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Telephones and Telephone Operators
Long before the computer-generated voice that you now hear when you dial the operator or directory assistance, there actually were real human beings called telephone operators who answered those calls.
From the 1880s to around 1905, the calls came into telephone rooms like the one you see below. Each operator sat at their own switchboard wall and routed the calls.
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| Telephone rooms like this one had walls of switchboards with operators who connected calls because there were no phone numbers in the 1880s. |
In the infancy of the telephone invention, there were huge switchboards that connected customer calls but early on, they were connecting primarily business-to-business calls until private residences had telephones installed in the late 1890s.
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| There were special long-distance phones in "silence cabinets" and the customer paid for the call afterward. If he didn't pay, he was locked in the cabinet until police arrived! |
The first residential phones were the windup (no dial) box-type phones. Department stores and mail-order catalogues like Sears and Montgomery Ward advertised the telephones for sale to homeowners starting around 1896. Although it was an expense to buy the phones, the money that was paid to the phone company was "rental money" - the customer didn't "own" the phone. Except for housing, most people viewed rental money as wasted money when they could own something outright.
The first phones were pretty simple to use. I couldn't find an advertisement for a windup phone dated from the 1890s. The closest windup phone I found was the Sears ad below from 1908 that sold two phones for $9.50 (which was $264 in 2019 dollars), but they only had a distance of up to 5 miles. Notice the weight!
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| Sears Roebuck's 1908 catalogue advertised this Battery-Operated phone with a range of 50 feet up to 5 miles. So if you wanted to talk to someone who was 20 miles away, this phone wouldn't do the job. |
The residential telephone didn't have a dial in the 1880s and 1890s because there were no phone numbers. It was a two-person setup which meant that your phone had to be directly connected to the person you wanted to talk to. Both of your phones stayed connected until one terminated the arrangement.
To use, you simply wound the handle to the right of your phonebox which made the other phone ring. When they answered, then you were able to talk to each other uninterrupted. Because only the two parties were connected, there were no intrusions from other people as you would a few years later on a party line.
The downside was that you couldn't talk to anyone else on that phone. If you wanted to talk to other people, you had to get more phones.
Around 1904 when the telephone lines were done being constructed within cities and from city to city, home phones came with dials. They were able to call multiple phones using phone numbers which were assigned around the end of 1904. But calls that were long-distance, defined as ten miles or more, were operator-assisted. They answered your call with "Number please?" then connected your call.
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| Beginning in 1904, operators answered with "Number please?" and was used by all Bell Companies by 1912 |
Given that there was a depression going on, telephones were a luxury and rather costly by 1877 standards. If you shared a phone number with a party line, you not only had people listen in on all your calls, but your bill was much cheaper.
As seen in the picture below, the annual rental bill in 1877 for two telephones was $20 per year (which is $488.71 in 2019 dollars). For a party line and two phones, the bill averaged $8.00 per year (which is $223 in 2019 dollars) to $14 per year (which is $391.50 in 2019 dollars).
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| Two phones were leased at $20 in 1877 came to $488.71 in 2019 dollars) |
You may remember reading in your history lessons in elementary school that Alexander Graham Bell applied for and was granted a patent for his telephone invention in 1876.
What you may have forgotten is that there were others who contributed to the invention. As with most of our modern technological conveniences, inventors of other devices had marked their place in history when they filed patents to document their contribution on various steps of the process, so Alexander Graham Bell was actually expanding on the progress made by other inventors before he invented his final product.
In 1667, British physicist Robert Hooke invented the acoustic string phone, which was a tin-can telephone similar to the toy you may have played with as a child of the 1950s and referred to as the lover's phone.
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| Lover's Phone, two tin cans and a piece of wire |
In 1753, Scottish scientist Charles Morrison was credited as developing a theory that each letter of the alphabet could be transmitted by wire - the first idea for a telegraph. But he didn't hold a patent on the telegraph machine that was in use from 1837 onward. That was Samuel Morse, also the inventor of Morse Code.
