national num
bering system which is designed to pave the way of
continuing improvements in local and Long Dis
tance service.
C. T. McCUISTON, Manager
i
SOITHEM BELL TELEPHONE ARB TELEGRAPH COMPAIT