Telephone switchboard

Switchboard is the name for a telephone - hand switch. Until complete automation of the telephone network cabinets flaps were used to establish the call connection between two telephone subscribers. To each station, a pawl and a solenoid valve was associated with a simple mechanism. Each telephone set equipped at that time with a local battery. Did someone make a long distance call, he pulled the hand crank on his telephone set. He produced an alternating current that "his" electromagnet mounted to suit the switchboard. Thus, a metallic flap was released, fell down, and thus the young lady from the office told the connection request. This combined her Headset via the jack of the caller with the telephone set. What now expired, was strictly regulated in Germany by the Imperial Telegraph Administration means Instructions:

• Office: This office what's popular?
• Wishes to speak with number 44: Participants

When the desired party was free:

• Office: Please call

Otherwise:

• Office: Already occupied, will report if free
• Participants: Got it

The end of the call told the caller to the attendant by pressing it with the Crank. The attendant ended the connection and brought the flap by hand back to the starting position.

The operation of the cabinet doors was simple and yet very effective:

• The signaling of the connection request consumed no power to the local battery.
• The connection request was stored in a simple manner. It was not necessary that the attendant watched the cabinet continuously.

The exchange forces in large local networks had their work first perform standing up. Later, with the introduction of multiple fields, they were allowed to sit. With the rapidly increasing demand for telephone connections at the beginning of the 20th century, the pawls and case flaps were still further reduced. Up to 10,000 combination possibilities could be controlled by an attendant.

From 1895 also were light bulbs, with the introduction of the central battery operation, used for signaling. Was an incandescent cabinet from the switchboard.

There was also the meantime attempts to accommodate handles and signaling devices, tables, was worked on from two sides. From the official Berlin III is known that the tables were there, 85 feet long and contained 570,000 latches. A little later they went back over to the cabinet design.

Beginning with the development of automatic switching centers in Europe, from 1908 in Hildesheim, the switchboard lost more and more important. At the German Federal Post Office the last switchboard was decommissioned on 29 April 1966 at Lower Saxony Uetze. There were six telephone operators connected in three shifts around the clock 374 participants with each other and with the outside world. At Deutsche Post of the GDR, the last switchboard went into service in 1987 Falkenrehde inoperative.

Austria

In Austria, the first phone system with hand placement on 1 December 1881, taken in the 1st district of Vienna in operation. The automation started again in Vienna on 1 April 1905 where it was completed on 27 June 1925. In Austria, the last manual switchboard was shut down on 14 December 1972. The term " cover " for an extension number holds up today in the Austrian language.