Ags

Connec-tions between people can be enabled bytechnology, but trust is dependenton the passage of time and the contiguity of bodies.

Telephone Switchboards,

construction of the first

regular telephone line

from Boston to Someville,

Massachusetts was com-

pleted. 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. Ser-

vice between New York and

Chicago started in 1892,

and between New York and

Boston in 1894. Transconti-

nental service by overhead

wire was not inaugurated

until 1915. The first switch-

board was set up in Boston

in 1877. On January 17,

1882, Leroy Firman re-

ceived the first patent for a

telephone switchboard.

A switchboard (also called

a manual exchange) was

a device used to connect a

group of telephones manu-

ally to one another or to an

outside connection, within

and between telephone ex-

changes or private branch

exchanges (PBXs). The

user was typically known

as an operator. Public

manual exchanges disap-

peared during the last half

of the 20th century, leaving

a few PBXs working in of-

fices and hotels as manual

branch exchanges.

The electromechanical

automatic telephone ex-

change, invented by Almon

Strowger in 1888, gradually

replaced manual switch-

boards in central telephone

exchanges. Manual PBXs

have also for the most part

been replaced by more so-

phisticated devices or even

personal computers, which

give the operator access to

an abundance of features.

In modern businesses, a

PBX often has an attendant

console for the operator, or

an auto-attendant avoiding

the operator entirely.

The switchboard is usually

designed to accommodate

the operator to sit facing

it. It has a high backpanel

which consists of rows of

female jacks, each jack

designated and wired as

a local extension of the

switchboard (which serves

an individual subscriber) or

as an incoming or outgoing

trunk line. The jack is also

associated with a lamp.

On the table or desk area

in front of the operator are

columns of keys, lamps

and cords. Each column

consists of a front key and

a rear key, a front lamp

and a rear lamp, followed

by a front cord and a rear

cord, making up together a

cord circuit. The front key is

the “talk” key allowing the

operator to speak with that

particular cord pair. The

rear key on older “manual”

boards and PBXs is used to

physically ring a telephone.

On newer boards, the back

key is used to collect (re-

trieve) money from coin

telephones. Each of the

keys has three positions:

back, normal and forward.

When a key is in the nor-

mal position an electrical

talk path connects the front

and rear cords. A key in the

forward position (front key)

connects the operator to

the cord pair, and a key in

the back position sends a

ring signal out on the cord

(on older manual exchang-

es). Each cord has a three-

wire TRS connector: tip and

ring for testing, ringing and

voice; and a sleeve wire for

busy signals.

When a call is received, a

jack lamp lights up on the

back panel and the op-

erator responds by placing

the rear cord into the jack

and throwing the front key

forward. The operator now

converses with the caller

and finds out where the

caller would like to be con-

nected to. If it is another

extension, the operator

places the front cord in the

associated jack and pulls

the front key backwards to

ring the called party. After

connecting, the opera-

tor leaves both cords “up”

with the keys in the normal

position so the parties can

converse. The supervi-

sion lamps light to alert the

operator when the parties

finish their conversation

and go on-hook. When the

operator pulls down a cord,

a pulley weight behind the

switchboard pulls it down to

prevent it from tangling.

On a trunk, on-hook and

off-hook signals must pass

in both directions. In a one-

way trunk, the originating or

A board sends a short for

off-hook, and an open for

on-hook, while the termi-

nating or B board sends

normal polarity or reverse

polarity. This “reverse bat-

tery” signaling was carried

over to later automatic

exchanges.

The first regular telephone

exchange was established

in New Haven in 1878. Ear-

ly telephones were leased

in pairs to subscribers. The

subscriber was required to

put up his own line to con-

nect with another. In 1889,

Almon B. Strowger a Kan-

sas City undertaker, invent-

ed a switch that could con-

nect one line to any of 100

lines by using relays and

sliders. This switch became

known as “The Strowger

Switch” and was still in use

in some telephone offices

well over 100 years later.

Almon Strowger was issued

a patent on March 11, 1891

for the first automatic tele-

phone exchange.

