DEVELOPMENT IN TELEPHONE SERVICE 



323 



Fig. 29. 



Of course, the parent company, through its earnest efforts to afford 

 the operating companies every serviceable improvement, was indirectly 

 responsible for this unavoidable variance in subscriber-equipment. And 

 while modifications in form and improve- 

 ment in workmanship were not patentable, 

 they were the result of careful and costly 

 experiments in the course of which the parent 

 company was ' obliged to withdraw from use 

 and condemn many thousands of instruments, 

 not because they were inoperative, but because 

 others were better.' Transmitters and re- 

 ceivers were kept in good condition by the 

 parent company, and replaced with new or 

 improved types as often as necessary with- 

 out expense to the local company. But the 

 remainder of the equipment had to be pur- 

 chased from such manufacturers as were able to supply it. Hence, 

 to displace old with new equipment was often a costly change for the 

 local company. 



In commenting on the trouble caused by defective telephone cords, 

 the Committee on Telephone Supplies reported at the fourth conven- 

 tion (1882) that 



while the telephone business has been one marked with progress, we have to 

 confess that in this respect we have progressed but slowly, if at all. We have 

 had cords of all styles, of all sizes, and constructed of all metallic material from 

 the ' Gold Foil ' to the ' Steel Spiral ' ; from the large and unwieldy to the small 

 and ductile. We have had ' tips ' with shields, ' tips ' with spirals, and ' tips ' 

 without name. We have had forms of eyelets through which the cord is threaded 

 and wrapped with linen. We have had variegated colors from the serpentine 

 braid to the pale blue and the ' polka dot.' We have had all forms but the 

 good. ... A cord is wanted that will not ravel at the ends, thus causing ' cut- 

 outs ' in subscribers' conversations. A greater degree of perfection is required 

 in fastening the tips. They should be light in weight and free from kinks 

 or twists. 



In 1883, Mr. C. N. Fay said: 



The first magneto bells we had (in Chicago) came from Boston and were 

 manufactured by Williams, four years ago, and they were certainly the best, so 

 far as lasting qualities were concerned. The next bells we bought, in the fall of 

 1879, were the first bells Gilliland made. Bells that come in under two years 

 are not worn out, but there is some defect which requires repairing, and then 

 the bell can be put back in service. . . . Their life will not be over four years. 

 If they are not worn out, the dust and the battering they get and the general 

 abuse they receive from subscribers makes them practically worthless after a 

 time, and the subscriber says : ' I won't have that thing on my wall.' We have 

 got to count upon replacing our entire stock of magneto bells about once in 

 every four years. 



In one way it "was encouraging to the owners of the pioneer local 

 plants to perceive how rapidly the list of subscribers increased. In 



