From the archive: Automatic phones 18 September, 1937

Published on 18/09/2012 01:58

THE first step towards the switching over of the Glasgow and district telephone exchanges to the automatic system will be taken on Monday, when the new “Director” Automatic Exchange at Halfway will be opened.

The exchange will be the first of its kind in Scotland, and the most up-to-date in Great Britain. New premises at Pitt Street will house not only the automatic portion of the Central Exchange, but will also provide accommodation for the necessary equipment and staff to enable subscribers in the network to obtain access to the rest of the telephonic world. The main switchroom contains what to the lay mind seems a bewildering accumulation of switches, relays, wires, meters, cables, but which is in fact a robot telephone operator, picking out the number desired by the subscriber. So simple is the dialling arrangement in the new apparatus that even a blind person can operate a telephone.