< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 70.djvu
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DEVELOPMENT IN TELEPHONE SERVICE

Of course, the parent company, through its earnest efforts to afford the operating companies every serviceable improvement, was indirectly responsible for this unavoidable variance in subscriber-equipment. And while modifications in form and improvement in workmanship were not patentable, Fig. 29. they were the result of careful and costly experiments in the course of which the parent company was 'obliged to withdraw from use and condemn many thousands of instruments, not because they were inoperative, but because others were better.' Transmitters and receivers were kept in good condition by the parent company, and replaced with new or improved types as often as necessary without expense to the local company. But the remainder of the equipment had to be purchased from such manufacturers as were able to supply it. Hence, to displace old with new equipment was often a costly change for the local company.

In commenting on the trouble caused by defective telephone cords, the Committee on Telephone Supplies reported at the fourth convention (1882) that

while the telephone business has been one marked with progress, we have to confess that in this respect we have progressed but slowly, if at all. We have had cords of all styles, of all sizes, and constructed of all metallic material from the 'Gold Foil' to the 'Steel Spiral'; from the large and unwieldy to the small and ductile. We have had 'tips' with shields, 'tips' with spirals, and 'tips' without name. We have had forms of eyelets through which the cord is threaded and wrapped with linen. We have had variegated colors from the serpentine braid to the pale blue and the 'polka dot.' We have had all forms but the good. . . . A cord is wanted that will not ravel at the ends, thus causing 'cutouts' in subscribers' conversations. A greater degree of perfection is required in fastening the tips. They should be light in weight and free from kinks or twists.

In 1883, Mr. C. N. Fay said:

The first magneto bells we had (in Chicago) came from Boston and were manufactured by Williams, four years ago, and they were certainly the best, so far as lasting qualities were concerned. The next bells we bought, in the fall of 1879, were the first bells Gilliland made. Bells that come in under two years are not worn out, but there is some defect which requires repairing, and then the bell can be put back in service. . . . Their life will not be over four years. If they are not worn out, the dust and the battering they get and the general abuse they receive from subscribers makes them practically worthless after a time, and the subscriber says: 'I won't have that thing on my wall.' We have got to count upon replacing our entire stock of magneto bells about once in every four years.

In one way it was encouraging to the owners of the pioneer local plants to perceive how rapidly the list of subscribers increased. In

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