The first exchange using

the Strowger switch was

opened in La Porte, Indiana

in 1892 and initially sub-

scribers had a button on

their telephone to produce

the required number of

pulses by tapping. An asso-

ciate of Strowgers’ invented

the rotary dial in 1896

which replaced the button.

In 1943, Philadelphia was

the last major area to give

up dual service.

In 1877, construction of

the first regular telephone

line from Boston to Somer-

ville, Massachusetts was

completed. 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. The first

switchboard was set up in

Boston in 1877. 1875

– 1

900

The First Directory consisted of a single

sheet listing the names of

50 subscribers, according

to lore. By November,

the network had grown to

391 subscribers, identified

by name and address —

phone numbers did not

yet exist. And the phone

book, although skimpy,

had already taken the

form in which it would

become the fat doorstop

of today, with advertise-

ments and listings of

businesses in the back

— 22 physicians and 22

carriage manufacturers,

among others. Custom-

ers were limited to three

minutes a call and no

more than two calls an

hour without permission

from the central office.

Alexander Graham Bell

was granted a patent on

his telephone in 1876. In

early 1878, he installed

the first telephone ex-

change, in New Haven,

Connecticut. The first

telephone “book” - actu-

ally just a single 14 cm.

x 21 cm. sheet - was

issued in New Haven in

1878. Below is a 1978

facsimile of that sheet.

To the right is the same

text, suitable for com-

puter searching.

Nov

embe

r 197

8

Rotary Telephone is

a device mounted on or

in a telephone or switch-

board that is designed

to send interrupted

electrical pulses, known

as pulse dialing, corre-

sponding to the number

dialed. The early form of

the rotary dial used lugs

on a finger plate instead

of holes. A patent was

filed on August 20, 1896

by employees of Almon

Strowger, namely, A.

E. Keith and the broth-

ers John and Charles

Erickson. The Patent No.

597,062 was granted on

January 11, 1898.

The modern version of

the rotary dial with holes

was first introduced in

1904 but only entered

service in the Bell

System in 1919. The

device was phased out

from the 1970s onwards

with the onset of Touch

Tone dialing, which uses

a telephone keypad

instead of a dial. Some

telephone systems in the

US no longer recognize

rotary dialing by default,

in which case it would

have to be ordered from

the telephone company

as a special feature, to

support older customer

equipment.

1910

- 19

20

Today the dial is a key

pad or “dial pad”, gener-

ally with 12 keys num-

bered 0-9, *, and # that

perform an equivalent

signalling function to that

of a rotating disk dial.

From as early as 1836,

there were various sug-

gestions and inventions

of dials for sending

telegraph signals. After

the first commercial

telephone exchange was

installed in 1878, the

need for an automated,

user-controlled method of

directing a telephone call

became apparent. The

first telephone dial pat-

ent was jointly issued to

Connolly and McTighe in

1879. There were numer-

ous competing inven-

tions, and 26 patents of

dials, push-buttons and

similar mechanisms for

signalling which tele-

phone subscriber was

wanted by a caller were

issued prior to 1891.

Most inventions involved

highly complex, and

expensive, mechanisms

and required the user to

perform complex manipu-

lations.

New technology seems to work best when helping people interact across time, rather than across spaces

Calligraphy

is the art of writing (Media-

villa 1996: 17). A contempo-

rary definition of calligraphic

practice is “the art of giving

form to signs in an expres-

sive, harmonious and skillful

manner” (Mediavilla 1996:

18). The story of writing is

one of aesthetic evolution

framed within the technical

skills, transmission speed(s)

and materials limitations of

a person, time and place

(Diringer 1968: 441). A style

of writing is described as a

script, hand or alphabet

Modern calligraphy ranges

from functional hand lettered

inscriptions and designs to

fine art pieces where the

abstract expression of the

handwritten mark may or

may not supersede the leg-

ibility of the letters (Mediavilla

1996). Classical calligraphy

differs from typography and

non-classical hand-lettering,

though a calligrapher may

create all of these; characters

are historically disciplined

yet fluid and spontaneous,

improvised at the moment of

writing (Pott 2006 & 2005;

Zapf 2007 & 2006). Callig-

raphy continues to flourish

in the forms of wedding and

event invitations, font design/

typography, original hand-

lettered logo design, religious

art, various announcements/

graphic design/ commis-

sioned calligraphic art, cut

stone inscriptions.

