Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 70.djvu/326

322 the other, press the upper one steadily while pushing the lower one. If the line is not being used, your bell will ring every time you press the lower knob. If the line is in use, your bell will not ring. As soon as you hear the operator, give him your name and the name of the person to whom you wish to speak; then replace the telephone on the hook. When the person called for is connected with your wire, your bell will ring. Be sure, on removing the telephone again, to turn the hook switch as before, unless notified by the central office to turn in an opposite direction. When you are notified by the central office that a person wishes to speak to you, keep the telephone at your ear, as the person will be ready to speak as soon as you are notified.

Owing to the rapidity with which improvements and modifications in equipment appeared during the first five years, rarely did the subscribers in any two exchanges have the same type of instruments, the newer exchanges having the later types except where the most rigid economy was practised. Yet it often happened that when the patrons in one town learned that the subscribers in an adjoining town had a later type of instruments, the local owners were given no rest until up-to-date instruments were installed, even though the equipment declared to be antiquated and obsolete had been in use only from twelve to eighteen months.