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Posted by Gray, Charles on April 14, 2008, 3:22 pm
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Almon B. Strowger was granted US patent # 447,918 on 10 march 1891 for an
"Automatic Telephone Exchange". He was an undertaker in Kansas City who felt
sure that the local telephone operator, who was somehow connected to his
competitor (I've heard wife, girlfriend, sister, etc.), was diverting all
calls for mortuary services away from his business.
His original system was not a "dial" as we have come to think of it, but a
series of push-buttons, which required five wires (plus ground return) go the
central office. In operation, the calling party lifted the receiver and then
pressed the appropriate buttons (keys, he called them). As stated in his
patent application, for calling 315 one would press the first key three times,
the second key once, and the third key five times. At the end of the
conversation (or in the event of a mis-dial) the caller pressed the "P" key to
restore the switch train. Three of the wires were for the number keys, one
for the "P" key, and one for talking.
As I understand it, his brother-in-law operated a machine shop in La Porte,
IN, and Strowger went there to actually produce his switch. The first
operational model was installed in La Porte on
3 November 1892.
Regards.
Charles G. Gray
Senior Lecturer, Telecommunications
Oklahoma State University - Tulsa
(918) 594-8433
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Posted by Geoffrey Welsh on April 16, 2008, 1:44 pm
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Gray, Charles wrote:
> As stated in his patent application, for calling 315 one would press the
> first key three times, the second key once, and the third key five times.
ROFL! Those of us who could dial reliably with a switchhook thought we were
clever; little did we know that was how the thing was _supposed_ to work!!!
--
Geoffrey Welsh <Geoffrey [dot] Welsh [at] bigfoot [dot] com>
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![Strowger Switch [telecom]](/images/header.jpg)
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