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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1964-11-12, Page 8it EXPOSITOR, SEAMUS, ON!'., NOV.44, 1964 MONTHS OF INTRICATE WORK has been involved in bringing dial phones to Seaforth. • Shown at work in the new dial exchange preparing for the cutover on Sunday. is (uppe>,') Bob Macl'ilillan, a Bell splicer, splicing cable into the new Chalk Street office.. In the lower picture, B. Wiley, who is in charge -of the Northern Electric .installation, is at work on a frame in the exchange. (Expositor photos by Philips). • Seaforth- Numbers Change .With Dial Seaforth telephone numbers —including those for police and fire calls --will change when dial telephone service goes in- to service shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday, W. W. Haysom, Bell Telephone manager for this area, reminded telephone users this week. The new Seaforth Police number will be 527-1500. Fire emergency calls should be MINDFUL MAIDENS • The fourth meeting •of the McKillop Mindful Maidens was held at the home of Mrs. Ken Stewart on Thursday and open- •, ed by singing, the Institute Ode and repeating . the 4-H• Pledge: Ten girls answered the roll'call, "A defect in my posture. The next meeting will be held at the High •School on Thurs- day. Amy Stewart, Elaine Mur- ray. and Christine Pryce dem- onstrated good posture. Sanita-. tion and first-aid were taken by the leaders. Bonnie Stewart and Mary Lott Murray demonstrated what to do in case of fainting. made to 527-1100. "If you have any doubt about. a particular number, the tele- phone directory is your best guide," Mr. Haysom said. "All the new numbers as well as dialing instructions are inchzd- ed in the 1964 directory deliv- ered in .October. Telephone company service numbers are also listed in the new directory. Long distance. calls will be handled by • opera- tors. in Clinton after the dial' cutover, as will information calls. The Long Distance oper- ator may be reached by dialing "0". 'Information about num- bers not listed may be obtain- ed by dialing ".113", Mr. Haysom urged telephone users to check their directory for ' the. numbers of friends and business establishments which they call frequently and enter them in their Blue Book of Telephone Numbers. Addition- al free copies of the Blue Book are available in two sizes from the Bell business office in Gode- rich. OUR NEW NUMBER 527.1910 (Effective November 15) Call for your Feed, Grain and Fertilizer fequirements, 4fPNOTCH FEEDS LIMITED sEAFoarrr Procedure Changes on Party Lines When the new dial exchang at Seaforth goes to work o Sunday it will climax a task o looking into the future tha puts to shame the •fabled fo tune teller and his crystal ball Literally thousands of pian hours of `planning and thinkin have led tip to the.. time whet the cut -over will be made an the new dial system is put t work. The time spent is reflects hithe money spent. W. W Haysom,- manager for Bell Tele- phone in the area, said the to- tal_cost .of the new exchange will approach $523,000. When did the actual planning start? "That's as difficult to answer as the chicken -or -the -egg ques- tion," Mr. Haysom said. Each phase depended on the other phases. Mr. Haysom pointed out that Bell could not know how much the job would cost until Northern Electric, which does the bulk of tele- phone manufacturing, nor. how much the equipment would cost to build. Northern Electric al- so had to know the size of the building and the type of ex- change. The answers to these ques- tions depended on someone else determining how many tele - hones the exchange was expect- ed to' serve years in the future. These considerations had to be taken into account long ago. The planning started with the preparation of estimates on the area's growth—a- job requiring a lot of leg work, Here are a number of other questions that, had to be an- swered: numberr of trunk lines, how many. calls the '"exchange would' handle daily; plans for and construction of a, building ,to house the equipmnt; how much cable and outside wire would be needed; replacement schedule of -manual telephones, and technical details of the actual cutover from manual to dial operation. n f r- d u d 1 Egmondville • UCW Accepts Allocation The November meeting 'of the EgmondviIle UCW was held on Wednesday and opened with the worship service, "The' Form of a Servant," in charge of Mrs. Robert Tyndall. Psalm 145 was read responsively, led by Mrs. Ivan Forsyth. With Mrs. E. Durst as pianist, 'the hymn, "0 Master, Let Me Walk With Thee," was sung and Mrs. Stan - Jackson read the scripture from Philippians 2:1-18. Mrs. Tyndall took the meditation, "Our Call To Service," and Mrs. Charles Eyre led in prayer. The hymn, "Jesus Calls Us O'er the Tu- mult" .was sung and the sere= ice was closed with a prayer