Meucci
1848: Antonio Meucci performs teletrofono experiment in Havana. [Catania]
1860: Antonio Meucci demonstrates his invention teletrofono. [H Res 269] Meucci publishes an article in L'Eco d'Italia describing his invention. [Catania]
Dec. 28, 1871: Antonio Meucci filed a caveat with PTO for his teletrofono. Short on funds, Meucci was not able to renew his caveat on 1874. [LOC] Meucci learns that the Western Union affiliated labratory where he was working "lost" his equipment and materials; Alexander Graham Bell "conducted experiments in the same laboratory where Meucci's materials had been stored" [H Res 269]
Meucci A., Sound Telegraph, Caveat No. 3335, filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC on 28 December 1871; renewed 9 December 1872; renewed 15 December 1873, Loc. [A], Box 10, Folder 1. Meucci lacks sufficient resources to develop his invention. He is seriously injured in 1871 during the Westfield Ferry accident, and his wife sells his models in order to raise funds. The Telettrofono Company is established in 1871. [Catania] A lawsuit will be brought in 1885 by the USG against Bell attempting to void his patents based on Meucci's prior art.
1879: First telephone exchange in Ohio. City and Suburban Telegraph Company records 145,392 calls for the year. [Cincinatti Bell History]
 Elisha Gray
"Elisha Gray, a professor at Oberlin College, applied for a caveat of the telephone on the same day Bell applied for his patent of the telephone. In Historical First Patents: The First United States Patent for Many Everyday Things (Scarecrow Press, 1994), Travis Brown, reports that Bell got to the patent office first. The date was February 14, 1876 . He was the fifth entry of that day, while Gray was 39th. Therefore, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Bell with the first patent for a telephone, US Patent Number 174,465 rather than honor Gray's caveat. " [LOC]
1869: Elisha Gray and Enos Barton founded Gray and Barton Manufacturing. Anson Stager became a parterner later that year. In 1871 the company was reorganized and renamed Western Electric Manufacturing Company. The company has strong investments and ties to Western Union, and supported Western Union's challenge to the Bell's Patents. Western Electric manufactured telephones for both Bell telephone and Western Union. In 1875 Elisha Gray sold his interest in Western Electric. In 1881 AT&T bought Western Electric and it became Bell's manufacturing arm. [Brooks p 10] [Porticus]
Derived From History of Wire and Broadcast Communication, FCC (May 1993): "By the end of 1880, there were 47,900 telephones in the United States. The following year telephone service between Boston and Providence had been established. Service between New York and Chicago started in 1892, and between New York and Boston in 1894. Transcontinental service by overhead wire was not inaugurated until 1915. The first switchboard was set up in Boston in 1877. The first regular telephone exchange was established in New Haven in 1878. "
Early telephones were leased in pairs to subscribers. The subscriber was required to put up his own line to connect with another. The first lines were point to point lines without switching capability in the middle. [See Atlanta for images of early phones].
In order to permit a phone to call other phones in the network, exchanges were installed in the network. At first, however, the exchanges did not operate through the use of telephone numbers. Telephone numbers did not yet exist. Operators memorized the names of the subscribers and their associated lines. When wide spread illness resulted in most of the operators being absent from work - along with their knowledge of who had which line - exchange owners realized the need to switch to a system less dependant on the operators memory - telephone numbers. [Wikipedia ]
Business may have acquired their own unique telephone number. However, the rule for residential subscribers was that they would share a telephone number and line, called a party line. When this number was called, all of the phones that were a part of that party line would ring in each phone. Everyone could pick up the phone and hear and participate in the conversation. In order to compensate for this, operators developed unique rings for each phone on a party line so that the subscribers could know who the call was for. [Atlanta] [Wikipedia ]
For infomation on Dual Service, see Universal Service.
Telephone Operators: Boys II Women :
"When telephone companies began hiring operators, they chose teenage boys for the job [Image ]. But the companies soon regretted their decision. Boys had done a great job working in telegraph offices. And they worked for low wages. But being a telephone operator was a tough job that required lots of patience -- something the boys didn't have. The boy operators quickly turned telephone offices upside down. They wrestled instead of worked. They pulled pranks on callers, and even cursed at them. In 1878, the Boston Telephone Despatch company began hiring women operators instead. Women, the companies thought, would behave better than boys. Women had pleasant voices that customers -- most of whom were men -- would like. And because society did not treat women equally, they could be paid less and supervised more strictly than men. [Image of women working at Atlanta switch]
"Much like many other American businesses at the turn of the century, telephone companies unfairly discriminated against people from certain ethnic groups and races. African American and Jewish women were not allowed to become operators."
