January, iqi.s 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
57 
Managing the Business of 8,500,000 Telephones 
When the two plates standing in the liquid 
are connected on the outside with the cor¬ 
responding terminals of a source of direct- 
current electricity the iron oxide will be¬ 
gin to lose its oxygen, the tendency being 
to leave the iron in a pure state. In addi¬ 
tion, the nickel hydrate will take up 
oxygen — I do not say the same oxygen as 
that let go by the iron oxide — but the re¬ 
sult will be roughly equivalent to a trans¬ 
fer of oxygen from the negative to the 
positive plate. As the current of elec¬ 
tricity is “pumped” in from the outside 
we will have at last pure iron in the nega¬ 
tive plate and oxydized nickel hydrate in 
the positive. The work of charging will 
be completed upon this condition being 
thoroughly attained. The cell will now be 
disconnected from the external source of 
current. If the two poles of the cell or 
the two poles of the connected system of 
charged cells in the battery be now con¬ 
nected with the terminals of an electric 
circuit a current will begin to flow through 
the circuit. The oxydized nickel hydrate 
will begin to lose its oxygen and the iron 
will begin to suffer oxidation. The 
oxygen will now make the return trip. It 
is the flow of electric current now set up 
which maintains the lights and performs 
other functions allotted to the storage bat¬ 
tery. 
In this type of storage cell the indi¬ 
vidual leaves of the compound positive 
plate are perhaps the most interesting 
feature. These consist of a nickel-plated 
grill to which have been attached numerous 
perforated tubes, having a length of per¬ 
haps 4 or 5 inches, and of about the same 
thickness as a lead pencil. The tubes are 
formed by spirally twisting a ribbon of 
metal, the edges folded together in such 
a way as to make a mechanical seam. 
Around each tube are several little bands 
of metal. The tubes are made of steel 
ribbons which have been nickel-plated 
after perforation, and the little bands are 
also of steel. Thus strength is supplied in 
the character of the material. Consider¬ 
able strength is needed because the nickel 
hydrate swells during the charging 
process, when it is receiving oxygen. The 
contents of the tubes include not only the 
nickel hydrate in the form of a green 
powder, but also flakes of metallic nickel. 
There is a layer of the one material, then 
a layer of the other, and so on. The lay¬ 
ers are incredibly thin. There are, in 
fact, about 700 of them in a tube not more 
than 4 or 5 inches in length. The de¬ 
sirability of having thin layers of nickel 
hydrate proceeds from its poor electric 
conductivity. Everywhere the hydrate 
contacts with nothing else than nickel. 
The alternate layers are nickel, and the 
walls of the tube are made of a plating of 
nickel flakes. In a moderate-sized cell 
there will be 60 tubes, of which 15 each 
are attached to a grid, the whole forming 
the positive element. The leaves of the 
negative plate consist of grids to which 
packets of iron oxide have been secured. 
1 hese packets have perforated covers. 
Imagine a manufacturing business 
having millions of customers scattered 
over the country, with millions of ac¬ 
counts on its books, most of them 
less than $30 a year, and including 
a multitude of 5-cent charges. 
Consider it as having shops and 
offices in thousands of cities, and 
reaching with its output 70,000 places, 
more than there are post offices in the 
United States. Think of the task of 
patroling 16,000,000 miles of connect¬ 
ing highways constantly in use. 
This gives you a faint idea of the 
business of managing the Bell System. 
Not all the 8,500,000 telephones 
are in use at once, but the manage¬ 
ment must have facilities always ad¬ 
equate to any demands for instant, 
direct communication. 
In so vast an undertaking, every 
branch of the organization must work 
in harmony, guided by one policy. 
The entire plant must be managed in 
the light of accumulated experience, 
and with the most careful business 
judgment. 
The aim of the Bell System is to 
make the telephone of the utmost use¬ 
fulness. This requires an army of 
loyal men and women, inspired by a 
leadership having a high sense of its 
obligations to the public. 
Animated by the spirit of service, 
and unhampered by red tape, the 
1 50,000 Bell employes have the cour¬ 
age to do the right thing at the right 
time upon their own initiative. They 
work together intelligently as a busi¬ 
ness democracy to give the public 
good service. 
American Telephone and Telegraph Company 
And Associated Companies 
One Policy One System Universal Service 
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Homeof Architect This excellent illus- 
JamesH. Ritchie, tration of the use of 
Newton “ Creo-D i p t ” 
Center, 
Mass. 
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Shingles is espe- 
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