5 oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



should be comparable to iron in its ability to stand the strain of its own weight 

 when strung on poles, and, in addition thereto, the weight of sleet or snow and 

 wind pressure. There was no mathematical road to determine this factor; there- 

 fore it was simply a case of ' cut and try.' 



It was for producing in 1877 the five hundred pounds of No. 12 

 B. & S. gauge hard drawn copper wire used in stringing the aerial 

 circuits in the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company's private telephone 

 exchange system that the Franklin Institute awarded to Mr. Doolittle 

 the Edward Longstreth medal of merit. 



In connecting up the different offices and mills of the Ansonia 

 Brass and Copper Company he built substantial pole lines, installed a 

 home-made type of switchboard to which all circuits were attached 

 and had a regular operator employed. A pole line was also built to 

 the freight station of the Derby Kailroad Company, and a telephone 

 installed there and connected to the main switchboard, thus enabling 

 any department to get in immediate communication with the freight 

 station. This system was completed and in successful operation on 

 December 4, 1877. Then, when the Connecticut Telephone Company 

 came into possession of the territory by virtue of purchasing the rights 

 of earlier Bell licensee systems, and thus possessed the sole right to 

 operate telephone exchanges under the Bell patents, it claimed that this 

 pioneer private exchange was a commercial exchange by reason of con- 

 nections to outside interests, although calls were exchanged without 

 thought of payment, and thus was infringing the rights of the Con- 

 necticut Company. So that exchange was closed. Later on a private 

 branch exchange system was regularly installed for the Ansonia Brass 

 and Copper Company, and now that company is the largest user of 

 telephone equipment and service in Connecticut. 



Probably Hartford can be credited with establishing the second 

 mutual telephone exchange system. Three months after Dr. Bell's 

 lecture, an agent for the Bell company called on the principal mer- 

 chants in Hartford and tried to induce them to utilize the telephone as 

 a business-bringer. On July 19, 1877, the local manager of the 

 Western Union, Mr. G. B. Hubbell, secured the agency of the Bell 

 telephone. On August 9, 1877, the Hartford Courant stated: "At 

 the Capital Avenue drug store there is a telephone of simple construc- 

 tion connected with the residence of Dr. Campbell." On August 22 

 the Courant stated that " At the regular meeting of the allopath physi- 

 cians on Monday evening, experiments were successfully tried with 

 the telephone, and it is proposed to have a system of intercommunica- 

 tion between the doctors established by means of this new invention, 

 so that by reporting to the central office at the Capital Avenue drug 

 store, they can readily exchange views between office and office." In 

 September, 1877, Isaac Smith, owner of the Capital Avenue drug store, 

 had one and possibly two party-lines working in Hartford, and ter- 

 minating in his store. On October 8, 1877, Smith advertised as fol- 