-- Wayback Tech 1900, PBS Kids Go (FA). See also Lois Kathryn Herr, Women, Power and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace (2002) |
|
Automatic Telephone Switch Invented 1891
The story has it that Strowger, who according to historians was described as "eccentric, irascible and even mad," was motivated to invent an automatic telephone exchange after having difficulties with the local telephone operators. He was said to be convinced that the local manual telephone exchange operators were sending calls to his competitor rather than his business. He also suspected that the telephone operators were influencing the choice of undertaker when his business was requested. The origin of this suspicion reportedly arose from an incident in Topeka when a friend died and the family contacted a rival undertaker. Other stories claim that the wife or, possibly, the cousin of a rival was a telephone operator and Strowger suspected that the operators were telling callers that his line was busy or connecting his callers to the competition. No reliable details survive to substantiate these claims. Hence on inventing his switch he said "No longer will my competitor steal all my business just because his wife is a BELL operator." Wikipedia Aug 2006. See also [Brenner p 4]
Stowger founded the Automatic Electric Company in order to build and sell the switch in 1891.
"AT&T resisted the adoption of the automatic switch at first, largely out of the belief that it was inappropriate to be involving the customers in the switching process." - Sterling, Bernt, Weiss, Shaping American Telecommunications, p. 67 (2006) "The Bell System did not embrace this switch or automation
in general, indeed, a Bell franchise commonly removed "Steppers" and dial telephones in territories it bought from independent telephone companies. Not until 1919 did the Bell System start using Strowgers durable and efficient switching system. This tardiness contributed to Bell's poor reputation around the turn of the century." [Farley at 4] "One of the factors that finally caused Bell to change its direction was
a major operator strike in 1920. This strike was devastating to the
company and showed company management a vulnerability that they had not
known existed." In Atlanta, the last manual exchange was taken offline in 1951. [Atlanta part 2]
"1892 - Amon Strowger, the St. Louis undertaker, became upset on finding that the wife of a competitor was a telephone operator who made his line busy and transferred calls meant for him to her husband. "Necessity is the mother of invention" so Strowger developed the dial telephone system to get the operator out of the system. He forms a Chicago firm, Automatic Electric, to manufacture step-by-step central office equipment (which is now owned by GTE). The first automatic C.O. was installed in LaPorte, Indiana. I discovered in Ralph Meyer's book, Old Time Telephones, that actually, in 1879, Connelly, Connelly and McTighe patented an automatic dial system, although they did not commercialize it." - William von Alven, Bill's 200 Year Condensed History of Telecom, CCL 1998
Papers
|
1889: Meucci dies [H Res 269]
"In 1889, the rotary telephone dial was invented by Almon B. Strowger , a Kansas City undertaker. The first dial exchange was installed at La Porte, Indiana, in 1892. In 1943, Philadelphia was the last major area to give up dual service.
"The first Bell telephone company started in 1878. This is now known as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), which was incorporated in 1885.
"Toward the close of the 19th century, huge numbers of overhead wires were being used in major cities. [Image] The wires caused problems because of snow, sleet and other bad weather conditions. With these problems it was necessary to develop sturdier overhead cables. In 1888, 100 wires could be combined into a large cable. By 1985 fiber cables had replaced wires. Today a pair of fiber cables can carry up to 25,000 phone conversations simultaneously.
Era of Telephone Competition
With the expiration of the AT&T Bell patents, 1000s of independant local telephone companies were formed. In general, the different telephone companies did not interconnect creating the problem of "Dual Service" and "Universal Service."
- 1884: 370 telephone subscribers served by Atlanta Telephone Exchange. [Atlanta]
- 1894:
- 1409 Bell Exchanges + 98 independant exchanges = 1507 exchanges [Mueller p 61 1997]
- 28 cities had service from at least two companies [Mueller p 56 1997]
- 1894-98: 1074 independent telephone companies began operations. [Mueller p 55 1997]
- 1895-97: 220 cities had service from at least two companies [Mueller p 56 1997]
- 1897:
- Independants had 19% of the local market [Sterling p 71]
- 1799 Bell Exchanges + 1700 Independant Exchanges = 3499 Exchanges [Mueller p 61 1997]
- 1899-01: 185 cities had service from at least two companies [Mueller p 56 1997]
- 1902:
- 3000 commercial companies with 44% of the local market [Sterling p 71]
- 3005 Bell Exchanges + 3400Independant Exchanges = 6405 Exchanges [Mueller p 61 1997]
- 1904:
- 3365 Bell Exchanges + 4400 Independant Exchanges = 7765 Exchanges [Mueller p 61 1997]
- "Between 1894 and 1904, over six thousand independent telephone companies went into business in the United States, and the number of telephones boomed from 285,000 to 3,317,000." [AT&T History Origins]
- 1907:
- 4889 Bell Exchanges + 5400 Independant Exchanges = 10,289 Exchanges [Mueller p 61 1997]
- Independants had 49% of the local market. [Sterling p 71]
Era of Regulation
1910 - Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 amended to bring telephone and telegraph under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
1930 - Cincinnati Bell initiates migration to dial service. Migration is completed after WWII. [Cincinnati Bell History]
World War I
The telephone and telegraph systems, including AT&T, were nationalized during World War I from June 1918 to July 1919 and managed by the Post Office . They were returned to private companyies after the war. The cause of this has been attributed to the departure of men to the war and the resulting deteriation of service.
