A year ago I ventured to look into the future of 1928 and to see there
a picture of achievement of interest to us all. The accomplishments of the
twelve months just past have fully justified that picture. As we come once

more to the turning of the page to another new year, one and all we are
curious as to what we shall find there.

Viewing the vast array of problems which confront us — problems
which arise out of the irresistible pressure in the Bell System for enlarged
service or from those great new industries which are building on the basis
of our work — it is clear that we have a job to do in 1929.

For twenty-five years I have been a part of the research and develop-
ment organization of the Bell System. In all that period there has never
been a time when the work immediately ahead bulked so large either
relatively or absolutely. The problems which now confront us are numer-
ous, vast and intricate almost beyond belief. Their solution will tax to the
limit our ability, ingenuity, organizng capacity and energy.

None of us is afraid of such a challenge; and since the substantial
satisfactions of life are the memories of constructive work well done, we can
one and all welcome the opportunity to show what manner of men and
women Wwe are.

My greetings of the Season are tempered by the sadness which we all
feel at the sudden and untimely loss of our friend and associate, Vice-
President Clifford.

HEN we read in the morn-
ing paper that it rained yes-
terday in Chicago and the

day before in North Dakota, and
presently look out of the window and
see clouds gathering in the Western
sky, we think it natural to say “the
rain is arriving from the West.”
This, however, is loose language; but
to say precisely what it is that is ar-
riving from the West would require
more knowledge than most of us pos-
sess, more perhaps than the greatest
weather experts can justly claim.
Certainly the water which is about
to descend into the streets of Man-
hattan was not over Illinois yester-
day. Probably it was suspended not
many miles away from New York as
invisible vapor in the sky, when the
air suddenly grew cooler and it be-
gan to condense into visible cloud.
What came from the West at the
speed of an express train was not the
substance of the cloud, but the fall in
the temperature of the air, or some
other state of the atmosphere, which
created the cloud in its footsteps as
it raced along. Rain, of course, is
more intelligible. What goes from
the clouds to the pavements is mat-
ter in motion, individual corpuscles
of water which go as units through
the air until they splatter upon the
ground or are swallowed up into the
rivers. When a raindrop falls into
water, its identity is gone forever;
but for a time there are ripples
spreading in widening circles over the

water-mirror from the place where
the drop ceased to exist. The ripples
seem to have inherited the motion of
the raindrop; but their onward march
is not motion of substance. The wa-
ter is not flowing away from the place
where the raindrop perished; the
water is only heaving up and down;
what moves away is a mere form or
molding of its surface, even less pal-
pable than the travelling fall in tem-
perature which brought about the
coming of the rain.

Now this little history of the rain-
storm exhibits three kinds of motion
only one of which is strictly motion
of matter; and since the study and
the forecasting of motion is one of
the major objects of science, we find
here three problems to set before the
architects of physics. Only the sec-
ond of the three was solved by New-
ton in his masterpiece, the Principia,
in which he founded the ‘classical’
mechanics. The “Laws of Motion”
which Newton gave as the foundation
for mechanics were laws of the mo-
tion of matter. He solved, for in-
stance, the problem of the projectile,
and traced the path for the cannon-
ball to follow after it leaves the can-
non’s mouth. Were it not for forces,
Newton said, the ball would continue
onward in a straight line forever; but
the earth exerts a force upon it, and
so it bends its course along an arc
which brings it back to earth again
in the predicted spot. The roar of
the gun, however, is not a piece of

Examining, however, the journey
of the roar of the gun, one finds that
it is not altogether unlike the jour-
ney of the ball. We know—though
the knowledge was not available to
Newton—that the sound of the shot,
having risen into the sky, may bend
over and come down again to earth
at a great distance, so that beyond a
broad zone of silence the gun is
audible. Could we make visible the
track of a particular section of the
wavefront of the explosion-wave, a
section starting nearly vertically up-
ward, we should occasionally see it
as an arch in the high air, like though
not exactly the same as the arched
trajectory of the cannonball. Short
radio waves have at times the same
habit of rising up from the broad-
casting aerial, overarching wide
tracts of land where it is vain to try
to detect them, and descending to be
received by listeners far away.

Now it is said that the cannonball
descends because the earth pulls it
downward out of the straight course
which it otherwise would follow into
the depths of space. Are the waves
also drawn downward by some force
out of a straight path in which other-
wise they would continue? It is not
necessary to imagine such a force; it
is sufficient to recall that the speed of
the waves varies from point to point
in the air. At times the air is warmer
several miles overhead than near the
ground. When a section of a wave-
front ascends obliquely into this
warmer stratum, its higher part ad-
vances faster than its lower part, and
the wavefront is tilted gradually over
—one might say that at the start it is
leanine backward, and bends forward,
eventually standing vertical, then
leaning forward and finally plunging

downward to earth. The radio waves
which “skip” long distances behave
in the same way: their wavefronts
are gradually tilted over and down
because they move faster in the upper
air than in the lower, though the
cause of the greater speed in the
higher atmosphere is not increase of
warmth but an abundance of free elec-
trons. For the same reason light
is refracted when entering water
obliquely from air; the part of the
wavefront which is‘-first to dive is
also first to be slowed down, and the
whole wave is wheeled around until
it moves in a direction more nearly
perpendicular to the interface of air
and water.

Different reasons, therefore, are
given to explain why waves on the
one hand, projectiles on the other,
deviate from the straight course: the
“cause”’ in the one case is described
as a variation of the wave-speed from
point to point in the medium, in the
other case as an external field of
force prevailing at every point of
space. Now when we come to express
these two explanations in mathe-
matical form we find (as not infre-
quently happens in mathematical
physics) that the two sets of equa-
tions display strong resemblances,
which are not in the least evident to
a mere casual contemplation of the
seemingly very different pictures
which they describe. The picture of
an external force-field and the pic-
ture of a variable wave-speed are in
essence much more alike than they
seem. Indeed it is permissible to say
that the cannonball, travelling along
its parabolic arc from the cannon’s
mouth into the sky and back to the
ground, is riding upon an invisible
wave which carries it along like a
parcel; the motion of the ball is con-
trolled by the motion of the wave,

point. It is easy to formulate the
way in which the speed of this imagi-
nary wave must depend upon height
above the ground-level, in order to
explain the motion of the projectile.
One of the Bernoulli family did it
more than two centuries ago. One
might imagine the space around the
earth to be filled with an aether, able
to carry waves with a wave-speed
prescribed in the proper way; the
firing of the gun would be supposed
to create a mighty wave, which car-
ried the projectile on its back. There
would have to be a different aether
for every different choice of initial
velocity for the cannonball, which
makes the picture rather clumsy; yet
it might present advantages great
enough to make even this clumsiness
endurable.

The waves of the foregoing pic-
ture are not precisely the waves
which de Broglie invented and Schroe-
dinger adapted, thus founding the
new ‘‘undulatory mechanics’’ or
‘“‘wave-mechanics”’; but the two kinds
are sufhciently alike for either to
serve excellently as an introduction
to the other. As a matter of fact, the
“de Broglie waves” for the cannon-
ball trace the proper parabolic arc,
but move much faster than the ball,
which therefore cannot be thought of
as riding upon them. (The speed of
the ball is the “group-speed” of the
de Broglie waves—a concept which
however is a little too intricate to be
explained here, although it is familiar
in optics). The waves of de Brog-
lie and Schroedinger are endowed,
however, with another feature, which
I will now illustrate by an example
from acoustics.

certain point, or preferably set into
continuous simple-harmonic vibration
by a tuning-fork pressed against it.
A wave of distortion starts from the
place where the sidewise push or
pull is applied, and travels indefinite.
ly along the wire with a constant
speed. Suppose now that the length
of the wire is limited, say by cuttin
it in two places and attaching the
ends firmly to walls. We will suppose
for convenience that the tuning-fork
is pressed against the midpoint of the
wire between the walls. The waves .
travel from the fork along the wire
to the walls, are reflected, return,
meet new waves and combine with
them, are again reflected from the
opposite walls, meet additional waves
and coalesce with these, and so forth;
and eventually a “steady state”’ is at-
tained, in which the motion of the
wire is in general very complex. It is,
however, a matter of common knowl-
edge that if a certain condition is sat-
isfied—if the frequency of the tuning-
fork is properly adjusted to the
length of the wire and to the speed
of the waves, which last is deter-
mined by the tension of the wire—
then the motion of the wire becomes
both simple and vigorous. If, for in-
stance, the frequency of the fork is
made equal to the “‘fundamental fre-
quency” of the wire, which can easily
be computed from its length and from
the wave-speed, then the particles of
the wire vibrate with an amplitude
which increases steadily from both
ends to the centre. A loud musical
tone is heard from the wire, and to
the eye it seems to be spread into a
ribbon of which the breadth varies
as a sine-curve, or rather would so
vary if the force were properly ap-
plied. This “ribbon” is a wave-pat-
tern; and when the frequency of the
fork, which is the frequency of the

waves, is adjusted to agree with any
one of the natural frequencies of the
wire—its fundamental or any over-
tone—-a wave-pattern characteristic
of that frequency appears. This is
called the phenomenon of resonance.
A like effect would occur if the wire
were bent into a closed ring. Here
resonance would take place when the
frequency of the waves was so ad-
justed that each wave on completing
the circuit found another just start-
ing on the course.

Frequency is the new feature which
de Broglie introduced into the waves
which I earlier mentioned, the
“nhase-waves.” Frequency implies
the possibility of resonance; fre-
quency implies diffraction, interfer-
ence, perhaps polarization, a variety
of properties of light and sound
which could be looked for and might
be found. Suppose, for instance, that
the Bernoulli waves which I described
at first, which may be conceived to
carry the cannonball in its flight, were
endowed with a special frequency and
wave-length; might it be possible to
generate them inside a box of dimen-
sions so chosen that they would enter
into resonance, and the resonance be
detected in some peculiar way? The
idea seems a wild one; but the atom-
model of de Broglie and Schroedinger
is developed from one like it.