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| Morse Code was developed in 1837 by Samuel Morse, but the forerunner was a theory developed by Charles Morrison in 1753 |
For over 100 years, the only form of communication was the telegraph. In 1875, Bell was experimenting with his harmonic telegraph which was used to help teach the deaf but it was his first inkling that sound could be transmitted over the wires. In March 1876, Bell said to Mr. Watson, his assistant "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you."
Thomas Edison had his hand in there as did Johann Philipp Reis, Elisha Gray and those seen here.
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| Each man contributed something to the final invention. |
It wasn't enough just to invent the telephone. The amount of work that went into bringing it into every home and business was astounding. Businesses got first dibs on telephone installation, but a lot of work had to be done first - miles and miles of wiring.
In 1877 the first telephone line was constructed from Boston, Massachusetts and Somerville, Massachusetts.
By 1880, there were almost 48,000 telephones across the United States. In 1881, telephone lines to Providence, Rhode Island were connected to Boston, Massachusetts. In 1892 lines between Chicago and New York were constructed and by 1894 New York and Boston were connected.
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| Bell Telephone Switchboard Exchange buildings were in every neighborhood |
At the same time, the switchboards and switchboard exchanges were installed in buildings, one in nearly every neighborhood to answer the calls within the five-mile radius which was the capability of most phones at that time. Local calls could be routed through the city by operators and they could also relay long-distance calls from one city to another.
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| Switchboard Exchange (1950s) |
If you are 60 years old or older, you might remember the Bell Telephone Building in your neighborhood. The only way you knew what the building was for was because of the telephone company vehicles in the parking lot.
Bell Telephone later became AT & T, and finally, Verizon. As the computer age approached, the telephone exchange buildings were phased out.
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| Sears 1916, there is still no dial on the phone yet the prices went up a lot. |
As more people got phones installed in their homes, the system had to be tweaked to keep up with demand. More operators were hired to man the switchboards. I know in my city, besides healthcare and the Electric Company, the next biggest employer was Bell Telephone Company.
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| Switchboard operators in Seattle Washington in 1952 |
Although Alexander Graham Bell holds the patent for the telephone and we can see that other people contributed to the process until Bell developed the final product, since then, many people helped to improve Bell's telephone invention even better - from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs.
And like many other inventions past, present and future, there will always be contributors who will be credited with inventing parts of the process along the way. When the final product is presented to the public, like Bell, Morse, and Edison, that is the guy whose name will go in the history books as the person who obtained a patent on the invention.
You can read the story of Alexander Graham Bell's years of experiments to his final invention here.
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The Proper Storage For Cereal
I Really Hope Nobody Keeps Cereal In The Fridge
I don’t know anybody who stores cereal in the fridge. I shouldn’t need to say this, but the fridge is not a place where cereal belongs. The moisture inside will cause the cereal to wilt and become much less crunchy.
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| There are some people who store cereal in the fridge, but it isn't proper storage. Food companies go to great lengths with additives to keep their cereal from becoming moist in the box. So why put it in the fridge? |
Cereal should always be stored in a cool dry place, such as a pantry or a cupboard.
Nobody likes soggy cereal.
Hmm. . . Unless you’re one of those people who like soggy cereal. . .
Please tell your friends about our blog. Thank You.
Hmm. . . Unless you’re one of those people who like soggy cereal. . .
Please tell your friends about our blog. Thank You.
Quote Of The Day - Here's A Gift
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| Take what you need, then gift one to someone who needs too. |
Pass it on.
DID YOU KNOW? STORING BREAD
Don’t Dry Out Your Bread
Nothing dries out bread faster than leaving it in the refrigerator. At cold temperatures, the bread will turn stale, dry, and tasteless. Also, the bread acts as a kind of sponge and it will soak up whatever odors are lingering around your fridge.
