346 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



During the latter part of 1909, the Bell stations began again to out- 

 number the independent stations. As another manifestation of the 

 competitive situation, it is of interest to note that in the middle of 

 1905 a majority of the cities having more than 10,000 stations (total) 

 had both independent and Bell exchanges. 



Organization 



In the period under consideration, 1906 and thereabouts, the Engineering 

 Department in Boston was broadly responsible for Bell System engineering, 

 development, and research work, and also had important responsibilities in 

 inspection work. The organization units which handled the different types 

 of work are indicated in appended organization charts. 



The Department estabUshed engineering standards for plant design, 

 prepared central ofl&ce specifications, and advised the associated companies 

 (then termed licensee companies) on current plant and traffic problems. 

 By means of circulars, bulletins, and specifications, and in routine corre- 

 spondence, it advised the field how to use new developments. 



In conference committees and correspondence, it outlined the service 

 requirements for telephone cable and the bulk of the telephone apparatus 

 manufactured by the Western Electric Company — items on which the de- 

 velopment work was done by Western Electric Company engineers, at 

 New York or Chicago. In its own laboratories at Boston, it carried on 

 considerable research work and also development work on many special 

 items such as telephone instruments, loading coils, phantom repeating coils, 

 and telephone repeaters. 



Transmission 



Within the Boston engineering department, most but not all of the 

 transmission engineering work and all of the transmission development work 

 was done by the group of nine engineers which became Jewett's responsi- 

 bility on January 1, 1906. However, "cost studies" for plant extension 

 projects, and exchange area loop and trunk studies, were then made by the 

 Construction Division headed by F. L. Rhodes. Jewett's group also worked 

 on electrical protection and inductive interference problems. 



The laboratories were in a ground floor annex on Oliver Street. The 

 principal "accessories" for transmission testing and impedance measure- 

 ments included several single-frequency inductor-type generators ranging in 

 frequency from about 200 to 5000 cycles, two "sound-proof" test rooms, 

 two shielded-bridges for a-c measurements, fixed and variable inductance 

 standards, capacitance standards, and several boxes of sectionalized arti- 

 ficial lines, one of them designed to "simulate" a long 104 mil open-wire 

 line, while the others provided several adjustable lengths of standard 19- 

 gauge reference cable. Facilities also were available for connection to out- 