For twenty years it has been ac-
cepted that a hydrogen atom is com-
posed of a positively-charged nucleus
and an electron revolving around it,
sometimes in a circular orbit. In
order to explain the properties of
this atom, it is necessary to assume
that out of all the infinity of con-
ceivable circular orbits of various
radii, only a few are “permitted” to
the electron; we know which these
permitted ones must be. Now let us
follow de Broglie and correlate with

the electron a stream of waves. Like
the Bernoulli waves they shall rush
around and around the orbit of the
electron, but unlike the Bernoulli
waves they shall not have its speed.
Their wave-speed shall depend upon
distance from the nucleus of the atom,
as the speed of the Bernoulli waves
associated with the cannonball de-
pended on height above the ground,
although not according to the same
law. The choice of the law of de-
pendence of the wave-speed upon the
distance is the chief step in the de-
sign of the atom-model; one might
envisage it as the invention of a spe-
cial kind of aether filling the space in
and around the hydrogen atom, de-
signed to carry waves with a wave-
speed varying from point to point ac-
cording to a law specially chosen.
Finally, these electron-waves shall
have a special frequency, proportional
to the energy of the system composed
of electron and nucleus, which is the
atom itself.

When all these assumptions are
made, and the law of the wave-speed
properly chosen, it turns out that the
permitted circular orbits are precisely
those on which the electron-waves so
overlap one another that they form
a stationary wave-pattern, and reso-
nance occurs. Were we to take a cir-
cular orbit at random we should prob-
ably find that the overlapping was
such as to produce a very confused
and intricate vibration, like the mo-
tion of a piano-wire forced to vibrate
by a fork not tuned to any of its nat-
ural frequencies. But for the per-
mitted circular orbits the wave-mo-
tion in the imaginary aether pervad-
ing the hydrogen atom is of the sim-
ple character of the motion of the
wire stimulated by a fork having one
of its own natural frequencies.

the atom becomes the same as the
great problem of acoustics: to find
the natural frequencies of a body
capable of vibration. The problem
of the oscillating electron becomes
like that of the piano-wire; the prob-
lem of the revolving molecule like
that of the telephone-diaphragm; the
problem of the hydrogen atom like
that of the ball of fluid. They are
more intricate than their acoustic
analogues, for in the wire or the
sphere of fluid the wave-speed of the
sound-waves is everywhere the same,
while in the “imaginary string’’ used
as symbol for the oscillating electron
and in the “imaginary fluid’’ used as
model for the hydrogen atom, the
wave-speed must be supposed to vary
from point to point in a peculiar and
characteristic way—the selection of
this way being, as I said before, the
chief step in the building of the
theory. En revanche, this variability
of wave-speed is precisely what makes
the problems soluble. When we are
dealing with an actual wire, mem-
brane or fluid, we get resonance only
when they are bounded—when the
wire is cut off and clamped at the
ends, the membrane cut into a circuit
and clamped around the edge, the
fluid contained within a rigid hollow
sphere. But the imaginary strings
and membranes and fluids of the
atomic theory have resonances even
though they continue to infinity; and
these resonances correspond to the
Stationary States of the atoms, from
which most of their qualities are de-
rived.

One more example: if an electron
is attended by waves moving along
the same path, and a beam of elec-
trons moving along parallel lines is
therefore escorted by a beam of
parallel waves, may not these waves

be diffracted by a grating as light.
waves are? and may they not carry
electrons into the diffraction-fringes
as Bernoulli’s waves were thought to
carry the cannonball (though here
again the speeds are not equal), so
that in effect the electrons will be dif-
fracted? On computing the wave-
lengths which, in order to make the
model for the hydrogen atom valid,
must be assigned to electrons of given
speeds, it is found that those asso-
ciated with electrons of the speeds
ordinarily occurring in discharge-
tubes are of the magnitude of the
wavelengths of X-rays. We must,
therefore, use natural crystal grat-
ings such as are used with X-rays.
Carrying this idea (which first occur-
red to a young German student named
Elsasser) into practice, Davisson and
Germer discovered that electrons are
in fact diffracted as are waves of the
calculated wavelength.

We are therefore confronted with
the amazing fact that the phase-
waves, conceived purely as a mathe-
matical artifice, seemingly differing
from matter and electricity as the
visions of the mind differ from the
common-sense actuality of the solid
physical world, have nevertheless ac-
quired a reality ranking with the real-
ity of things visible and things tan-
gible. Indeed theirs may be even the
stronger; for when the equations de-
scribing the resonances of the hydro-
gen atom are actually derived and
written down, the electron and the
nucleus are no longer obvious in them,
and nothing remains but the wave-
pattern. It is as though at a concert
the air which carries the music and
the instruments of the orchestra and
the players themselves should be pro-
claimed unreal, and nothing remain
but the music.

cable varies in temperature
over a wide range. Changes result
in resistance of the conductors and,
to a lesser degree, in dielectric
capacity, with accompanying changes
in attenuation of the speech currents.
For the cables in the exchange plant,
and for the shorter toll cables, these
changes may be disregarded, but for
the long toll cables they make neces-
sary frequent readjustment of re-
peater gains to keep the net loss of
each circuit within the rather close
limits specified. The readjustment is
effected by an automatic regulator,
which derives its information as to
conditions in the cable from the
change in resistance of a metallic cir-

cuit. The regulator is essentially an
automatic Wheatstone bridge whose
rebalancing mechanism controls also
the telephone repeaters.

In applying the regulating system
the cable is divided into sections usu-
ally from one to two hundred miles
in length. Generally, all circuits pass-
ing through each section are auto-
matically compensated by one ‘‘master
regulator” placed at a repeater sta-
tion near the center of the section.

Two cable-pairs, extending in op-
posite directions, are short-circuited
at their distant ends, and resistances
are connected in series with the short-
er pair. Thus approximately equal-
ized, the pairs are connected in paral-
lel to form one arm of the bridge.

Fig. 1—Why automatic regulation is necessary—daily variations of temperature

quently the resistance, of the pilot
wire changes, the Wheatstone bridge
is thrown out of balance, and the gal-
vanometer deflects. This galvanom-

eter is part of a Leeds and North-
rup motor-driven recorder. At inter-
vals of a few seconds the driving

tion; control keys; test jacks, dial-switches,
and miscellaneous apparatus

motor, through a cross-bar, lifts the
pointer of the galvanometer so that,
if deflected, the pointer in turn raises
one or the other of two levers. If not

deflected, that is, when the bridge js
in balance, the pointer passes between
the ends of the two levers. Through
an ingenious mechanical system, the
raising of either lever causes a shaft
to be rotated through a small angle,
whose amount depends on the gal-
vanometer deflection and whose di-
rection depends on which lever is
raised. ‘The shaft in turn operates
a slide-wire resistance to restore the
balance of the bridge, and also moves
the arm of a dial switch over a series
of contact-points connected to a group
of relays, which in turn readjust the
gain of the associated repeaters. In
the case of 19 gauge H-174* circuits
where the changes in transmission are
substantially the same at different
frequencies throughout the voice
range, simple resistance potentio-
meters can be used to regulate the
gains of the repeaters. In the case
of 19 gauge H-44-25** circuits, how-
ever, difficulty was encountered in the
fact that changes in transmission at
low frequencies produced by a given
resistance change are less than those
at high frequencies. More complicat-
ed networks were therefore required
to vary the gain differently at differ-
ent frequencies.

There are ten steps on each side of
the ‘‘zero”’ position of the dial switch;
that one which is in contact with the
arm is indicated by a lighted lamp on
the control panel. The central ‘“‘zero”
step is symbolized by a green lamp;
the extremities by red lamps and the
remaining steps by white lamps.
Should the regulator stop with the
arm bridging two contacts, the relays
change the gain by one-half the
amount of a full step. A permanent
record is made by a pen travelling

* Sometimes called “medium heavy loaded.”
** Sometimes called “extra light loaded.”

Fig. 3—A close-up of the Leeds and Northrup
recorder which is the heart of the system

across a chart which in turn is ad-
vanced by the motor at one and one-
half inches an hour.

Trouble on the pilot wire, such as
an open or short circuit, looks to the
regulator like a sudden large change
in the attenuation of the cable. Doing
its best to meet the emergency, the
regulator would change the repeater
gains quickly through a considerable
range, perhaps even to the limit of
its ability, with disastrous results on
telephone transmission. By an in-
genious mechanical modification of
the mechanism, the galvanometer is
prevented from operating the bridge
in case of a large deflection, but in-
stead intermittently lights a lamp and
sounds an alarm buzzer. Still greater
unbalance of the bridge might send
so much current through the galvano-
meter as to endanger its winding. A
relay with differential windings in
two of the bridge arms is therefore

provided; its operation short-
circuits the galvanometer and
operates the lamp and buzzer
signals continuously. In both
these cases, disappearance of
the trouble restores the appa-
ratus to its normal operation.

Under extreme conditions
of temperature, or for other
reasons, the resistance of the
pilot wire may change beyond
the ability of the regulator to
follow it. On the tenth step
of the dial switch, a contact
is closed which stops the driv-
ing motor, disconnects the bat-
tery supply from the bridge
and operates the buzzer. As
soon as circuit readjustments
have been made, the attend-
ant sets the dial switch on the
ninth step and places the ap-
paratus again in operation.
Should the trouble persist, the regu-
lator would advance to the tenth step
and the alarm would again be given.

an ungrounded battery. Since the cur-
rent drain is only about twenty-five
milliamperes, either dry or storage
cells may be used. Failure of this cur-
rent-supply lights a lamp and operates
the buzzer. Current for the motor is
drawn from the 24-volt battery.
Ideally, the pilot-wire should be
loaded in the same way as the tele-
phone circuits which it is to control.

cable at the time of test will be at a
different temperature, so the slide
wire must be set at some other point.
Knowing the theoretical resistance of
the pilot wire at fifty-five degrees,
and adding to this value the nominal
resistance of the composite coils, if
any, it is possible by comparison with
the measured resistance of the cable
to determine where the slide wire

Fig. 5—How regulators and repeaters are spaced on the New York-Chicago Cable

The regulator has been designed for
use with 19 gauge H-44-25 pilot
wires, since these circuits require the
most accurate regulation, and field
trials have shown that other types
of circuits are then controlled with
suficient accuracy. Non-loaded 19
gauge pairs may also be used. Spare
pairs may be used as pilot wires, or
a metallic (ungrounded) circuit may
be obtained by use of two composited
telegraph circuits connected at their
distant end. To balance out the com-
posite coils, whose temperature-
change is that of central-office air, a
number of resistances wound with
copper wire are included in the regu-
lator circuit.

