City Progress from Topeka, Kansas • 9

THE AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE TALKS ALL LANGUAGES. The automatic clock operates by a phonographic principle, the perpetual time record being about five inches in diameter and four inches in length, made of indestructible material. The speaking hands rest in hour and minute grooves, according to the time of day, and are automatically shifted by an electric regulator that keeps the time accurately. An automatic telephone subscriber who wishes to know' the correct time takes off the icceiver and twirls the calling device to the time number just as would be done in calling a subscriber, and instantly, ithout waiting or speaking, hears the correct time spoken in tones strong and distinct, repeated three times and then automatically disconnects. This device is the invention of a Chicago telephone expert, Harold 1).

Stroud, who has also devised a successful telephone meter for automatic telephones. Mr. Stroud is the inventor of the original semi-automatic telephone switchboard, but is now devoting his energies to the building of municipal telephone systems using automatic telephones. Mr. Stroud relates some amusing incidents connected Avith his experimental tests of the automatic time clock, which was first used in connection with the automatic system serving the central districts in Chicago.

When I first started the automatic time deck, says Mr. Stroud, people who ere told about it would call the number and as soon as they heard the voice of the machine, w'ould say, (live me the time, please or Time please not knowing that this was unnecessary. In most cases they would say Thanks or Thank you on hearing the time. One old gentleman wdio had an office in the New' York Life building and with w'hom correct time and timepieces wTas a hobby, one day called up the managers office and complained that the young man who gave out the time wras uncivil to him, stating that he had informed said young man that his time was one minute fast, that his watch wdiicli was never wrong said 1:21 wdien the telephone was saying 1:22, and for reply only had the same time repeated at him until he became angry and decided to report him. When told that the voice he heard was from a phonograph and that the reason why he did not get a reply to his original complaint was due to that fact, he remarked laughingly that the joke was on him, and asked if lie might come to the office of the company and -ee that wonderful machine.

When first put in operation the subscribers considered it such a novelty that they would hold -onto the telephone and listen to the time for many minutes. This proved troublesome, so the system had to be improved by introducing a switch in the exchange that w'ould only allow the time to be heard for ten seconds and w'ould then cut the party off. This soon came to be expected and as a result the people hung up their receivers as soon as they had heard the time. We used to surprise the people by having the time clock speak the location of fires during the time they w'ere listening. If they heard the fire department pass and immediately called the time number, they -would hear a voice giving the location of the fire.

No charge was made for the time service, or needed to be, because it saved having people to answer time requests. This shows how invention meets the needs of public service, instead of denying service such as time and fire location calls, as is the general trend of Bell practice. The popularity of this system of giving time was such that over 51,000 calls in one day were recorded on the meters connected with the switches that made the time connection. Colorado Progressive. The illustration here shown is used on the Automatic telephones in Chinatown, San Francisco and in Honolulu, where the Chinese use the telephone.

In Chicago the Chinatown telephones also have an exclusive Chinese directory in which even the advertisements appear in the Chinese characters. Note in the dial plate above, how the first three characters denoting, one, two and three may be understood, a long line with an enlargement at the right end means one, two of these is two, and three is indicated by three of them, the rest is too deep for us, but every Chinaman knows the characters and having no need to speak to an operator, finds the Automatic telephone a great help. Dr. Sun Yet Sen used the secret Automatic telephone in Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Columbus and many other cities and thus was able to transact his business of raising funds for the last Chinese revolution, though a price of $50,000 w'as on his head and the secret service of two governments were after him, he said to Frank Moy, one of the big Chinese of Chicago, and many times a millionaire, that if it had not been for the Automatic telephone, he would not have been alive to see the Chinese nation become a Republic. The fact that each subscriber can make his own calls over the automatic phone without having to speak to an operator, provides a system best adapted to communities where many languages are spoken.

Any one with a hand can use the Automatic. Many blind people prefer it. You will see a letter in this paper from a gentleman in Topeka whose mother, though blind, prefers to use the Automatic telephone. THE TALKING CLOCK. A recent invention adds to the automatic telephone another valuable feature that is popular where it has been used, and saves a large expense that otherwise would burden the service and help to keep up the cost of telephones.

The practice of asking central for the time has grown to enormous proportions in some cities, and it is estimated that in the city of Chicago thirty-six operators would be required to do nothing but answer calls which are only requests for time, at which rate each operator would have to give the time 1,000 times per day and that would only be at an average rate of once per day for each subscriber. If operators are only paid an average salary of $500 per year the time service, for which no charge can be made, is $18,000 per year in Chicago for salaries alone, to take no account of equipment ued, space and other elements involved. This shows Iioav a simple custom grows and multiplies, becoming a burden that cannot well be shaken off, as much as the telephone companies would like to be relieved of it. The greatest ingenuity of this wonderful era of invention has been expended in Avorking out the solution of telephone problems and the time problem for telephones is now solved for cities fortunate enough to enjoy the automatic telephone now' being generally adopted in foreign countries under public ownership, and in use in four score of American cities and toAvns under private ownership. On the day that the parcels post law went into effect some wise brick manufacturers sent a thousand paving bricks through the mail to test the efficiency or the Uncle Sam Express company.

But the joke was on the brick men, for those bricks went right through on first class schedule without a scratch, and were neatly piled up in the brick companys office in Chicago..