Post War
1919: Southern Bell bought out The Atlantic Telephone Company. [Atlanta]
World War II
1943: The first African American, Gloria Shepperson, is hired in the Bell System helped by Fair Employment Practices Executive Order 8802 (1941) banning hiring discrimination. [CWA History]
Post War
1968: Cincinnati Bell migrates to electronic switching. [Cincinnati Bell History]
Telephone Unions
In 1891 the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was established and would make the first attempts to unionize communications works. The IBEW would not admit women as members until 1912 when it accepted telephone operators as members. "In 1919, IBEW's telephone department claimed 200 telephone locals with 20,000 members." [CWA History] [IBE History] The Boston IBEW pressed in 1913 for "the abolition of the double shift, an eight-hour-day (a nine to ten-hour day was the norm), the establishment of a borad of adjustment and a pay raise. They won on all counts..." [IBE History]
1911: The International Federation of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones established. [Labor History]
WWI: Julia O'Connor of the IBEW "served as labor's only representative to the national board, presided over by Postmaster General Albert Burleson, which set telephone worker's wages and supervised their working conditions." [IBEW History] The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers striked in 1919 to protest the lack of progress in improving wages and working conditions. "The strike shut down phone service in the East for almost a week." The strike was considered a succes and the Postmaster General acknowledged their right to organize. [CWA History] In Sept. 1919 the IBEW formed a Telephone Operator's Division.
1920: Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International founded (replacing the International Federation of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones). [Labor History]
1920s: Reportedly disturbed by the IBEW's success during WWI, AT&T encourages employees to join company unions and not the IBEW; "By 1934, IBEW had been ousted in every location except Montana and the Chicago Plant." [CWA History]
1935: Congress passes the National Labor Relations Act and declares company unions (such as those at AT&T) illegal. [CWA History]
1938: Union organizers establish the National Federation of Telephone Workers. [CWA History]
"The average real wage of a telephone worker dropped from 83 cents an hour in 1939 to 70 cents an hour in 1943." [CWA History] Complaints were brought before the National Wartine Labor Board but a backlog of complaints grew.
1944: National Federation of Telephone Workers strike based on declining wages and failure of the NWLB to hear their cases. Outcome was the establisment of the National Telephone Panel, later renamed as the National Telephone Commission, to hear communications labor complaints. [CWA History] [See Archives for NTC records]
1946: AT&T and the National Federation of Telephone Workers sign the Beirne-Craig memorandum, averting a strike. [CWA History]
1947: In 1946, AT&T was not prepared for the NFTW strike; in 1947 AT&T was prepared. NFTW would strike and the union would splinter, and be reorganized as the Communications Workers of America. [Wikipedia ] [CWA History] The CWA would become affiliated with the CIO in 1948.
1950: US Senate holds hearings concerning AT&T's poor labor relations. [CWA History]
1955: CWA strike 72 days against Southern Bell. CWA considers the strike a success, resulting in increased wages, arbitration, and the recognized right to strike. [CWA History]
1963: CWA strike against General Telephone in California. [CWA History]
1968: CWA stike against AT&T lasts 18 days and results in wage and benefits increases. [CWA History]
1970: EEOC charges AT&T with discrimination. Charges are settled in 1973. "The settlement included $5 million in back pay to 13,000 women and
minority men, and an estimated $30 million in wage adjustments for
women and minority workers." [CWA History] [See IALHI News Service: Woman & AT&T for a good summary] [The Impact of the AT&T-EEO Consent Decree. Labor
Relations and Public Rolicy Series No. 20] [The Bellwomen: The Story of the Landmark AT&T Sex Discrimination Case ]
1971: 400,000 CWA members go on strike for one week, responding to impact of inflation. Receive wage increases, COLA, better vacation time. [CWA History]
1973: CWA members strike against General Telephone. Strike lasts months [CWA History]
1975: CWA members strike against independent telcos in Rochester, Kentucky, and New Jersey. [CWA History]
1983: 700,000 CWA members successfully strike for 22 days against AT&T for better wages and benefits. "This would be the last time CWA would be able to negotiate at one
national table for all its Bell System members because divestiture was
only a few months away." [CWA History] [The Line You Have Reached...DISCONNECT IT!, Processed World 1983 ("The 22 day nationwide strike by 700,000 telephone workers provided a window on
the relative strength of capital and labor in the current era. In classic style,
both management and unions are claiming victory, since neither side was able to
push through its most aggressive bargaining goals.")]
- 1880: 47,900 telephones in US [Brenner p 2]
- 1900: Phones in Service: AT&T 800,000; Independants: 600,000 [Brenner p 3]
Papers
Links
|