Setting a transmission regulator in
operation requires, beside the installa-
tion and mechanical test of the ap-
paratus, some careful tests of the
lines involved. The zero position of
the slide-wire corresponds to an aver-
age temperature of the pilot wire of
fifty-five degrees F. In general, the

The regulator motor having been
started, the battery circuit is closed.
If necessary, the bridge is balanced
by adjusting resistances T and S. Final-
ly, transmission measurements with
1000-cycle current are made on one
or more of the 19 gauge H-44-25 cir-
cuits to be regulated. With individual
repeaters adjusted to give their speci-
fied gains, the overall transmission
equivalent of the circuit must be that
specified to within 0.2 db; otherwise
the resistances T and S are varied to
secure the required agreement.

Regulators are installed along all
long-distance cables; for example, be-
tween New York and Chicago there
are regulators at Allentown, Bedford,
New Castle, Bogart, West Unity and
South Bend. In the area covered by
the Long Lines cable plant, about 4
of these devices are constantly on
guard to help maintain satisfactory
telephone transmission.

metal to elements of its en-
vironment such as water, oxygen,
carbon dioxide, gaseous sulfur com-
pounds, acids, alkalies and salts. All
metals corrode but in many cases the
product of corrosion is a protective
film which retards or prevents con-
tinuation of the action. A film is pro-
tective only if it is adherent to the
metal, continuous, and insoluble in the
surrounding medium. Films which
are not continuous may modify or
even accelerate the rate of corrosion.
Lead forms protective films under
certain conditions. For instance when
exposed to the atmosphere it tar-
nishes and becomes inert owing to the
formation of an oxide film which in-
creases in thickness during a period
of about ten days. In the presence
of moisture and carbon dioxide, lead
becomes coated with a film of lead
carbonate. While this film consider-
ably reduces the rate of corrosion it
does not prevent corrosion. The car-
bonate film forms when a_ small
amount of carbon dioxide is present,
and the rate of corrosion is then gov-
erned by the rate at which oxygen
permeates or diffuses through the
film. A third kind of film is formed
on lead by small amounts of soluble
silicates. The existence of this film
on the surface of lead prevents its
corrosion in slightly acid, neutral or
slightly alkaline solutions. Under
high conditions of alkalinity, how-

Corrosion, according to the mod-
ern viewpoint, is an electrolytic pro-
cess. It depends upon the existence
of small potential differences between
different points on the metal surface,
making tiny batteries, and upon the
character of the reactions which oc-
cur at the electrodes as a result of the
flow of small electrical currents. The
fundamental reaction for the corro-
sion of lead may be represented by
the equation:

This is merely a statement of the
fact that metallic lead dissolves at
anodic areas and that hydrogen
“plates out” as atoms on cathodic
areas. There is formed in this way
a film of atomic hydrogen which must
be removed if corrosion is to pro-
ceed, the rate of corrosion being de-
pendent upon the rate of removal.
The process of hydrogen removal con-
sists either in evolution as hydrogen
gas or in oxidation. From a lead sur-
face there is little tendency to evolve
hydrogen even in highly acidic solu-
tions. If however there are present
other metals or substances such as
copper, iron, carbon, etc. which
more readily discharge hydrogen as
a gas, corrosion is accelerated. More
commonly hydrogen is removed from
these cathodic areas by oxygen or
oxidizing substances with the forma-
tion of water, and for this reason the

rate of corrosion is determined gen-
erally by the rate at which oxygen
reaches the lead surface undergoing
corrosion.

Certain secondary reactions occur-
ring at the electrodes often influence
corrosion. For instance, the products
of electrolysis may offer resistance to
the flow of current or may by film
formation on anode areas reduce or
prevent dissolution of the metal. In
the latter case current flow may con-
tinue, the anode process consisting of
gas evolution (usually oxygen). On
the other hand, electrolysis may re-
sult in the formation of a substance
which is corrosive to the metal. For
example, alkali and lime salts are con-
verted into caustic alkali and free
lime at the cathode and these attack
lead.

A knowledge of the relationship
of anode and cathode potentials to
current density, make it possible to
predict under given conditions whether
or not a metal is likely to corrode.
The influence of surrounding condi-
tions may be illustrated by the be-
havior of lead in solutions of acetic
acid, in which it dissolves readily, and
in solutions of sulfuric acid, in which
it is but slightly soluble. In the
former case small potentials yield
high current densities (correspond-
ing to high rates of corrosion) while
in the latter case relatively high po-
tentials are required to maintain even
moderate current densities. More-
over in this latter case formation of
a lead sulfate film on the anode pre-
vents corrosion at current densities
corresponding to appreciable rates of
corrosion.

The sheathing used for telephone
cables consists of lead or more gener-
ally an alloy of lead and one per cent
of antimony. While the alloy is some-
what more resistant to corrosion than

is lead, the corrosion reactions in the
two cases are similar and for the pur-
poses of this paper may be considered
as identical.

There are from a practical stand-
point four kinds of corrosion to
which cable sheath is subject. These
are characterized as (1) soil or soil
water, (2) acetic acid or white lead,
(3) stray current anodic or ordinary
electrolytic, and (4) stray current
cathodic or negative corrosion.
Fundamentally, these types of corro-
sion are all electrolytic and involve
the same mechanism, the distinction
between them having to do mainly
with the source of potentials respon-
sible for corrosion. In the first two
classes the potentials are galvanic in
type and arise from a lack of homo-
geneity either in the metal or in the
medium adjacent to it; the third type,
stray current anodic, is due to po-
tentials picked up from improperly
insulated power circuits, i.e., street
railway, light and power lines; and
the last class, stray current cathodic,
is a combination of the galvanic and
stray current types or in the ordinary
sense a chemical reaction between
the cable sheath and caustic alkali or
free lime generated by electrolysis
when the sheath is cathodic or nega-
tive to earth.

Whether a metal is corroded uni-
formly or pitted locally depends upon
the area, position and number of
anodes in a small area. If the anodes
are large in area or numerous the at-
tack tends to be uniform in appear-
ance. This is illustrated in the cor-
rosion of lead in acetic acid. If the
anodes are widely separated or of
small area with respect to the area of
the lead surface, then the attack is
of a pitting nature. In the case of
cable sheath pitting action is the more
dangerous since it produces perfora-

While soil corrosion is not a seri-
ous problem in cable maintenance, oc-
casional cases are reported. It is due
generally to exposure of different
parts of the sheath to different con-
centrations of oxygen, salts, acids or
alkalies. Pitting action initiated by
stray current electrolysis may con-
tinue after elimination of the positive
potential conditions owing to the fact
that the pits, being less accessible to
oxygen, become the anodes of gal-
vanic cells which eventually cause per-
foration of the sheath. This is doubt-
less the explanation of many cases of
“old action.” Soil corrosion of cable
sheath sometimes occurs in regions
where there is an abrupt change in the
character of the soil. This might
have been predicted from laboratory
studies which have shown potential
differences of more than 0.3 volt be-
tween lead electrodes immersed in
two different soil waters.

It is not uncommon for the sheath-
ing of underground telephone cables
to carry as much as 100 amperes of
current derived from leaky power
circuits. Under these conditions, on
a full size cable there is an IR drop
along the cable of about 0.1 volt per
hundred feet which may create a
large-scale galvanic cell provided
there is a low-resistance path through
the earth between two points on the
cable at some distance apart. Pre-
caution against corrosion in such a
case consists in bonding the two
points with a metallic conductor,
thereby completing a metallic circuit
and preventing current flowing from
the sheath to earth.

The corrosion of cable sheath by
acetic acid vapor occurs sometimes
in creosoted wood conduit. It de-
pends upon the maintenance of a suit-
ably high concentration of hydrogen

ions in the presence of oxygen and
carbon dioxide and the formation of
a non-protective film of basic lead
carbonate. Early cases of cable
sheath corrosion in creosoted wood
ducts resulted from the use of wood
creosote containing acetic acid. Re-
cent extensive corrosion of this type
on the Pacific Coast has been found
to be due to the use of Douglas fir
ducts incompletely creosoted. This
wood is markedly more acidic than
southern pine, which is used largely in
other parts of the country for wood
conduit, and moreover fir conduit is
dificult to penetrate with creosote.
The corrosive attack appears to have
been stopped by neutralizing the acid
with ammonia gas forced through
the ducts in a mixture with air.
The most dangerous and most com-
mon kind of corrosion to which cables
are subject is the ordinary electrolytic
or stray current corrosion which may
occur when the sheath becomes posi-
tive to earth. Here moisture condi-
tions and soluble salts are of consid-
erable importance since these affect
the earth resistance and the anodic
areas and hence influence the current
densities at the point where current
flows from the sheath to earth. Pre-
cautions against this type of corro-
sion consist in periodic electrolysis
surveys, the bonding of cables to the
negative returns of power circuits,
and sometimes the shielding of the
cable network against stray currents.
Finally there is cathodic or nega-
tive corrosion to which reference has
already been made. This is charac-
terized by the formation of red crys-
talline lead monoxide which crystal-
lizes from saturated solutions of lime
or alkali plumbites. Lead is readily
dissolved by strong alkalies with the
formation of plumbites which are
stable only in solution. The alkalies

responsible for corrosion may be pro-
duced by the electrolysis of soluble
lime or alkali salts. Sodium  chlor-
ide or ordinary table salt is used
sometimes to thaw out street car
switches in winter and occasionally
finds its way into cable ducts where it
is converted into caustic soda at the
surface of the cable sheath as a result
of current flow from the earth to the
sheath. This type of corrosion also
occurs in newly manufactured con-
crete conduits owing to the presence
of free lime in the concrete.

befall a lead sheath, that under.
ground cables are a rather vulnerable
point in the Bell System plant. As a
matter of fact, the losses of cable due
to corrosion are relatively small,
thanks largely to care in the selection
of conduit material, and to the skill
and vigilance of the Plant Depart.
ments’ forces. But when it is recalled
that the Bell System has in service
some 55,000 miles of underground
cable, containing nearly thirty-eight
million miles of wire, it is evident
that no pains are too great to find the
causes and so prevent corrosion of
the protecting lead sheath.

creasing extent taken the place
of steel, brass, bronze and other more
common metals in many fields of in-
dustry. Used in the form of thin
sheets, one group of the alloys has
brought marked advantages to cer-
tain of the newer developments in
telephone transmitters and receivers.
There, used as diaphragms, they con-
tribute prominently to high operating
efficiency.

