4 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



departments maintained by the American Telephone and Telegraph 

 Company, including the Bell Telephone Laboratories. These depart- 

 ments, constituting about 7,500 engineers, scientists, business experts 

 and assistants, are continuously engaged in studies to develop the 

 art and to provide methods and facilities for improving the service. 

 They also provide consulting advice to the operating companies on 

 all phases of the telephone business and render to them a large variety 

 of services. One of these services is making available to all the 

 companies rights under all patents necessary for the fullest and most 

 economical development of the business. It is the intention, in 

 general, that work which can best be done once for all the entire 

 telephone system rather than individually by the several operating 

 companies shall be done by these general departments and that the 

 specific solution of the telephone problems in each area shall be the 

 responsibility of the operating company involved, who, however, are 

 free at all times to get the advice and assistance of the general staff. 

 In all of the work of the general staff close contact is maintained 

 with the various operating telephone companies of the Bell System. 

 The experiences of these companies are studied and analyzed to make 

 available for all the companies the valuable results to be derived in 

 this way, and the advantages to be obtained by comparing the ex- 

 periences of different companies under similar conditions. 



The organization of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com- 

 pany and the Bell Telephone Laboratories is indicated in Fig. 2. 



Another very important feature of the Bell System is the very 

 close relation between operating and manufacturing branches of the 

 work through the ownership by the American Telephone and Tele- 

 graph Company of the Western Electric Company, Inc., and arrange- 

 ments between that company and the operating companies for the 

 supply of telephone apparatus and materials. This permits the 

 manufacture of apparatus and the purchase of materials from outside 

 suppliers to be done on the basis of the large quantities required for 

 the entire Bell System resulting in great economies. 



The organization of the Bell Telephone System is such as to result 

 in close cooperation between the companies dealing with different 

 branches of telephone work. This brings about the conditions nec- 

 essary for universal service, for the development of the art along 

 orderly and non-conflicting lines, and for the standardization of all 

 apparatus, communication systems and operating methods to the 

 extent that such standardization is helpful. 



New types of telephone plant, operating methods, methods of 

 maintenance and business methods are standardized by the general 



