Dial Telephones In Vaiden

Four Hundred Calls Made In First Hour Of Operation

Winona Times, April 7, 1939. P. 1 & etc.

Vaiden, Miss., played as with a new toy Wednesday when the dial telephone system was put in operation there.

As fast as the new phones were cut-in, the subscribers began to twist the dials, quite a large volume of calls were made.

Work of changing from the old “call the operator” system to dials has been in progress in Vaiden for the past month. Skilled employees of the Southern Bell Telephone Company have been engaged not only in installing the dial telephones, itself a big job, but in thoroughly overhauling and repairing the telephone lines over town. This has resulted in giving Vaiden a thoroughly modern and efficient telephone system. The heart of the system is located in a small brick building just off Highway 51. Here is a veritable maze of wires and gadgets which are nothing short of bewildering, and telephone engineers who installed it say it is the very latest word in equipment of this kind.

When a subscriber lifts the receiver he first hears what is known as a dial tone and then he dials the number of mechanical movements at the plant, all of which are automatic and positively certain.

All of the phone numbers consist of four digits and the first number is two and the two middle numbers represent the line number and the last 1-2, etc. These numbers perform separate operations. The first corresponds to the operator on a switchboard when she says “Number Please.” The next two numbers do the same thing she does when she plugs in the number you desire, and the last completes the connection.

The system operates on direct current supplied by batteries. Alternating current is taken from direct current taken from the battery.

Use of the dial phone is simple enough. All one has to do is remove the receiver and with the forefinger inserted in the holes above the numbers, turn the “dial” plate. When the four numbers corresponding to the phone number desired are thus dialed, the connection will begin to ring and continue until the party called removes his receiver and answers.

The phones installed are the very latest design in telephones with the most modern transmitters and receivers. This is indicated by the clearness with which they carry the human voice.

Long Distance connections is secured by merely dialing the word “operator” shown on the phone, or for any other reason the subscriber will want to communicate with the operator, this will communicate with the operator at Winona, which will make the long distance call or serve for any information required.

Undoubtedly, the new community dial system now in Vaiden, is a vast improvement over the old system, which had about reached the very last limit of inefficiency.

Kilmichael’s new dial system will be cut over within the next few days.