This group presents such a range
of mechanical properties that those
desired for almost any use can be se-
cured by choice of an alloy of suitable
composition, coupled with appropri-
ate metallurgical treatment. Since

strength, elongation and ductility
can be controlled within wide limits,
the necessary values in these respects
can be secured in any cases but the
most exacting. The greatest advan-
tage, of course, is the low density,
about a third that of steel. Another
major advantage with most of the
alloys, not otherwise found in non-
ferrous metals, is that parts can be
increased in strength by heat treat-
ment when they are in final manufac-
tured form. Less important, manu-
facturing operations are facilitated
by the low modulus of elasticity. It
is about a third that of steel, so that
the force needed for bending and
other forming operations is about a
third that which would be required

Formed diaphragm for a WE-555 Receiver, made of 17ST Alloy 0.002 inch thick.
It is used principally with sound-picture apparatus

with steel parts of the same strength.
The alloys are not immune to corro-
sion, but are much less subject to it
than many of the materials which
might be used in their stead. A quite
different consideration makes them
available for use in large quantity:
the cost, although commonly consid-
ered high, is about the same as that
of steel, when taken on the basis of
volume rather than of weight. These
facts, therefore, mean that there are
available materials higher in ultimate
tensile strength and in elastic limit
than mild steel, with approximately
one third the weight for a given part,
and costing about the same per part.

Many different compositions are
available, but discussion will be con-
fined to the two alloys commonly used
in thin sheet form for diaphragms.
These are the 17S or duralumin alloy
and the 3S alloy. They are known
by these numbers in accordance with
the code adopted by the principal sup-

plier, wherein each alloy is identified
by a number followed by the letter S.
That code reveals the chemical com-
position only; the temper and metal-
lurgical treatment are given by a sup-
plementary code consisting of one or
more letters. These symbols do not
tell the complete history, but only the
processes revealing the current condi-
tion. Annealing is represented by O,
and cold-working by H. W repre-

quenching only, T those processes fol-
lowed by aging, and RT the more
common sequence of heat-treating
and quenching followed successively
by aging and cold-working. The ma-
terial for a particular diaphragm may
therefore be 17SO at one stage of
manufacture, after it has been an-
nealed to facilitate forming, and at
the end, when it has been hardened
for use, be 17ST.

0.5% each of manganese and mag-
nesium, and the remainder commer-
cially pure aluminum. Although the
total percentage of alloying ingredi-
ents is small, this material, whose
density is very little higher
than that of pure aluminum,
can be brought by means of a
tempering process to a tensile
strength of 55,000 pounds per
square inch with a substantial
degree of ductility. The ten-
sile strength may be raised by
subsequent cold-working to at
least 70,000 pounds per square
inch; at the same time the
property of ductility is almost
entirely lost. Tempering may
may be produced in various
ways, but the usual method consists
of heating the material to approxi-
mately 510° C., quenching it in water
and allowing it to age at room tem-
perature. Heating at this tempera-
ture for seven to ten minutes is usu-
ally sufficient for thin stock. The
hardening proceeds very rapidly at
first and then at a gradually diminish-
ing rate until the maximum is reached
at the end of five days. After heating
and quenching, hardening may be car-
ried out more quickly by maintaining

Reproducer for an Orthophonic talking machine,
of 3SH Alloy; the spider is of hard commercially

the parts at 100°C. for a period of
forty hours, a process known as arti-
ficial aging. When a part is to be
made from heat-treated duralumin,
there must be no delay between heat-

treating and forming else the material
will become so hard that it may fail
in the course of the forming opera-
tions.

For use in several pieces of appa-
ratus it has been necessary to raise
the ultimate tensile strength of the
175 alloy to 75,000 pounds per
square inch, and in special cases to
as much as 85,000-95,000 pounds.
This was accomplished by reducing
the cross-sectional area about 90%
through operations known as cold-
working — swaging, drawing,
rolling, and other cold pro-
cesses. Material so handled,
characterized by high tensile
strength and elastic limit and
by very small elongation, is
specified as 17SRT. For other
operations, annealed material
is reduced 80% in thickness by
similar cold operations. The
material thus produced, 17SH,
has an _ ultimate _ tensile
strength of 45,000 pounds per
square inch and_ negligibly
small elongation.

The other alloy extensively used,
38, consists of commercially pure
aluminum to which has been added
approximately 114% manganese. In
the annealed state it is about 25%
stronger than annealed pure alu-
minum, and of slightly lower elonga-
tion. By cold-working its tensile
strength may be brought up to about
three times that of annealed alu-
minum, with a high ratio of elastic
limit to ultimate strength. This alloy
is therefore an extremely useful ma-
terial in cases where severe forming
is required. It does not, however, re-
spond to heat treatment.

Both of these alloys may be ren-
dered soft and ductile by annealing
at approximately 343°C. at any time
in the manufacture of parts if the
hardness was caused by manufactur-
ing operations carried out on formerly
annealed material. Where the
hardened condition was pro-
duced by heat treatment, as
may be the case with duralu-
min, annealing requires heat-
ing for a longer time and at a
higher temperature, followed
by very slow cooling. Some of
the deeply formed diaphragms
are annealed a number of
times in the course of produc-
tion to remove the hardness
resulting from the stresses of
the forming operations.

The alloys are received at
the Hawthorne plant of the
Western Electric company
from the manufacturer in
coils 0.020 inch thick. There
they are rolled into ribbons of the
thickness wanted, and generally just
wide enough to make the blank for a
single diaphragm. In all cases the
material is buffed as it comes from
the rolls. By this operation the re-
sistance to corrosion is raised ma-

387-W Transmitter, for broadcasting.
phragm, which passes between the two carbon but-
tons, is a sheet of 17SRT Alloy, 0.0017 inch thick,
stretched by the clamping ring

terially by the highly polished surface
obtained. The thinnest material in
use at present is a duralumin alloy for
spacing washers of condenser trans-
mitters; its thickness is only 0.00075
inch, about a sixth that of the paper
on which the REcorD is printed. The
most common thickness is 0.003 inch,
and the thickest material commonly
used is 0.005 inch.

Aluminum and its alloys are gen-
erally considered resistant to corro-
sion, and for thicknesses greater than
0.020 inch that is the case. In sev-
eral pieces of apparatus the alloys are
used in sheets 0.001 inch to 0.003 inch
thick; obviously a very small degree
of corrosion would be enough to re-
duce the cross-section of those parts
by an extent sufficient to cause failure.
Corrosion has therefore been studied
intensively on pieces of apparatus

and on the sheet stock as well. Since
interest was mainly in objects 0.0017
inch and 0.003 inch thick, the tests
were carried out on tensile samples
cut from materials of these thick-
nesses. Several methods of corrod-
ing the alloys artificially have been

tried, principally spraying with a salt
solution, outdoor exposure tests on
the roof and intermittent immersion
in corroding solutions.

Our most dependable corrosion
test makes use of a device resembling,
on a small scale, the Ferris wheels of

amusement parks. The device was
developed by the Chemical Research
Department. The tensile samples
after measuring and cleaning are
clamped into position at the circum-
ference of the wheel, which is then
rotated slowly and evenly for eigh-
teen hours. They dip successively
into the corroding solution at the
bottom of each revolution and then
drain and dry while completing the
cycle; the corrosion occurs during
drying. At the end of the corroding
process the samples are removed and
are broken in a tensile testing ma-
chine. Uncorroded samples from the
same stock are also broken, for com-
parison. Protective finishes are ap-

praised with the same piece of
testing apparatus; coated and un-
protected samples are exposed to-
gether, and then the ultimate tensile
strengths of both groups are deter-
mined.

As rated by this machine chem-
ically pure aluminum was highest in
resistance to corrosion, and commer-
cially pure aluminum second. Then
followed a number of alloys, depend-
ing for their order on the treatment
they had undergone as well as on
their composition. The corrosion re-
sistance is also determined in part by
the surface. As might be expected,
when it is smooth and highly polished
it affords a considerably smaller op-
portunity for corrosion to start than
does the somewhat rough gray sur-
face commonly seen on aluminum
cooking utensils.

Choice of the alloy for a particu-
lar use cannot be made entirely on
the basis of corrosion tests, of course;
mechanical requirements at times are
such that a particular alloy and tem-
per must be used regardless of its low
resistance to corrosion. For such
cases the problem of increasing the
resistance to corrosion, in order to
insure that the part will last through
the life of the apparatus, has been
studied in the Chemical Laboratories.
Either one or two coats of varnish,
sprayed onto a finished part, affords
satisfactory protection but adds ap-
preciably to the weight. Thin Bake-
lite varnish is also satisfactory for
alloys whose mechanical properties
are not changed by the baking oper-
ation.

An interesting effort to combine
moderate mechanical strength with
maximum resistance to corrosion is
the Alclad alloy, developed and manu-
factured by the Aluminum Company
of America. Sheets are made by roll-

ing a slab made of duralumin or one
of the other alloys in the center and
aluminum on the outside. Thick-
nesses of the layers are chosen to
give a finished sheet of duralumin
0.002 inch thick covered on each side
with 0.0005 inch of pure aluminum.
Users can secure Alclad 35, Alclad
17S, or sheets made with other alloys
in the center, to suit their needs. Par-
ticular care is needed, however, in
heat-treating Alclad sheets, since
there is a tendency, while the ma-
terial is hot, for the copper to diffuse
from the center layer into the alumi-
num and so to reduce the corrosion
resistance of the protective layers.
The material presents interesting pos-
sibilities where there is danger of
corrosion and where the necessity for
lightness makes it inadvisable to in-
crease the weight with a protective
varnish.

