46 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16ra, 1907. 
BRIGHTON EXCHANGE, NATIONAL 
TELEPHONE COMPANY. 
‘This is the quickest Exchange in England.” That is the 
boast of Mr. F. W. Taylor, Manager of the Brighton District of 
the National Telephone Company, and the members of the 
Society have been given proof of the justice of the claim. 
The average time for connecting National subscribers at 
Brighton is 24 seconds, said Mr. Taylor, and practical tests on 
the occasion of the Society’s interesting tour of the offices in 
Ship Street fully substantiated the accuracy of the statement, 
Divided into small parties, the manager and his colleagues 
conducted the visitors over the departments from engine room to 
exchange room. The switch room is situate on the top floor, 
immediately under the derrick carrying the aerial cables serving 
Brighton. The switch board is of standard common battery 

- THE SwitcH Room. 
type, with a capacity at present of 1,500 lines, a further addition 
for 500 lines being in hand. The operator’s attention is called 
when the subscriber takes his telephone from the hook, by the 
lighting of a small electric lamp, instead of by the old-fashioned 