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| Store bread in a breadbox, or in your microwave, but never in the refrigerator |
To be safe, store leftover bread in a breadbox. It is a closed-off box that will keep moisture from escaping from your delicious bread. If you don’t have a breadbox, you can always store your bread in a microwave. Just make sure you don’t accidentally turn it on.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for stopping by.
How To Grow Your Own Basil
Grow Your Own Basil
You shouldn’t store basil cuttings in the fridge. Refrigerators are dark and your basil can’t get any sunlight in there. Basil has been known to wilt in the fridge.
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| Basil |
Place any leftover basil in a cup half full of fresh water, and then place that cup by a sunny window.
Your basil will last a lot longer, and it may even sprout roots, which means that you can replant it and grow infinite basil.
Ice Cold Melons
Melons Don’t 'Need' To Be Refrigerated
But they sure taste good ice cold. However, when melons are kept at room temperature, their natural antioxidant levels stay in balance so that their health benefits stay intact.
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| Melons lose some health benefits when placed in the fridge. Store at room temperature |
If you want delicious ice-cold melons, store them at room temperature. About two hours before you are ready to eat them, slice the melons to your preference, then layer them on plates. Cover with plastic wrap, then place in the fridge. Enjoy ice-cold melon one to two hours later.
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Elevator Accidents in the 19th century
Elisha Graves Otis and his two sons liked to tinker with devices, always looking for things that could make life easier. Focusing primarily on public high-rise buildings which were being built in big cities, they were experimenting with safety devices for the steam-powered elevators that were in place since 1823. Steam was changed over to hydraulics in 1835 and in 1845, hydraulics began to work in unison with counterweights and balances to increase the elevator's lifting power.
The public was deathly afraid to ride high up in the sky in elevators. The safety devices that were invented in the following few years helped to reassure the public that the electric elevator was safe.
Elisha Graves Otis was all about making small devices to assist bigger devices and making existing machines safer or less complicated. He established the Otis Elevator Company in 1852, long before ever building his first elevator.
The shortlist of inventions attributed to Otis and his two sons were a railway safety brake to quick-stop a locomotive, rails to move four-poster beds, devices to improve turbine operations, a hoist to lift heavy equipment, and the one that would bring him fame - a safety device which kept the cab of an electric elevator from falling if the cable broke.
For two years, he tried getting his invention to catch on but no orders came in. He busied himself with inventing other devices until 1853 when an idea came to him.
He took his device to the 1853-1854 World's Fair held in New York and signed up as an exhibitor at the New York Crystal Palace which was constructed for the "Exhibition of Industry of All Nations." Otis and sons built a platform which was raised high in the air, and in a death-defying demonstration, he gave the signal for the rope to be cut that lowered the elevator to safety. To his surprise, the orders from office buildings came flooding in.
The first passenger elevator was installed in 1857 using his safety device. However, Otis did not invent the elevator. He invented a safety device. Elisha Otis died April 8, 1861. Just a few months before, he obtained a patent for his drawings of the safety device on January 15, 1861. His foresight made the Otis Elevator Company a household name.
The first electric elevator was invented by Anton Freissler in 1880, based on ideas of a German entrepreneur named Werner von Siemens who was a builder. He installed 584 electric elevators in Austria and Hungary.
Ideas by an American naval officer/inventor and business associate of Thomas Edison named Frank Julian Sprague further developed the electric motor, electric trolleys, electric railways, and electric elevators. His company, the Sprague Electric Elevator Company, was sold to Elisha Otis in 1895.
The first office building in New York City to have passenger elevators was the Equitable Life Building which opened in 1870.
Columnists and newspaper stringers sure knew how to write a story in those days. They kept the article short, just the facts, and they made the headline grab the reader's attention. Boy, did they ever!
Consequently, from the late 1800s to 1900, one of the most common headlines we saw while doing some research was "Beheaded By Elevator" or "Decapitated By An Elevator."
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| Passenger and freight elevators changed over to electric |
Take a look at some of these stories and notice the various styles of how reporters wrote about bad news.