Although aluminum and its alloys
are used elsewhere in the telephone
plant, these high strength alloys in
sheet form find their most important
use in the solution of a basic prob-
lem, the transfer of vibrations be-
tween the air and the vibrating mem-

ber of a transmitter or receiver. For
the most efficient and faithful trans-
fer of energy the difference in im-
pedance of the two media must be re-
duced to a minimum and for that end
the moment of inertia of the dia-
phragm, and hence its mass, must be
made as low as possible. In high-
quality transmitters, where the flat-
ness of the frequency-response curve
comes in part from the fact that the
range of resonance of the diaphragms
is brought near the upper end of the
voice frequencies by the tension under
which the diaphragms are held, the
material must be of minimum density,
yet strong enough to withstand
stretching to the desired tension.
Likewise in the diaphragms of dy-
namic receivers stiffness is as much
an essential as light weight, and
strength is needed on account of the
handling during assembly. For these.
uses, and for many others, the sheet
alloys by their combination of high
strength and light weight, and by
their ability to withstand difficult
manufacturing processes, make pos-
sible results that could otherwise not
be attained.

munication”. This medal is awarded annually by a committee
of twenty-four members of the A. I. E. E., for “meritorious
achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the
electrical arts”. Among previous Edison Medallists are Alex-
ander Graham Bell, John J. Carty and Michael I. Pupin.

Western Electric Company beginning about 1895, I
think of a period of intense and continuous activity. We
were going through a revolution. We had been accustomed
to growth but the kind of growth in which building fac-
tories becomes a routine was just beginning. We were
finding that our methods in the shop and office had to be
reconstructed to adjust them to the faster pace and that our
organization had to be modified and expanded. But we
had men.

Now, thirty years after, the specific difficulties do not
linger in my mind. The picture I see is of a group of eager,
resourceful, loyal, young men grappling the difficulties
with the enthusiasm of a foot-ball squad going into the
field. One of those young men, and not the least, was our
friend Mr. Clifford. When you read the story of his prog-
ress in the Company, it does not mean stepping from one
established, well organized position on to other better and
similarly organized positions. It meant reconstructing a
department and getting it to run smoothly and then repeat-
ing the process in a larger field. So, when during the
war, the Laboratory found itself, almost over night, a
commercial manufacturing concern, making in large quan-
tities the apparatus needed by the Army and Navy, but
without the necessary commercial and manufacturing or-
ganization or methods, it was Mr. Clifford who went into
the Laboratory organization to supply what was lacking.
There was no question then as to whether or not it was a
promotion. There was his kind of a job to be done and he
did it and he made it a promotion. We shall all remember
him with great affection and respect. I shall also remember
him as one of those who helped over the hard places.

Occasionally it happens that a sub-
scriber unintentionally sends what is
known in dial parlance as a prelimi-
nary pulse before he dials the number
of the subscriber whom he wishes to
call. This preliminary pulse is gen-
erally caused by an accidental jiggling
of the switchhook before the number
is dialed. When the switchhook is
momentarily pushed down after hay-
ing been released, it opens and then
short-circuits the two wires of the line
as though the digit 1 had been dialed.
This causes the selector in the cen-
tral office to take one vertical step
and prepare the circuits for the next
digit.

In order to show how a step-by-
step dial office is arranged to take
care of this condition, it will be of
aid to review briefly the progress of a
correctly dialed call through such an
ofice. Figure 1 gives a schematic
showing the manner in which the or-
dinary line finders, selectors, and con-
nectors are arranged in a four-digit
step-by-step office. When a calling
subscriber takes the receiver from its
hook, a line finder immediately steps
vertically until it reaches the level on
which the terminals of the calling
subscriber’s line appear, and then
hunts across the level until these ter-
minals are found. The first selector,
which is permanently connected to
the line finder, then sends back a tone
to the subscriber as a signal for him
to dial. In returning to normal on the
first digit the dial opens and closes
the line loop, causing the first selector
to step vertically on2 step each time
the line is opened. As a concrete
example let it be assumed that the
number 9284 is dialed. When the
number g is dialed, the first selector

takes nine vertical steps and then
hunts across the ninth level for an
‘dle trunk leading to a second selector.
On the next digit, 2, the second se-
lector takes two vertical steps and
hunts across the second level for an

the regular second selectors insofar
as circuit operation is concerned.
However, the trunks from all levels
of the special second selectors except
the first are multipled to the trunks
of corresponding levels of the first

idle trunk to a connector. This con-
nector has been chosen by the first
two digits as the one having the ter-
minals of the called subscriber’s line
appearing among the terminals acces-
sible to it. The calling subscriber next
dials 8. The connector steps ver-
tically just as does a selector, but
since it is now required to seize the
terminals of a particular line on the
eighth level rather than to choose an
idle trunk from a group, it does not
hunt over this level. As the subscriber
dials the last digit, 4, the connector
takes four steps in a rotary direction,
seizes the line, rings on it, and con-
nects the two subscribers together
when the called subscriber answers.
It may be seen that if the subscriber
had given a preliminary pulse, in ef-
fect dialing the digit 1, the call would
have been routed to a connector
which did not contain the terminals
of the called subscriber’s line.

To prevent errors of this sort the
arrangement shown in Figure 2 is
used. The trunks from the first level
of the first selectors, instead of being
run to regular second selectors, are
terminated in special second selectors
which are in no way different from

selectors. If the calling subscriber
dials 9284 preceded by a preliminary
pulse, or in other words dials 19284,
the first selector will take one vertical
step and find an idle trunk to a special
second selector. When the digit 9g is
dialed, the special second selector will
step vertically nine levels and find an
idle trunk. In effect, however, the
ninth level of the special second se-
lector is the same as the ninth level
of the first selector because the trunks
from these levels are multipled.
Hence the call is now at the same
point as it would have been if the
preliminary pulse had been omitted.
Further digits will direct it through
the third selectors and the connectors
to the same line as that to which the
correctly dialed number would have
routed it; the preliminary pulse has
therefore been absorbed.

formation desk, the toll switchboard,
the trouble clerk, and the reverting

call selectors. In the interests of
economy one level, the first of the
selectors, is used both in counteract-
ing preliminary pulses, and in routing
the special calls just mentioned.

comparatively small number of spe.
cial second and auxiliary third selec.
tors. Selectors equivalent in function
to the special third selectors would
be needed for the special calls in any
case, even if no effort were made to
compensate for the preliminary
pulses.

Fig. 2— Path of a call preceded by a preliminary pulse, showing the supplementary
switches for special conditions

also be used for the special calls,
trunks from the first level of the spe-
cial second selectors are carried to
special third selectors, from whose
levels, except the first, trunks go to
jacks and other terminals for com-
pleting the calls. From the first level,
trunks run to auxiliary third selec-
tors, whose banks are multipled with
those of the special third selectors to
care for preliminary pulses on special
calls. With this arrangement, sub-
scribers are able to make toll, revert-
ing and other special calls by dial-
ing the number 11 followed by an-
other digit. It may be seen from Fig-
ure 2 that the only additional appa-
ratus required by this method of
counteracting preliminary pulses is a

The handling of service and other
special calls may be seen by tracing
calls with and without a preliminary
pulse to the toll switchboard, to
which the number IIo is usually as-
signed. Without the preliminary
pulse the call will be directed from
the line-finder to the first level of the
first selectors, to the first level of the
special second selectors, to the tenth
level of the special third selectors, and
thence to the toll operator. When
preceded by a preliminary pulse, the
call will advance from the line finder
to the first level of the first selectors,
to the first level of the special second
selectors, to the first level of the spe-
cial third selectors, and then to the
tenth level of the auxiliary third se-

lectors. Since this level is multipled
to the tenth level of the special third
selectors, calls routed to the tenth
level of either group of selectors will
go to the toll operator.

Having considered the method by
which calls preceded by preliminary
pulses are routed to their proper des-
tination let us turn our attention to
calls which are routed to vacant se-
lector levels. The zero (tenth) level
of the first selector is used for calls
to the operator, and the first level is
used as just described. Unless the
central-ofice unit is fully equipped
for the 8000 lines possible with the
remaining levels no numbers will be
assigned in certain of the hundreds
and possibly in certain of the thou-
sands, and the corresponding levels
of the second or first selectors will be
vacant. If a call were directed by the
subscriber to one of these vacant
levels, its progress would be immedi-
ately stopped, and, if no provision
were made to care for such a condi-
tion, the subscriber would receive no
indication to tell him what is wrong.
Consequently two different methods
of handling such calls have been de-
veloped, the method to be used for a
particular selector level depending
upon whether the calls which must be
handled from this level are due to
errors in the current directory or to
subscribers’ errors.

When there is a directory error
involving a vacant selector level, all
of the trunks of the level are made
artificially busy except those which
are carried through intercepting
trunk circuits to jacks in front of an
operator. If a selector starts hunt-
ing over a vacant level equipped in
this manner, it will hunt over the busy
trunks and seize one of the idle in-
tercepting trunks, causing a lamp as-

Unless a directory error is in-
volved, the calls which come to a
vacant selector level are nearly al-
ways chargeable to subscribers’ errors
in dialing. Such levels have all trunks
made busy except those which are
connected to tone trunk circuits
which, when seized by a selector, re-
turn a modified busy tone to the sub-
scriber. The modified busy tone is
the same as the ordinary tone, ex-
cept that every third spurt is omitted.
Since the subscriber has instructions
that such a tone is received only be-
cause an incorrect number has been
dialed, he has been informed that he
has made some error and may act
accordingly.

