View allAll Photos Tagged switchboard
It's hard to believe you had to go through these "girls" to talk to anyone out of town.
Telephone switchboard at Chestertown, NY April 9, 1958
I believe this board was able to handle 8 simultaneous calls. The explanation below is preliminary--there is no documentation for the board.
There is a pair of switches in the below part of the board for each pair of cords, grouped vertically in pairs just like the cords, and right beneath them. The front switches have two positions, "ring" and "ringback." The operator pushes forward to ring the party which called (on the "answer" cord), called ringback, or the called party (the "call" cord), called ring. Turning the crank seen at the lower right would cause the magneto inside the switchboard to put "ring voltage" on the desired line.
This board would have been manufactured around 1915, in Lawrenceville, Illinois, just across the state line from Vincennes, IN. It didn't require being on the electric grid, so there are no lights on it. When a subscriber station magneto is cranked, the shutter at its position drops down, indicating a desire to place a call.
The operator would pull the back cord of a pair (the "answer" cord) and plug it into the proper socket for that subscriber, simultaneously pushing forward on the talk lever for that cord. At that point the familiar "Number please" request for call instructions was issued.
The next step would have the front cord of the pair (the "call" cord) plugged into the socket for the called party, and the operator would turn the magneto crank with the front switch in the back ("ring") position, to signal the remote station. Then the operator would listen for the called station to answer, and then pull back the listen key for that line pair, disconnecting the operator's voice circuit from those of the connected parties.
Protocol required that when the call was over, one of the two parties should "ring off," which would cause one of the shutters on the bottom two rows, called "call off" drops, to signal that the call was over. The operator would then pull the plugs to end the connection.
Note this is before the days of the dial.
I learned on 18 April that this unit is a "local battery" type of board. The on-board magneto was used to ring subscribers, and the subscribers' magnetos would provide the power for the call drops.
But the talk circuitry was expected to be supplied locally to each instrument, and separately at the switchboard. Back then it was via battery, in the early days expensive and dangerous wet cells. It looks like a simple adjustable-voltage DC power supply will work to safely provide the needed service.
This board is posed in the same spot where an almost identical board once served the Medaryville Telephone Company. Another picture in my photostream shows a woman named Ailsie Daughtee Hansell sitting at the console in this same room about 1915.
The Pay Phone has been hanging on the wall in the hallway for 17 years, and I had the other old phone related parts in a box in the basement. Today I decided to trade them out.
The candlestick phone is from the 1890s through 1920, when it had its last upgrade to a dial phone.
Underneath that, is an office switch board for a 5 phone system from Downey, California from approximately 1925-30, and below that is a 4 line rural switchboard from a very small exchange.
And to ring the bell at the top of the stack, is a magneto at the bottom.
Power factor meter on the left is marked in +/1 0.4 Cos φ, power meter on the right has a scale up to 25 megawatts (MW).
Exploring the former Ford Chassis Plant on Melbourne Road, North Geelong. The plant was closed and decommissioned in 2004, with the site lying empty until local carpet manufacturer Godfrey Hirst purchased it in 2011
spraypaint, indian ink, acrylic.. an old switchboard door i found.. a piece on Fukashima and the great wave that caused it.. painted this last year but only just realised i hadn't posted it.
opens up to reveal the next panel...
This switchboard is one of the few things in this building that actually showed a small amount of decay. There are spider webs at the upper right.
In the background you can see the beginning of the smokestack/chimney that you see in the outside pictures.
Label says: "Check Out These Crafty Devils! Hope you enjoy this bag of swag brought to by some of your favorite indie shops!" I have another label that starts off with "Are You An Indie Shopper?" too.
I usually include 1 postcard, 1 medium sized card, 2 business cards and 1 one useful promo (like a pencil, magnet or pin).
Backstory: So on the Thursday before Working Weekend the Switchboard students go together to brainstorm what they wanted to plan for the big day. Their idea was to dress Brent '14 up as Gumby; hand out ringpops and pub mix; and ask students and alumni "What can you teach Gumby?" and then pin these answers onto Gumby. So that's what they did.
Huge props to Leah, Martha, Brent, Rebecca, Paul, Kieran and Alex for pulling this crazy and delightful idea off.
Here's the incredible list of things Reedies can teach:
President John Kroger: About Heidegger's Sein und Zeit
Amy Bogran '89: "How to do your taxes"
Doug Kerns (Reed Parent): "The beautiful and simple dance of electrons in silicon"
Anand Panchal '13: Hindi/Gujarati
Derek Owen '97: "How to play the first few bars of Carmina Burana on the ukulele"
Will '13" "How to love"
Anna Fimmel '16: "All about neurons"
Kristen Biers-Jones '80: "How to take a blood pressure"
Sierra: "How to long board and power slide"
Ulrich Loft '94: German, cardiology
Daniel Baggott '95: software
Karen Silbert '13: Brain surgery (not)
Anonymous: explosives
Thomas Burns '98: "How to apply for a Fulbright"
John Cushing '67: "How to play the penny whistle"
Robert Smith '89: "How to foxtrot"
Zach Brown '13: YOLO
Mark Chen '95: "How to scrounge Mt. Rushmore Visitor Center successfully"
Jennifer Jordan '89: "How to start up"
Frida Cruz: "How to make a dream machine"
“Photo 7: The Switchboard of the Test Stand following the Modification.
Left the Paper Recorder with Drain Recorder, Thrust Recorder, Combustin Chamber Pessure Recorder, Throat and Nozzle Pressure Recorder, at the Right the Control Station”. From Wernher von Braun’s Doctoral Dissertation, page 29.
Under the Rock of Gibraltar are many military tunnels. Some have equipement left. This is an old electrical switchboard from one of the artillery stations up there.
“Photo 6: The Switchboard of the Test Stand following the Modification. Right Side: Pressure Gauge with Reduction Valves, High Pressure Valves, Bleeders and Manometers. Left Side: Control Station with Main Fuel- and Oxygen Valves and Armoured Observation Slit.” From Wernher von Braun’s Doctoral Dissertation, page 29.
From The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser
This image is for your personal use only. NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE.
Hmmmm, looks like I caught Mary eating dinner, and her main course is a .... wiener! That's quite a collection of expensive, fashionable bags on the couch beside her.
i would love to know if anyone can identify this man. my father was oic of this wireless station in the 2 years prior to its handover in 1971. he has some good memories of the local staff, some of whom had worked there for years.
Saigon, March, 1968: Soldiers from the 69th Signal Battalion man the switchboards that link Saigon's main headquarters with the rest of South Vietnam.
What it looked like on the morning crushing started. Closed down in 2005 and demolitioned between 2007-09.
Local Accession Number: 11_07_003290
Title: Waltham Police headquarters, Waltham, MA
Creator/Contributor: Grant, Spencer, 1944- (Photographer)
Genre: Film negatives; Group portraits
Date created: 1978
Physical description: 1 negative : film, black & white ; 35 mm.
General notes: Title from photographer caption.
Subjects: Police; Police stations; Telephone switchboards
Collection: Spencer Grant Collection
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: Copyright (c) Spencer Grant
Nixy and I had a great Switchboard blend coffee at E23 Relay Coffee on Concession Street. Great coffee, great conversation, great company
This old switchboard was hanging out at the Wilshire Ebell in a fairly dark second story hallway at the top of the stairs. You could easily walk past it and not notice it. The only light I had with me was the 580EXII, but with no remote trigger nor sync cable. It had to be fired from the hotshoe, so my bounce options were limited.