600

BC

-720

AD

QWERTY Keyboard Typewriter is a mechanical

or electromechanical device

with a set of “keys” that,

when pressed, cause charac-

ters to be printed on a medi-

um, usually paper. For much

of the 20th century, typewrit-

ers were indispensable tools

for many professional writ-

ers and in business offices.

By the end of the 1980s,

word processor applications

on personal computers had

largely replaced the tasks

previously accomplished

with typewriters. Typewrit-

ers, however, remain popular

in the developing world and

among some niche markets,

and for some office tasks.

The QWERTY layout of

keys has become the de

facto standard for English-

language typewriter and

computer keyboards. Other

languages written in the Latin

alphabet sometimes use vari-

ants of the QWERTY layouts,

such as the French AZERTY,

the Italian QZERTY, and the

German QWERTZ layouts.

The QWERTY layout is not

the most efficient layout

possible, since it requires a

touch-typist to move his or

her fingers between rows

to type the most common

letters. A popular story sug-

gests that it was designed

and used for early typewrit-

ers exactly.

187

5 –

1900

Sound might be a better commu-nication meium than vision in the way that it attrack and hold our attention through time.

Cassette Tape,often referred to as audio

cassette, cassette tape,

cassette, or simply tape,

is a magnetic tape sound

recording format. Although

originally designed for

dictation, improvements

in fidelity led the Com-

pact Cassette to supplant

reel-to-reel tape recording

in most non-professional

applications.[1] Its uses

ranged from portable audio

to home recording to data

storage for early microcom-

puters. Between the early

1970s and late 1990s, the

cassette was one of the

two most common formats

for prerecorded music, first

alongside the LP and later

the Compact Disc.[2] The

word cassette is a French

word meaning “little box.”

Compact Cassettes consist

of two miniature spools,

between which a magneti-

cally coated plastic tape is

passed and wound. These

spools and their attendant

parts are held inside a

protective plastic shell. Two

stereo pairs of tracks (four

total) or two monaural audio

tracks are available on the

tape; one stereo pair or one

monophonic track is played

or recorded when the tape

is moving in one direc-

tion and the second pair

when moving in the other

direction. This reversal is

achieved either by manually

flipping the cassette or by

having the machine itself

change the direction of tape

movemen.

The mass production of

compact audio cassettes

began in 1964 in Hanover,

Germany. Prerecorded

music cassettes were

launched in Europe in late

1965. The Mercury Record

Company, a U.S. affiliate

of Philips, introduced M.C.

to the U.S. in September

1966. The initial offering

consisted of 49 titles.

Sony even made the WM-

10 which was smaller than

the cassette itself and

expanded to hold and play

a cassette. In 1970s In-

dia, they were blamed for

bringing unwanted secular

influences into traditionally

religious areas. Cassette

technology created a boom-

ing market for pop music

in India, drawing criticism

from conservatives while at

the same time creating a

huge market for legitimate

recording companies and

pirated tapes.[8] In some

countries, particularly in the

developing countries, cas-

settes still remain the domi-

nant medium for purchasing

and listening to music.

1930

-194

0

we’re are filling up the world with amazing devices and systems - on top of the natural and human ones that were already here - only to dis-cover that these complex system seem to be out of control : too com-plext to under-stand, et alone to shaoem or redi-rect.

Editor-in-chief

Paul Hauge

Contributing Editors

Emerson Velazquez

Chris L.

Christina Yea

Yvonne Kang

Lily Ou

Conor Hunter

Manny P.

Text and Images Resources

In the Bubble

Wire Magazine

A handwriting Manual

Apple

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