DEVELOPMENT IN TELEPHONE SERVICE 



3 l 9 



as transmitter and receiver (Fig. 25) naturally followed. The intro- 

 duction of this magneto ringing device displaced the circuit-breaking 

 push-button method of calling central, and the single-stroke bell as 

 part of the subscriber's equipment. It also enabled the local com- 



CROUNO 



LINE 



Fig. 24. 



Fig. 25. 



panies to secure more equitable rates by increasing the rental where 

 the new equipment was installed. 



In the pioneer days when local rates ranged from $18 to $36 per 

 year, nearly all the subscribers were on party-lines, and few lines 

 carried less than twelve telephones. ' How many boxes are there on 

 your line ? ' was a question often asked by subscribers in the days 

 when it was not unusual to have twelve, or even twenty or more sub- 

 scribers on a grounded iron-wire circuit in towns. In May, 1878, it 

 was stated that one circuit had ' fifty-six instruments, and conversa- 

 tion is carried on with perfect ease.' Another town boasted of forty- 

 three telephones on one line. Naturally there was more or less eaves- 

 dropping, with the usual entailed bitterness. Thus the parent com- 