With either of these methods, the
necessary number of intercepting
trunk circuits or tone trunks is re-
duced by multipling the trunks from
the several selector levels to the same
intercepting trunk or tone trunk.
When any one of the trunks becomes
busy, it will cause all of the other
trunks in the same multiple to test
busy. Hence the number of selector
level trunks which may be connected
to the same intercepting or tone trunk
is limited by traffic conditions.

number as published in the telephone
directory. Likewise a subscriber call-
ing a published number can reason-
ably expect to have the call trans-
ferred to a more recent number, or
to be informed of any condition pre-
venting completion of the call. Ac-
cordingly, the terminals of lines in-
volved in number changes, discontinu-
ation of service and similar circum-
stances are carried from the con-
nector multiple to trunk circuits
which terminate in jacks in front of
an operator. When a call is directed

The number of trunks required
from the unequipped connector ter-
minals is reduced by multipling sey-
eral connector terminals to the same
trunk. Here again, the number which
may be multipled to the same trunk
is limited by traffic conditions.

I thank you for this award; and I wish to express my ap-
preciation of the honor which it conveys. It is interesting to
recall that it was here, in the City of Philadelphia, the vacuum
tube mentioned in the citation found its first commercial tele-
phone use. In September, 1913 vacuum tubes were installed
here to relay conversations through the telephone cable be-
tween New York and Washington, and from that small begin-
ning has come its present widespread use. In accepting this
present recognition, Mr. Secretary, I feel doubly honored; I
am proud to stand as the representative of that large body of
scientists and engineers whose efforts have brought this de-
velopment to its present state; and I am profoundly grateful
to Fortune for allowing me to have a part in the early begin-
ning of this important phase of telephone communication.

ITH the institution of the
first telephone central office
there arose a need for

transmitters and receivers which
were suitably arranged for oper-
ators’ use. The requirements for
these instruments in central office ser-
vice were so different from those of
use at the homes and offices of sub-
scribers that instruments for the two
types of service necessarily were de-
veloped along separate lines. The
development of operators’ instru-
ments has profited by the funda-
mental studies made upon _instru-
ments in general, but at the same time
has involved differentiations in phys-
ical form to facilitate the work of the
operators in handling subscribers’
calls.

Succeeding the original “butter
stamp” hand telephone the instru-
ment, used by the operators in 1878,
was a device serving both as a trans-
mitter and receiver. In appearance
slightly resembling a desk stand re-
ceiver of today, it is shown in use in
Figure 1 of the historical pictures.
Developed by Bell and known there-
fore as Bell’s hand telephone, it was
a single-pole, permanent magnet in-
strument. The magnet was a straight
bar mounted at right angles to the
diaphragm, and bore a coil placed
around a soft-iron extension at the
end. The earliest of these instru-
ments were enclosed in cases of wood.
When one was used as a transmitter,
sound waves impinging upon the dia-

phragm caused it to vibrate and so
varied the magnetic field, inducing in
the coil varying currents which were
electric counterparts of the sound
waves. When this instrument was
used as a receiver the incoming voice
current, by its variations, changed the
magnetic field of the coil through
which it flowed, thereby vibrating the
diaphragm and producing a close ap-
proximation to the original sounds.
The following year, 1879, there
came the instrument shown in Figure
2. The transmitter and receiver units
were separate, but were arranged to
be held in one hand. The transmit-
ter, of the type developed by Edison,
was changed in function; it no longer
generated the voice-current, but by
changing its resistance in response to
the sound waves it varied the current
supplied by a battery. A toothed
metal ring in contact with the back
of the diaphragm pressed against the
front electrode, a hard carbon disc.
By that construction pressure of the
disc against the back electrode, a disc
of soft carbon, was varied, and the
current was changed correspondingly.
The receiver operated on the same
principle as the older instrument and
was made up of equivalent parts. In-
stead of being at right angles to the
diaphragm however the bar magnet
formed the handle on which the trans-
mitter and receiver were mounted.
That same year there was intro-
duced the operator’s set of Figure 3,
with the transmitter and receiver en-

1, Bell’s hand telephone in use as a transmitter. The same instrument acts as a

receiver with incoming voice-currents; 2, Transmitter and receiver were mounted

Blake transmitter and associated receiver, mounted to leave one of the operator’s

hands free; 4, Instruments the same as those of Figure 3, supported in a “Gilliland

harness” to free both hands; 5, Another mounting arrangement keeping both hands
free

6, 4 White Transmitter, and a Rich-
ards receiver mounted on a headband.
The set was brought out in 1891; 7,
Another supported transmitter, used
with a completely enclosed receiver.
Compactness of the receiver was ob-
tained by use of a spiral magnet; 8, In
this set the transmitter is essentially the
same as those of today, and the receiver
ts of bipolar type, with a horseshoe mag-
net; 9, Today’s set, with receiver held
by a swivel yoke to a wire headband

tirely separate. The transmitter de-
rived its name from Francis Blake,
Jr., who carried out the original de-
velopment on which it was based; its
operation was by variation in resist-
ance at the contact between the disc
of hard carbon and a metal ball sup-
ported against the back of the dia-
phragm by a light spring. A heavier
flat spring supporting the disc kept it
pressed against the ball, so that vi-

resting on her shoulders and strap-
ped around her waist, supporting the
transmitter a short distance in front
of her mouth and the receiver at her
ear. On account of its weight, almost
61% pounds when fitted with instru-
ments, this structure was not put into
general use. Figure 5 shows another
mounting arrangement brought out
that year which held the transmitter
at a convenient position by a vertical

Though requiring that
she hold her head in
a particular position
for speaking or listen-

Section of Bell's hand telephone which was used as both standpoint of comfort.

brations of the diaphragm produced
pressure differences at the contact
area. To secure the proper range of
pressures, adjustment was provided
by supporting the spring upon a hinge-
like member whose position was con-
trolled by a screw. The transmitter
was enclosed in a wooden box having
an opening in front of the diaphragm,
and was supported before the op-
erator by a vertical rod. The re-
ceiver, held in the operator’s hand
during use, was unchanged in prin-
ciple, but resembled in appearance the
desk stand receivers with external
binding-posts; the case was of hard
rubber.

The next year the same instruments
were mounted in a structure which
freed both the operator’s hands. This
was the “Gilliland Harness” of
Figure 4, an adjustable framework

embodied in operator’s transmitters
produced in 1888. In accordance
with a somewhat earlier development,
both electrodes were of carbon and
the space between was filled with car-
bon granules. Change in resistance
with vibration of the diaphragm came
from variations in pressure at the
large number of contact surfaces be-
tween the granules, rather than at a
single contact surface as before. In
1890 came the “‘solid back” design of
Anthony C. White, not incorporated
in operator’s instruments however un-
til the following year. The rear elec-
trode was no longer mounted on a
spring, but was attached rigidly
through a small intermediate part to
the back of the case, and the front
electrode was held by a metal stud
which passed through and clamped
the center of the diaphragm. In 1891

4 similar transmitter was made a part
of the set shown in Figure 6. It is of
interest to note that the mouthpece
used resembles that of today’s desk
stands in size and shape.

The receiver used was designed in
1884 by W. L. Richards, now Con-
sulting Historian of the Laboratories.
It was one of the earliest of the thin or
watch-case type, suitable for use with
a headband. Essential parts corre-
sponded to those of previous designs,
but compactness was secured by plac-
ing the bar magnet on the outside of
the receiver case to form the bracket
by which the headband was attached.
An extension, consisting of a soft-iron
core at right angles to the end of the
magnet, ran through the center of the
coil inside the case. Small screws near

In Blake’s transmitter a carbon disc was
pressed by a flat spring against a contact
point touching the diaphragm

the middle of the bar magnet fast-
ened the receiver to a headband suf-
ficiently large in area to distribute the
weight well over the operator’s head.

discs, gave a large number of contact sur-
faces for variation in resistance

About 1900 came the transmitter
which is similar in form to that now
used by operators throughout the Bell
System. It was mounted on a breast-
plate supported and held in place by
a tape extending around the opera-
tor’s neck. Adjustment of the tape
and movement of the mouthpiece in
its ball and socket mounting bring the

opening directly in front of the op-
erator’s mouth, and cleaning is facil-
itated by the ease with which the
mouthpiece can be removed. The re-
ceiver used with this transmitter was
of bipolar type, and a horseshoe mag-
net was substituted for the spiral
magnet. Transmitter and receiver are
shown in Figure 8.

method of mounting is changed. On
the outer periphery of the case are
two small lugs, 180 degrees apart,
with a hole in each for attachment
of the headband. The band is made
from a loop spring whose ends are
clamped in a bracket; to the bracket
is attached a swivel yoke with points
for engaging the lugs. By the rota-
tion and the free movement intro-
duced, closer fitting is secured and ex-
traneous noises are thereby excluded.
These instruments, as is apparent,
signalize a notable improvement over
the early types of operators’ sets, and
embody the necessary electrical func-
tions in a form which facilitates great-
ly the speedy completion of calls.

Edward Preston Clifford, administrative officer of the
Bell Telephone Laboratories, whose untimely death was re-
corded in Tuesday’s newspapers, was not a scientific man. Yet
the death of few New Yorkers could leave a wider gap in the
human machinery of scientific research or one more difficult to
fill. It was Mr. Clifford’s lifework to help on other people’s
jobs; to hold an important place in the great army of those
who smooth the pathway of science along which other men ad-

plishments of his more strictly scientific colleagues Mr. Clifford
and the skilled but unobtrusive administrators whom he had
gathered deserve no small share of the praise.

Dr. JEWETT was a member of the
Advisory Board of The Second Inter-
national Conference on Bituminous
Coal held at Pittsburgh from Novem-
ber 19 to November 24, and presided
over the morning session of the Con-
ference on November 21. He was
also a delegate to represent the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences.

On November 23, Dr. Jewett at-
tended the ceremonies at the inau-
guration of Harvey Nathaniel Davis
as President of The Stevens Institute
of Technology. On this occasion he
also represented The University of
Chicago, attending a dinner in honor
of the delegates at the Hotel Astor
on the evening of November 22.

Dr. Jewett gave a short talk be-
fore the Transmission Conference
which met on November 16 at 195
Broadway.

AT THE DECEMBER 3 MEETING of
the Colloquium, C. H. Prescott, Jr.
spoke on “Chemical Equilibria at In-
candescent Temperatures”. R. V. L.
Hartley spoke on “A Wave Mechanism
of Quantum Phenomena” on Decem-
ber 17, prior to his presentation of a
paper on that subject at the Christ-
mas meeting of the American Physi-
cal Society.

