larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (09/13/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0367m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> the Moderator writes: > [Moderator's Note: Well Larry, your history is right on the mark. Many > people are amazed to find out that Automatic Electric -- and not Bell > -- 'invented' the dial phone system. And an old story has it that the > inventor did so because he was paranoid about the operators diverting > profitable business calls from him to one of his competitors. Any > truth to that? PT] Not only is your statement true, but even more amazing is the nature of Strowger's occupation: he was an undertaker! Rather than merely recite some details about the development of "automatic telephony" (a term no longer used, but which was first used to described dial switching systems as opposed to manual switchboards), I am going to do so in a much more colorful fashion by quoting few paragraphs from a book in my collection: "Automatic Telephone Practice", by Harry E. Hershey, Fifth Edition published in 1946. Hershey was an engineer who joined [Strowger] Automatic Electric Co. in 1910 and retired in 1945 when he was in his 70's. Hershey was well acquainted with the founding fathers of Automatic Electric, and himself played a significant role in shaping the growth of Automatic Electric and SxS telephone switching technology. Comparatively few people have heard of Hershey, who in fact held 51 patents in the area of telephone switching systems. Hershey was a most colorful character who has written five editions of a most unusual textbook - unusual in that about 15% of the textbook is devoted to various discussions of a "philosophical" nature. "PREFACE TO FIFTH EDITION" "In the words of the immortal Elbert Hubbard, 'If a man - - make a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door'". "Strowger Automatic is such a mouse-trap, made by six men - an undertaker, a clothing salesman, an electrician, and three farm boys. These men had no cultural background (there was scarcely a high school education among them), yet they were able to out-think and out-fox others in the communications field who had hundreds of technicians and millions of dollars behind them." "These men were not handicapped by a profound knowledge of mechanics or electricity; they merely had a job to do and the God-given light of genius which permitted them to select the right approach and the best means of execution. In the early twenties, when Panel was first being introduced, John Erickson was approached with the query, "Will the new Panel System put Strowger Automatic out of business?' He answered, 'Twenty-five years ago I gave careful consideration to that approach and decided that it was workable but too costly. We have nothing to fear from Panel.' Now that the Bell System has delivered its own verdict on Panel, we know how right he was." "Of the Erickson brothers, John was the mechanical genius and Charley the electrical wizard; this made for a happy balance between mechanical gadgets and circuit kinks during the early nineteen hundreds. The Martin influence was always in the direction of circuit accomplishment; but even in 1917 when the first edition of this text was published, there was still a reasonable relationship between mechanics and circuits. Both were simple; and, as the writer demonstrated on many occasions, it was possible to teach a man Strowger Automatic within a reasonable length of time." "As the years passed and the old heads were retired for one reason or another the mechanical gadgets disappeared and the circuits became more and more complex. In the normal course of events the fifth edition of this text should have appeared in 1928; but at that time it seemed that the circuit designers, like Lord Ronald, were about to mount their horse and ride madly off in all directions at once. And so it seemed advisable to watch the pot boil for a few years." "The few years have grown into twenty; the circuits have grown into thousands and their complexity has increased geometrically. As a student's text this compilation will scarcely be as satisfactory as were the earlier editions. Its principal excuse for being born is that the writer, now freed from the necessity of making a living in the telephone business, is at long last in a position where he can call the shots as he sees them and takes this opportunity of describing the present Strowger Automatic System in a brochure replete with historic anecdotes and with numerous references to men responsible for its rise and for whatever decline it may have suffered." ... "Old John and Charley, Keith and Martin, were very, very right indeed. Strowger Automatic is still going strong after fifty years of competition which in many instances was far from being fair. Other telephone systems have come and gone, but none of them have so well combined a reasonable degree of efficiency with a reasonable cost." "Whitewater, Kansas. July 1, 1946. Harry E. Hershey" For anyone seriously interested in reading vignettes about the history of telephony, especially SxS apparatus, examining this book will be a most rewarding experience. I would suspect that a copy may be found in a large public or university library. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"