where or when the called person mi^^ht be reached. Havin^^ reached 

 the called station or party she notified the originating operator who 

 then rang the calling party. When both the calling and called parties 

 answered their telephones, the operator inserted the ticket in the 

 calculagraph and stamped the time. When the calling party hung up 

 his receiver, the originating operator received a disconnect signal on 

 his line, stamped the time on the ticket by means of the calculagraph 

 and took down the connection. The ticket was then sent to the ticket 

 filing desk where it was filed in the numerical order of the calling num- 

 ber. The inward operator also took down the connection upon receipt 

 of a signal indicating that the called party had hung up his receiver. 



Single-Ticket Operating Method 



Before the single-ticket method came into use operating methods 

 and practices, as well as accounting methods, varied from place to 

 place. This made it necessary for a considerable part of the operating 

 work on toll calls to be done by the operator at the called place. The 

 first step in passing from the two-ticket to the single-ticket method 

 was to eliminate the ticket at the inward end, and to place the re- 

 sponsibility for all work in connection with handling the call, except 

 the purely mechanical operation of making physical connection to the 

 called telephone, upon the outward operator at the calling place. 

 The elimination of this work made possible also the elimination of a 

 large amount of equipment at the terminating place, avoided the 

 duplication of operator time at both ends of the circuit and saved 

 circuit time. It required standardization throughout the System in 

 equipment, local and toll practices, and auditing methods. 



Under the single-ticket method the customer reached long distance 

 just as he did with the two-ticket method and the preliminary work 

 of finding the called number and the route for the call remained un- 

 changed. When the ticket reached the line operator, however, she 

 took up a circuit to the called place and merely passed an order to the 

 inward operator for connection to the called number. When the 

 called telephone answered, the originating operator announced the 

 call, arranged for the called party to come to the telephone and con- 

 nected the calling party to the circuit when the person at the called 

 station was ready to talk. The connection was timed and the ticket 

 filed in the same way as under the two-ticket method. 



Combined Line and Recording (CLR) Method 



Experience with the single-ticket operating method had suggested 

 the possibility of having the line operator receive and record the call 



54 