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| May 9, 1880, 11-years-old |
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| May 14, 1880, handyman &  &  &  &  &  May 29, 1891, 15-year-old boy &  &  March 12, 1896, grocery porter &  September 18, 1896, elevator man &  &  & 
June 26, 1898, elevator operator
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November 29, 1900, 30-year-old man
We stopped with the year 1900 because there were about 120 more articles that were similar in content. It was amazing how many people had accidents in elevators, some caused by the victim themselves, and to see how safeguards have come such a long way since then. Thank you for stopping by today.
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Did You Know? Avocados
Avocados should not be stored in the fridge.
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| Avocados |
Avocados Do Better On The Counter
If you have some unripe avocados that you want to ripen up, the fridge is definitely not the place for them.
The cold air causes avocados to ripen more slowly.
Leave your avocados in a cool, dry place, like on your counter left open (uncovered).
The cold air causes avocados to ripen more slowly.
Leave your avocados in a cool, dry place, like on your counter left open (uncovered).
LIES ABOUT FOLIC ACID - VITAMIN B-9
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| Don't believe everything you read on Infographics. Some, like this one, have false information |
Are you a reader of infographics?
If so, I will bet that you believe that they were written by experts, or at the very least by someone who had some medical background.
They didn't.
If you believe the information on them, please don't.
Infographics are created with a computer program by people just like you and me. They make them for lots of reasons.
Primarily they are informing others that:
1) they know how to make cool infographics
2) that they can copy and paste like a pro
3) that they didn't research the information
Instead, they copied the information from one or more sources and they never bothered to research to see if the information was true.
In other words, they didn't do any homework.
I would like to point out some information on this infographic. It is only one infographic from among a dozen or more on Pinterest with false or misleading information.
This one states that Folic Acid is Vitamin B-12. It is not.
Folic Acid is and always has been Vitamin B-9.
It also states that Folate deficiency can be diagnosed with a blood test. The fact is that it must be diagnosed with a blood test since that is the only way to measure it.
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It is true that Folic Acid is not helpful for people who have normal blood levels.
It is true that Folic Acid is primarily helpful to pregnant and nursing women.
It is true that Folic Acid works best when taken with Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin C.
But there are a few other things that are not true.
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There is another incorrect value on this infographic that could lead to detrimental side effects.
This is especially concerning if the reader is an uninformed consumer who believed what she read, and ran right out to Walgreens to buy Vitamin B-12 to start their daily RDA of 400 mg. (milligrams).
If that same consumer learned after she arrived at the store that Folic Acid was indeed Vitamin B-9 and not Vitamin B-12 and had she bought Vitamin B-9 instead, that consumer could become very ill with devastating side effects from overdosing on 400 mg of Vitamin B-9.
The infographic SHOULD SAY 400 mcg.
One milligram equals 1000 mcg.
So 400 mg is 400,000 mcg.
Oh My!
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It may not seem like a big deal, but it really is a big deal when so many people rely on the information they read on infographics, especially on Pinterest.
Please read the demonstration at the end of this post.
Be smart.
Research before you put your beliefs into what you have read on infographics.
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Other errors are on the description at the top where it says the vitamin "prevents obesity, prevents heart disease and various cancers, including colon cancer."
This is not true either. It is actually illegal to say any supplement "prevents" a certain disease or ailment.
People who have obesity or colon cancer in their family history will expect to be protected and may find they became obese or got colon cancer anyway.
Listed in the BENEFICIAL box on the right, the author claims that Folic Acid is beneficial for "thwarting heart disease" and "helps keep the brain young."
This is also a falsehood, probably copied from somewhere, but more likely the creator is fudging the benefits of Folic Acid.
People expecting their brain to keep young are going to be very disappointed.
There's no conclusive scientific evidence that Folic Acid keeps your brain young and it has no effect in thwarting, putting off, preventing or treating heart disease, colon cancer, or obesity.
These are buzzwords (or keywords) meant to capture Search Engine robots to place the infographic better in search results.
