A Mechanical Telephone Operator 



It will take down the number of a 

 call or a message when you are out 



LOST calls over the telephone will be a 

 matter of history with the anticipated 

 adoption of a device recently invented 

 by Charles E. Bedeaux, an efficiency 

 engineer at Grand Rapids, Michigan. 



The device is simple. It merely gives a 

 secondary function to the clapper of the 

 bell. It is fastened to the battery bell box 

 and consists of a steel platform twelve 

 inches in length, supporting 

 a clock train, which operates 

 a celluloid-covered cylinder 

 by means of a spiral shaft. 

 A large cogwheel at one end 

 of the cylinder transmits the 

 energy from the works. On 

 this celluloid rests a nicely 

 balanced pencil which is con- 

 nected by a steel wire with a 

 pinion suspended in jewelled 

 sockets at either side of a 

 metal bridge, extending from 

 the batter>' box. The pinion, 

 in turn, is connected with 

 the clapper by means of 

 a steel fork. The arrange- 

 ment has been so well- 

 figured that the maxi- 

 mum amount of vibra- 

 tion is secured on the 

 pencil with the minimum 

 amount of pressure on the 

 clapper. As the bell rings 

 the message is immediately 

 inscribed on the celluloid. 



In order to use the device the 

 following code must be carried out: 



a clutch or it will run for a period of forty- 

 eight hours.. It is absolute in its operation 

 and registers the codes distinctly. Patents 

 cover a later addition of a ribbon over the cyl- 

 inder which will record the hour and approxi- 

 mate minute that the call is made. Other 

 features also cover the possibility^ of operat- 

 ing the device in a room far from the battery 

 box bv means of electrical connections. 



^T • "fW 



As an example of the operation : 

 Jones calls Smith and discovers that 

 Smith is absent. Jones immediately hangs 

 up his receiver and then opens the line 

 ringing back his own number. If it is 

 2345. he rings i long, i short i long, i long 

 I short, and 2 short. These marks are 

 inscribed on the cylinder and are readily 

 discernible to Smith when he returns. 

 The device may be shut off by means of 



Above: Onthiscelluloid- 

 cx)vered cylinder a pencil 

 rests which is connect- 

 ed with the battery. It 

 inscribes the message 



At left : The maximum 

 amount of vibration is 

 secured on the pencil 

 when the minimum 

 amount of pressure is 

 exerted on the clapper 



What One Penny Will Buy in 

 Electrical Service 



WITH the cost of living skyrocketing 

 it is comforting to reflect upon the 

 great purchasing power of just one cent 

 in electricity. 



On the basis of eight cents per kilowatt- 

 hour one cent will buy electric service to 

 light a twenty-five watt lamp for five hours, 

 to make ten cups of coffee in an electric 

 coffee pot; to heat milk in a nursery milk- 

 warmer three times; to sew three hundred 

 thousand stitches on a motor-driven sewing- 

 machine and to boil twelve eggs in an 

 electric hot-water cup. 



Electricity is now regarded as the cheap- 

 est heating, lighting and cooking means on 

 the market, the cost of installation bein<T 

 the chief expense. 



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