by Mrs. Tyndall. Miss Rena McKenzie,' acting secretary,' read the minutes and roll call, which was answered' with a verse containing the word `Peace'. A letter of thanks was read from Mrs, John Con- sitt. Mrs. Charles Eyre, supply secretary, reported that the parcel containing skates and socks had been sent and an- other bale of used clothing is to be sent. The 'report of the morning session of the Centre Regional Conference, recently held at Brucefield, was reported by Mrs. M. Haney, who said that 71.8% of the Presbyterial allocation had been raised. Miss F. Hous- ton reported for the afternoon session,' telling about a panel discussion that had been con- ducted by four ladies who had been to Alma College last sum- mer. UCW work in. the church- es is trying to fulfil the UCW aim to unite all the women of the congregation for the total mission of the church. It should be an in 'and out process—in the church and then out into the world. Mrs. I. Forsyth, reporting for the nominating committee said, all offices were filled except first' vice-president. It was figreed to assist Northside IJCW next spring when the annual Presby- terial is to be held, by serving the dinner to about 125 visit- ing ladies. The 'UCW allocation of $550 for 1965 was accepted. After some discussion, it was decid- ed that a committee meet with the executive of the youth groups to complete details for a meal to be served Nov. 18. Egmondville UCW bazaar will be held Friday, Nov. 13: The offering was received by Mrs. E. Papple and Mrs. A. Broadfoot. Rev. 'Mr. Scott reviewed chap- ter six of "The Word and the Way," speaking about "the Christians' view of miracles." A miracle is a sign of God's power and interest in us. God sometimes suddenly and local- ly does something in the form of a miracle. We could sax that a miracle is an encounter with God. Mrs. Durst sang • an Impres- sive solo, "Jesus Gives Me a Song." The meeting was con- cluded by singing "Jeans, Thou Divine Companion," end Rev. Mr, Scott pronounced the bene` diction. STYLES HAVE CHANGED since these Telephone operators were photographed at the telephone exchange in Seaforth in 1930: Seaforth has grown, too, and with the ' town's development the local telephone system has .expanded. There were only about 340 tele- phones in the Seaforth exchange area when this picture was•taken, but today there are nearly 740. Shown above, left to right, are Miss A. Seip, Miss E. M. Cluf ' and Miss R. EIder. Tuckersmith Phone System Adapts To Dial Phones (The story of the Tuckersmith Telephone System is based on information and recollections of W. McBeath, for many years linesman of the system, and J. K. Cornish, who retired this year after 25 years as secretary - treasurer. Certain of the infor- mation appeared for the first time a number of years. ago in the Clinto News -Record). Though` not quite as old as the Bell Telephone Company, the smallerrural systems' have served and are' continuingto serve their customers well The Tuckersmith Municipal . Tele- phone System has more than reached the half century mark, having had its beginning .in 1909, in the Township of ,Tuck- ersmit-h. Tuckersmith is the initiating municipality and holds the sys- tem in trust, being responsible for all moneys,, bylaws, etc., ,of the telephone system. Reeve of the township at that time was Robert McKay, who farmed on concession 4, LRS, the property now owned by Robert E. -Mc- Lachlan, RR 3, Kippen. The known directors were Thomas Shillinglaw, Peter McKay and James Gemmel, with Mr. Gem- mell acting as secretary. Debentures were issued by' the township to finance' the building of the system, and the rate' was $11.87 per, year per telephone, which wASmade up of $8.32 for the debenture payment, plus $3.50 for "Bell" switching. Built For $3,700 The original system was built by the Forbes Bros., of Seaforth, whb had the contract for a price of ' $3,700. Incidentally, 20 -foot poles at that time cost 65 cents each, and 25 -foot poles cost 95' cents. They were ship- ped, in from Michigan—quite a difference to the $5 and $6 paid for poles today. The farms ers drew their own poles and dug the holes on their own pro- perty. In 1909 the, system started.ofi with signatures for 264 tele- phones, .located as follows: Tuckersmith .Township, 199; Stanley' Township, 32; Hay Township, 3; McKillop Town- ship, '3; Hullett Township, 11; Hibbert Township (in Perth County), 10; Usborne Township, By 1911' the Township "of Stanley wished to have service extended to residents there, and this was known as the Stanley Extension. The rate per telephone was $12.72 per year, made up of $9.22 deben- ture payment, plus $3.50 for Bell switching, for 10 years. Building of the Stahley Ex- tension was under contract by Robert Smith, who still resides in the Town of Seaforth, Mr. Smith also built the Bayfield