THERE ARE NOW AVAILABLE for
members of the Laboratories sets of
personal financial records in booklet
form. These records supplement the
A. T. & T. income and expense rec-
ord which has been available to mem-
bers of the organization for some
years. They are especially intended
for those who do not keep a detailed
expense account, but who wish to de-

termine their financial status at inter-
vals. Copies of these records may be
obtained by applying to the Employee
Service Department, Section 1-H, Ex-
tension 435.

H. Van Deusen, J. R. TowNseEND
AND C. H. GREENALL were at Haw-
thorne during the week of November
19 in connection with the formula-
tion of specifications for non-ferrous
sheet and rod stock.

J. R. TowNnsENpD presented a paper
on telephone apparatus springs be-
fore the Annual Meeting of the
American Society of Mechanical En-
gineers in New York on December 6.

W. T. PriTcHARD visited “Ma-
rine’ central office in Atlantic City
to make studies of burnishing tools
for step-by-step switches.

J. N. REYNOLDs was at Hawthorne
during the week of November 12 in
connection with new dial apparatus
developments.

J. W. Beyer attended a meeting
of the High Temperature and Elec-
trical Resistance Alloys Committee
of the American Society for Testing
Materials at the Bureau of Standards
in Washington.

F. F. Lucas spoke on ‘Micro-
scopic Structure of Metallic Alloys”
on December 28 before the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science at the Museum of Natural
History, in this city.

E. W. GENT visited Hawthorne in
connection with the production of a
modulator unit to be used in equip-
ment for a news reel camera.

R. NorpENSWAN was at Haw-
thorne in regard to the manufacture
of a new loud speaker.

N. BisHop recently supervised the
conversion to provide crystal control
and increased modulation in the five-
kilowatt broadcasting equipment of
the Churchill Evangelistic Association,
now known as the Buffalo Broadcast-
ing Corporation. He performed the
same service for the Bankers Life
Company of Des Moines; the Strom-
berg-Carlson Telephone Manufactur-
ing Company of Rochester, and the
one-kilowatt equipment of the Wood-
men of the World at Omaha. He
then inspected the five-kilowatt sta-
tion of the National Life and Acci-
dent Insurance Company at Nash-
ville, Tennessee.

B. R. Coe recently made a sur-
vey for Memphis Commercial Ap-
peal, Incorporated, at Memphis,
Tennessee, which recently purchased
a one-kilowatt, crystal-controlled
broadcasting equipment.

J. C. HeRBER supervised the con-
version to crystal control of the five-
kilowatt equipments of the Moody
Bible Institute and Sears, Roebuck
and Company of Chicago, and the
Consolidated Gas, Electric Light and
Power Company of Baltimore; also
the one-kilowatt equipments of Larus
and Brother Company, Richmond,
Virginia and the Detroit News and
the Milwaukee Journal.

F. E. NIMMCKE supervised the con-
version to crystal control of the one-
kilowatt broadcasting equipments of
the Universal Broadcasting Company
of Philadelphia and the Peoples Pul-
pit Association at Rossville, Staten
Island.

H. S. Price made surveys for the
one-kilowatt equipment purchased by
the Puget Sound Broadcasting Com-
pany, Seattle, and the five-kilowatt

equipment purchased by the South-
western Sales Corporation of Tulsa.
En route he inspected the one-kilo-
watt station of Louis Wasmer, Inc. at
Spokane, and visited Fort Worth to
confer on the relocation of the one-
kilowatt equipment taken over from
the Searchlight Publishing Company
by the Texas Air Transport Broad-
casting Company.

W. L. TieRNEy has completed the
installations of a one-kilowatt equip-
ment for the Oregon State Agricul-
ture College at Corvallis, Oregon,
and a five-kilowatt equipment at Sher-
man Oaks, California, for the West-
ern Broadcasting Company. He also
made a survey for the five-kilowatt
equipment purchased by Hale Brothers,
San Francisco, and supervised the
crystal control conversions of the one-
kilowatt equipments of Don Lee, In-
corporated, at Los Angeles and San
Francisco, and of the Fisher Blend
Station at Seattle, Warner Brothers
at Los Angeles, and Nichols and
Warinner at Long Beach, California.

O. W. Towner supervised the con-
version to crystal control of the five-
kilowatt equipment of the Voice of
St. Louis, Inc., and the one-kilowatt
equipment of the Jenny Wren Con-
pany, Lawrence, Kansas, the Gurney
Seed Company of Yankton, South
Dakota, and the Kansas City Star.

R. M. Pease has, during the past
few months, assisted S. P. Grace in
demonstrations given in connection
with Mr. Grace’s talks. He was pres-
ent at the latter’s lectures before the
Rotary Club of Brooklyn on Decem-
ber 6; Sigma Xi Chapter of McGill
University at Montreal on December
19, and before the employees of The
Bell Telephone Company of Canada
at Montreal on December 20. He
also aided in setting up the equip-
ment used by John Mills in his Tor-

J. R. P. GOLLER AND R. L. Luns-
FORD inspected the new unit type toll
repeater power installation at Greens-
boro, North Carolina. This instal-
lation is part of the Washington-
Atlanta Cable.

J. R. Stone anp C. BoRGMANN
tested and inspected high speed cen-
trifugal exhauster equipment for
pneumatic tube installations in West
Lynn, Massachusetts.

V. T. CALLAHAN tested a BA gas-
oline engine set, recently installed in
Savannah, Georgia.

C. E. BoMAN spent several days in
Chicago in connection with problems
of machine switching equipment.

I. W. Brown visited Milwaukee
and Detroit, preliminary to the in-
stallation of new toll facilities there.

J. H. Sore visited the General
Electric Company at Pittsfield, Mas-
sachusetts, to confer on the develop-
ment of a transformer to provide
current for lamp signals in toll
boards.

J. IrisH visited Chicago in con-
nection with circuit drawings and
practices.

D. M. Terry discussed the 1-A
carrier pilot channel equipment with
members of the staff at Hawthorne.

J. P. Kinzer visited Morristown,
New Jersey, and Allentown, Reading
and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in
connection with modifications of 2-
wire repeaters in cable circuits.

A. E. BACHELET conducted tests
of half-ampere ballast lamps used
with 2- and 4-wire repeaters at the
A.T.&T. repeater station at Juliet,
Illinois.

J. A. Krecek spent several weeks
in El Paso, Texas, testing 2-wire echo
suppressors to be used in conjunction

kK. P. BANCROFT is engaged in the
installation of telephone and carrier
telegraph equipment for the Cana-
dian Pacific Railways.

C. B. Suriirr recently assisted
with the demonstration of an oscillo-
graph before the American Optical
Society in Washington.

were present at a meeting of the
American Society for Testing Ma-
terials at Philadelphia.

H. H. Lowry attended a meeting
of the Committee on Insulation Ma-
terials of the National Research
Council at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore.

A. R. Kemp visited the plant of
the General Electric Company at
Bridgeport on November 20 to con-
fer on the development of rubber cov-
ered wire and cable.

J. H. INGMANSON viewed a dem-
onstration of the impregnation of
jute for the protection of lead cable
sheath, at the Schlichter Jute Cord-
age Company, Philadelphia.

W. A. Marrison demonstrated
oscillographs of polar and motion-
picture types at the apparatus exhibit
held in connection with the meeting
of the Optical Society of America in
Washington.

C. H. Haynes conferred with rep-
resentatives of the Standard Ma-
chine Company, Providence, on the
construction of special rolls for the
manufacture of platinum filament.

C. A. KoTTERMAN made an inspec-
tion trip in connection with the Labo-
ratories’ exhibit at the National Acad-
emy of Sciences, Washington.

T. C. Fry spoke on the use of con-
tinued fractions in the design of elec-
trical networks before the American

C. J. Davisson AND L. H. Ger-
MER presented a paper on a test of
the state of polarization of reflected
electron waves before the same So-
ciety on December 1.

J. C. ScHELLING addressed the
Physics Seminar of Cornell Univer-
sity on November 19 on “Some Theo-
retical and Experimental Phases of
Radio Transmission.”

E. F. Kincssury spoke on televi-
sion before the Men’s Club of Ruth-
erford on December 14.

E. G. D. PATERSON visited the
Highway Trailer Company at Edger-
ton, Wisconsin, on November 12, in
connection with studies of inspection
methods for automotive equipment.

W. A. Boyp attended a regular
survey conference on step-by-step ap-
paratus at Hawthorne.

H. F. KorTHever anp H. C.
CUNNINGHAM attended a regular
survey conference in connection with
carrier equipment at Kearny.

G. D. Epwarps visited Cleveland,
Chicago and Boston during the latter
part of November and early Decem-
ber, in connection with Field Inspec-
tion Engineering work. While in
Boston Mr. Edwards attended the
decennial anniversary celebration of
the “Binaural Sons of the C’’, an or-

ganization composed of representa.
tives of the United States Navy De.
partment, the Submarine Signal Com.
pany, the General Electric Company,
the Western Electric Company and
of various educational institutions
which cooperated during the World
War in developing methods and ap-
paratus for the detection and loca-
tion of enemy submarines.

W. A. SHEWHART visited Philadel-
phia during the latter part of Oc.
tober to attend conferences held by
the American Society for Steel Treat-
ing and the American Society for
Testing Materials.

A. W. Drinc investigated several
special cable terminal installations in
Philadelphia on November 13.

J. M. Harpesty made tests of re-
inforced concrete poles in Charlotte,
North Carolina.

R. C. EGGLESTON investigated pre-
servative treatments and made
strength tests of jack-pine poles in
Minneapolis, from October 20 to
November 12.

E. M. Honan observed field trial
installations of drop wire in the ter-
ritories of the New York Telephone
Company, the New Jersey Bell Tele-
phone Company and The Southern
New England Telephone Company.