Your body gets the amount of Folic Acid that it needs from your normal daily diet. It is a water-soluble vitamin which means it is not stored for later use. Taken in normal doses, whatever the body doesn't need washes out of the body with urine.
See for yourself. Search for Folic Acid benefits on Google. Then visit at least five different websites to make sure the information is the same.
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So what are some of those devastating side effects I talked about? Ok, here goes. These were results on all ages of patients who were given 15 mg of Folic Acid for 30 days.
FIFTEEN milligrams, not 400 mcg, not 400 mg.
If the uninformed consumer who went to Walgreen's to buy Folic Acid also has kidney disease (or on dialysis), has an infection, is an alcoholic, or has any type of anemia that has not been confirmed with laboratory testing, Folic Acid is not advised.
But if that uninformed consumer didn't know that, she would be taking a lethal dose.
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In one test study of 100 epilepsy patients, the National Institute of Health (NIH) reported that after taking 15 mg a day for 30 days, increased seizure activity was seen in some epileptic patients whose daily medications included phenobarbital, primidone, or diphenylhydantoin.
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In an NIH study of patients ages 50 -75 years old who received 15 mg daily dose of Folic Acid for one month, the following overdose symptoms were observed:
numbness or tingling, mouth or tongue pain, weakness, tired feeling confusion, or trouble concentrating, nausea, abdominal distension, flatulence, bitter or bad taste, altered sleep patterns, difficulty concentrating, overactivity, and impaired judgment, allergic responses including skin rash, itching, general malaise, respiratory difficulty due to bronchospasm, anaphylaxis including shock, irritability, excitement, mental depression, and confusion.
If the uninformed consumer who arrived at Walgreens to purchase Folic Acid also takes any of these medications, the side effects are stronger:
raltitrexed (brand name Tomudex for chemotherapy), phenytoin (Dilantin), methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexall), nitrofurantoin, an antibiotic (Macrodantin, Macrobid), tetracycline, an antibiotic (Ala-Tet, Brodspec, Sumycin), a barbiturate such as butabarbital (Butisol), secobarbital (Seconal), pentobarbital (Nembutal), or phenobarbital (Solfoton), or pyrimethamine (Daraprim) which is an antimalarial drug that is like Quinine.
Many people, young and old, are routinely prescribed a form of Quinine for leg cramps.
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Now, suppose the uninformed consumer who went to Walgreens to buy Folic Acid was a 79-year-old female senior citizen who after believing the incredible claims that she read on an infographic on Pinterest proceeded to take 400 milligrams of Vitamin B-9 (Folic Acid).
After 30 days at 400 milligrams a day, she was suffering from mental depression, confusion, impaired judgment, periods of dementia, and fluctuated back and forth between irritability and outbursts.
Her family doctor gave her a cursory exam without benefit of extensive testing and concluded she was a victim of dementia that comes with old age. He was unaware that she was taking mega-doses of Vitamin B-9.
The family followed the doctor's advice to admit her into a long term nursing facility where the intake coordinator decided to place her in the psych wing. Families usually don't bother to investigate. They'll assume that their loved one finally got Alzheimer's Disease and they will follow a doctor's advice.
She wasn't crazy. She took a dietary supplement in overdose amounts for 30 days that caused the symptoms.
Even though Folic Acid is a water-soluble vitamin, senior citizens can't drink the amount of water needed every single day to wash out even half out of the mega-dose she took every day. After 30 days at such high doses, it can cause permanent damage.
She will only get worse. She will likely be ignored just like other patients in facilities like that because no one listens to or talks to senior citizens who aren't "with it." Because of little or no interaction with others, symptoms have two levels - they either stay the same or they get worse.
She will remain there in that condition because it was logically assumed that her mental symptoms are a normal progression for a senior citizen.
All because no one did any research.
That is what it all comes down to - Research.
Do yours. I did mine.
Please tell your friends about this post that they should research first before they believe what they read on health-related infographics. Thank you.
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