system, at the 'time' when Dr. Smith was reeve of the village. Bayfield has since reverted from ,village status to police village. Some of the promoters in Stanley were Reeve William Project Area Growth in Planning Telephone users in Seaforth were asked , this week tis co- eperate in ensuring that the opening of the new dial- office here is completed smoothly. Customers have been asked not to place "curiosity" or un- necessary calls at or near cut- over time. The switchover will be made at about 2 a.m. Sunday; a time when the volume of calls being handled by the exchange is rel- atively light. A few minutes before that time, operators in the manual exchange will ask persons plac- ing calls to call a few minutes later, using the . dial. The changeover is expected to take less than two ritinuteo 40 com- plete. • A Glenn, John A. McEwan, Adam Stewart and Alex McBeath, The Hawthorne Bros., of Seaforth, installed • some of the first phones and acted as repairme They were followed .by Bober Smith as service manager, In 1922 the system suffere a set -back with a severe slee storm, which cost them approxi •mately $12,000, and cripple service •• from February unti July. ' Take Over Bayfield ' In. 1926 the Ttickersmit Telephone System took ove what Was known as the Bayfiel Telephone Systems, which ha approximately 11 telephones. By 1932, subscribers—o.f. the 'System decided that it would be better if the affairs of the Sys tem -were handled by a cons instead sof the council and at a meeting in Brucefield jt was decided to form a com mission of •three Men. At tha meeting, commissioners appoint ed were Thomas Shillinglaw Tuckersmith Township; William 1MIcEwan, Stanley Township, and William Alexander, Hay Town ship. . The icommissioners are ap- pointed at the annual meeting On a one, two, three-year basis, which insures• that there is never more than one new man on the board at a time. In 1949 the System installed a,switchboard in .the village of Bayfield ' to improve transmis- sion facilities for a number of its ,subscribers. Some subscrib- ers were taken off the Hensall and, Clinton exchanges and in- cluded in the village itself: There are at present approxi- mately 275 services, and the operating. of the office is .under the management of Mrs. Mal- colm (Flo) Toms and her staff. Change To Dial telephones; a pole mileage of 180 miles, and 30 miles of bur- ied cable has been installed within the past two years, and n, approximately 600 , new dial t phones have been installed in the system. d Preparation for the Direct t Distance Dialing, which comes into ,effect at 2:00 a.m. next Sun: day cost the system approxi- " mately $100,.000.00. This expen- diture is being taken care'of by a '20 -year debenture. Preparations are being made h to change• the manual switch boayd at Bayfield over to dial d I in the fall of 1965. d , The system reaches from the outskirts of ClintonsBayfield in- to Hay and Usborne Townships to the south: into Hibbert Town- ship 2% miles east. of Seaforth. The 'system. 'is managed by - three commissioners, namely, Arthur Nicholson, Tuckersmith , Township; Harvey Coleman, of - Stanley Township, and Lloyd t Lovell, Hay Township. The sec- - retary-treasurer since 1940 and , until his retirement earlier this year was J. K. Cornish, Brum- field. When he assumed. office in 1940 the toll charges were approximately $200.00 a month. Now they run approximately $2,500.00 a month. Named to succeed Mr. Cornish was Mel Graham, who took office in March. • The plant management is un- der J. W. McBeath, Brucefield, who has been • associated with the system since 1922, and has been service manager since 1931, following Harry Dal- rymple. His assistants are Mur- ray McKenzie, Kippen, and Wil- liam Dowson, Varna, In 1954, the Bell Telephone Company notified the commis- sioners of the Tuckersmith Sys- tem that they were going to install a dial exchange build- ing in Clinton, and would not be in• a position to doi magneto switching for the .system after April, 1956. This meant that • the System either had to install •dial phones, or else put up a switchboard of their own. The subscribers meeting in Varna, decided to stay with their present arrange- ments and continue to have the "Bell" do their switching. As a result it was necessary to install approximately 265 dial telephone sets to take care of *he Clinton subscribers, along with dial equipment in the Bay- field office, to handle the needs of subscribers .there. The work of getting ready was started im- mediately as lines had to be divided to bring down the num- ber of subscribers on each cir- cuit to approximately eight. This work was completed and the .first dial phone was install- ed for W. E. Managhan, 'plas- terer, RR 5, Clinton, in Novem- ber of 1955. All dial phones in- stalled were of . the modern "500" series, which