E. P. Cxiirrorp, Vice-President of
the Laboratories, died Sunday, De-
cember 16. He entered the Western
Electric Company in 1892 as an of-
fice boy, and became Cashier of the
New York office some six years later.
After experiences as Chief Clerk at
Chicago, Philadelphia and New York,
he became Assistant Manager of the
New York House, and in 1911 its
Manager, with supervision of the

Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
Houses. In 1917 he was appointed
Eastern District Manager of the
Western Electric Company. On July
1, 1918, Mr. Clifford became Office
Manager of the Engineering Depart-
ment. A year later he became Com-
mercial Manager and his responsibil-
ities were gradually extended to em-
brace all non-technical activities. In
1925 the Engineering Department
became Bell Telephone Laboratories,
Incorporated, and Mr. Clifford, as
Vice-President, was placed in charge
of the General Staff Department.

G. B. THoMAs attended a dinner
of electrical engineering students at
Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy, at which the Bell System cooper-
ative course was discussed. Mr.
Thomas also addressed a group of
senior students of electrical and me-
chanical engineering at Cornell Uni-
versity on December 14.

Joun Mitts addressed the Cen-
tral Association of Science and
Mathematical Teachers at Chicago
on December 1, on “Through Elec-
trical Eyes.” On December 13, Mr.
Mills spoke before the Engineering
students of Toronto University, and
on the following day, before em-
ployees of The Bell Telephone Com-
pany of Canada in Toronto, on re-
cent developments of these Labo-
ratories.

S. P. GRrAceE included in his lec-
ture program for December talks
before the Rotary Club of Brooklyn,
on December 6; Sigma Xi Chapter
of McGill University, Montreal, on
December 19, and employees of The
Bell Telephone Company of Canada,

R. A. DELLER spoke on television
before a group of Student Engineers
at the New York Telephone Com-
pany Headquarters. ‘Through Elec-
trical Eyes” was the subject of a talk
given by him on December 4 before
the A. S. M. E., A. I. E. E. and the
Providence Engineering Society at
Brown University.

EpwarpD AIKEN, a porter in the
Plant and Shops Department, died
on November 17. He had been with
the Laboratories since March, 1927.

L. S. O’RoarkK spoke on the elec-
trical transmission of personality be-
fore the Buffalo Section of the A.I.
E.E. on December 14.

W. F. JOHNSON AND B. B. WEBB
were in Trenton, Lawrenceville and
Princeton, New Jersey, in connection
with commercial matters involved in
the installation of four short wave
radio transmitters which the Lab-
oratories are manufacturing for the
Long Lines Department, American
Telephone and Telegraph Company.

P. May has been assigned to duties
at the Radio Station at Lawrenceville
where he will handle the commercial
phases incident to the installation of ©
the short wave transmitting sets.

H. W. Drppet recently visited the
Corning Glass Works, Corning, New
York, to arrange for the purchase of
glass needed for the enlarged tube
shop program.

W. B. WELLs visited Schenectady,
and J. W. Schmied and P. C. Smith
went to Washington, in connection
with the prosecution of patents.

The next dance of the Club will
take place on Wednesday, February
6, 1929. The music will be Herbert
Hood’s, and D. R. McCormack is
arranging something very special by
way of surprise. Tickets are $1.00,
and are obtainable from D. D. Hag-
gerty or the departmental representa-
tives.

Urged by importunate Brooklyn-
ites, the dance will be held at the Ho-
tel St. George. Contrary to the stub-
born preconceptions of out-of-town-
ers, Brooklyn Heights is quite as ac-
cessible for the average Club member
as Manhattan. The I. R. T. thought-
fully built the Clark Street Station in
a sub-cellar of the St. George —a
fact to be remembered by Jerseyites,
who will find that the trip from Cort-
landt Street to Clark Street is a mat-
ter of only fifteen minutes.

During the first half of the present
season the amazing record of one hun-
dred per cent attendance was estab-
lished. One hundred and sixty men
have bowled every Friday evening for
fourteen weeks, and four additional
alleys have been reserved for those
who are not members of the regular
league. These men, though not elig-
ible for league prizes, will substitute
in the order of their averages, for
possible absentees of the league
teams.

Club records show a decided im-
provement over last year’s scores.
There is keen competition for the
various prizes to be awarded. Spe-
cial interest is shown in the D. D.

Haggerty Trophy, which goes to the
bowler rolling the highest score for
the entire season.

On November 23, the league offi-
cers expressed the season’s greetings
by donating two turkeys, to be
awarded as prizes for the evening’s
highest scores. T. C. Rice and N.
Scribner, each, to borrow a phrase
from another sport, “got a birdie’.

The final event of the hiking sea-
son, on Sunday, November 25, nar-
rowly escaped the blight of supersti-
tion. Of thirteen who entrained for
Tuxedo only twelve were in evidence
at Tuxedo station. But the satisfac-
tion of those who had advocated
drawing lots to decide which member
of the party should be thrown over-
board was short-lived. The  thir-
teenth hiker, after buying a bar of
chocolate to round out his luncheon,
rejoin the group and the hikers gaily
hit the trail for Mt. Ivy.

Snow had not yet fallen in the city,
and the party was unprepared to find
it underfoot (as much as one-quarter
inch of it, in spots). No casualties
resulted from this cause, however;
the one snowball thrown, missed.

By way of the T-MI (Tuxedo-Mt.
Ivy) trail and voluntary detours, the
hikers wound their way through the
Ramapo hills to Ladentown. Since
the party was still full of vigor,
though the scheduled hike had been
practically completed, plans were re-
vised, and the hikers swung down the
road to Suffern. Such energy was
bound to be rewarded, and it was,

when the party came upon a cider mill
and stopped to sample its product.
Much refreshed, the group stepped
out with a will and reached Suffern
not merely in time for the train, but
with ample leisure for a sumptuous
repast in a nearby lunch wagon. And
so to home!

Though the official hiking season
is over, the committee is always glad
to get in touch with Club members
who are interested in that form of
recreation. If you have not already
made yourself known to them, call
Miss Barton, extension 857, or Alex-
ander Grendon, extension 637, and
make sure to be informed of the hik-
ing Club’s further activities.

The Laboratories team is tied for
first place in the Bell System League,
in spite of a handicap incurred at the
start, when it lost its first game to
the Installation Department of West-
ern Electric. A number of ardent
rooters have been witnessing the
games, and Manager Granville Mat-
thews is confident that our team will
repeat the splendid showing it made
last year. On Monday and Friday
evenings, games are played at Stuy-
vesant High School; on Wednesday
evening, at Erasmus Hall High
School. The games begin at 8:30,
and are followed by dancing.

The squad: Gittenberger, C. W.
Maurer, Steinmetz, Christ, Cahill,
Kirsch, Keogh and West.

First prize in the December indoor
golf tournament was won by J. G.
Dusheck, who defeated R. J. Nos-
saman two up. As a result, Mr. Dush-
eck, who obviously needs it least,
has a season membership in the In-
door Golf Course of America.

With memories of Christmas win-
dow-displays, the entrants rather ex-
pected to see a toy elephant in the
bushes of the thirteenth hole, or to
hear the rattle of an electric train
among the green valleys of the course.
So realistic was the scenery that play-
ers were seen trying to open the swing-
ing door of a supposed locker room.

Seventy-two entrants played twice
around and G. A. Brodley won the
medal offered for low medal score.
The sixty-four who qualified were
divided into two groups of four
flights each. Group 1, Flight A was
won by R. J. Nossaman, who early
established a lead over N. Thorne,
and finished at the Fifteenth, four up.
Other winners in this group were R.
Koernig, I. W. Whiteside, and J. A.
Hall. J. G. Dusheck took the final
match of Group 2, Class A from T.
C. Rice by six holes. Scoring six
‘“tholes in one,”’ and his usual cool-
headed putting contributed to this
victory. E. H. Clark, J. M. Hey-
wood, and E. K. Ebehardt were
the other winners of this group. Each
winner in the two groups received a
prize and the respective winners of
Class A played off for the special
prizes donated by the management.
In this contest, Dusheck took the
lead on the third hole. Nossaman
came up even, but lost his lead at the
ninth. He was two down at the six-
teenth, and by a twenty-inch putt lost
the seventeenth hole and the match.

Those elected as Club officers for
the coming year are: O. M. Glunt,
president; H. F. Dodge, first vice-
president; Marian Kane, second vice-

representative; J. W. Hultquist, Re-
search; P. B. Fairlamb, Systems De-
velopment; and J. C. Kennelty, Com-
mercial.

Two swimming classes will again
be conducted: one on Mondays from
7:00 to 7:30, starting January 7; the
other on Wednesdays, from 5:30 to
6:00, commencing on January 9.
‘Lhe courses will consist of eight les-
sons covering a period of ten weeks
at a charge of $2.50. They will be
given at the Carroll Club, Madison
Avenue and 30th Street, under the
tutelage of Miss K. Spranger.

The Bell System Basketball Lea-
gue, which this year has included the
girls’ teams, has provided a definite
schedule of games. Two have been
completed, with three more to be
played on the evenings of January
7 at St. Luke’s court, and January
16 and 30 at Erasmus Hall High
School. Games commence at 7:30
and dancing follows.

The Laboratories team played two
games outside its regular schedule,
winning on each occasion. The first
engagement was with the Federal Re-
serve team; the other, an exhibition

game with the Long Island Divi-
sion of the New York Telephone
Company. Further outside games
are to be booked. On our squad are
Ann Barioni, Marie Boman, Mari-
anne Grimm, Lilliam Kaempffe,.
Dorothy Murtha, Marie O’Neill and
Natalie Skinner.

Four women’s teams have been
bowling regularly every Friday since
October 19, 1928 at Dwyer’s. Though
the women’s bowling club is a new
departure, it has become an unusually
popular activity. Novices desiring an
opportunity to play may arrange
through Marion ane or Leona Feil
to act as substitutes for members of
the regular teams. Prizes will be
awarded at the close of the season.

After careful consideration, the
committee in charge of the Christ-
mas Poster Contest selected fifteen
of the best posters, submitting these
for final judging to two well-known
commercial artists. The winning
poster was reproduced and displayed
on the bulletin boards during the
Christmas season. It was made by E.
Alisch, of the Equipment Drafting
group who was awarded a prize of a
ten-dollar gold piece.

Bell Laboratories Record 1929-01: Vol 7 Iss 5