gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) (09/16/89)
They way I've always heard/read the story is that it was the competing mortician's WIFE who worked in the telephone office, and whenever the bereaved call would come in saying, "connect me to the undertaker," she'd naturally ring her husband's line. FYI, I don't know if this has been discussed already, but Strowger's original system did NOT use a telephone dial. It used three telegraph keys, and could only accommodate 999 phones. To place a call to, say station # 521, you'd press the first key five times, the second key twice, and the third key once. You would then wind the magneto, thereby causing the other party's telephone to ring. If the other number was busy, you woud NOT hear your own bell ring as you cranked, and thus you'd know you weren't getting through. Flashing the switch-hook would cause the selectors to reset, and cranking the magneto without dialing anything would raise the operator. The original strowger phones worked on a five wire system. One for talk, three for the keys, and a ground return. By the way, here's an interesting fact about the somewhat later Strowger telephone dials. They had 11 finger-holes. You had the usual 10 numerical holes, and then one marked "Long Distance." In actually, this extra hole did NOT send out 11 pulses as one might suspect. It sent out only 10, the same as dialing 0. Why did they have it? The researchers feared that the public would not be able to grasp the concept of using 0 both as a digit and as a way to call the operator! Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ. "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings gmw1@cunxid.cc.columbia.edu to be seriously considered as a means of gmw1@cunixc (bitnet) communication. The device is inherently of 72355.1226@compuserve.com no value to us." WUI :650-117-9118 - Western Union internal memo, 1877