allow for clearer reception over longer distances. They were operated under common battery system until 2:00 a.m. Sunday, April 15 of that year, when all tele- phones on the Clinton exchange switched over to dial. Sleet Interferes During the sleet storm of March 1956, service was inter- rupted from one end of the system to the other, with many poles dn.wn and lines out of order. However, all services were restored within three weeks' time. Cost of that storm to the System was estimated at $2,000. The change -over to dial in- volved a lot of planning and work for• the Tuckersmith Tele- phone System, and an expendi- ture of approximately $16,000. Of this, some $1,000 was spent on telephone sets alone. The township loaned the system en- ough money to cover tate amotint necessary. This saved the sys- tem paying considerable inter- est through . debentures. The Tuck smithy Telephone System serve au area of approximate. ly 280• square 'miles; has \1,256 USe Batteries On New dial System Power to operate the Seaforth telephone system will be sup- plied by banks of large storage batteries located in the new ex- change building on Chalk St. The batteries are necessary because all the dial equipment gqpperates on direct current. The batteries are kept fully charged by means of special generators which convert the commercial power supply into direct cur- rent. The generators automatic- ally operate at the level requir- ed to replace the amount of power from the batteries which is being used at any moment to operate the dial, system. As the power to run the gen- erators is obtained from a com- mercial source, any' break in Cut -over Sunday Morning Under the dial system, party line users in Seaforth wi 1 em- ploy a different procedule for calling parties with whom they share lines than they will for calls to all other persons in the exchange area. - To call another party on your line; dial the number listed in the directory, After you have dialed the number, the busy signal will be heard. Hang up at once. Both your own and tite other party's bell will ring. When the ringing stops, this means the called party has an- swered. Remove the receiver and complete your call. If the called party does not answer, it is . necessary to re- move your receiver briefly to stop the ringing. Remember, ' it takes but a moment to place an Expositor Want Ad and be money in pocket, To advertise, just Phone Seaforth 141. that supply- would mean that they would be unable to oper- ate, To overcome the possibil- ity of an interruption in serv- ice from this cause, the batter- ies are large enough to oper- ate the exchange for eight hours without being replenished. When the normal power sup- ply is restored, the special gen- erators go back into actioa and automatically step up their out- put to recharge the storage bat- teries. Once the batteries have been brought back to normal, the generators return automa- tically to their regular output, operating just fast enough to keep the batteries at the proper charge. • NOTICE! To Subscribers of TUCI ERSMITH MUNICIPAL TELEPHONE SYSTEM Please Please check your Dial Number on telephone with directory listings in preparation for dial changeo ver at Seaforth and Hensall Exchanges. Anyone not receiving Dial i NIimber, Instruc- tion'Card or Directory, please contact: �. CLINTON EXCHANGE 482-9908 MEL GRAHAM Secretary -Treasurer, Bob and Moe HUARD Goderich St. Huard - of SERVICE STATION Wish to CITIES a SERVICE advise you of Seaforth the change in their phone numbers: OFFICE 527-0660 RESIDENCE 527-0852 IF YOU REQUIRE SERVICES for your car, give that number a call and join the growing number of satisfied customers. Starting this Sunday in Seaforth DIAL SERVICE WIDER LOCAL CALLING DIRECT DISTANCE DIALING DIAL SERVICE means faster, bet- ter telephone sdrvice for our Seaforth customers. Simply lift the receiver —listen for a moment to make sure you ,hear the 'Dial Tone'—then dial 527 plus fhe four figures of the phone you 'want to reach! WIDER LOCAL CALLING means that telephone users in Seaforth. will be able to call friends or associates in Clinton, and Hensall without Long Distance charges. You will simply dial the full seven figures of the number you want to reach. DIRECT DISTANCE DIALING (DDD) is the new and easy way of reaching a distant telephone without going through -an operator. You simply dial "1" (this gives you access to the Long Distance network), then the Area Code of the number you want to reach (only if it differs from your own) and follow with the sev- en -figure :dumber of the telephone you want to reach. Complete easy -to -follow Local and Direct Distance Dialing information will be found in the front pages of your directory. Remember .you dial access code "1" on DDD calls only. BELLBuilt, managed and awned by Canadians • • • 4 • • s • • • 4 • • • • •