US690289A - Telephone-meter. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Dec. 3|, I90l.

H. A. HOLDREGE.

V TELEPHONE METER.

(Appiication filed June 3, 1901.)

(No Model.)

' INVENTOR.

B2: 7 T v M W.

TTORNEXS WITNESSES 4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. HOLDREGE, or CHIC-AGO, ILLINOIS.

TELEPHONE-METER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,289, dated December 31, 1901.

Application filed June 3. 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. YHOLDREGE, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,haveinvented anew and useful Improve- The prime object of the invention is to socontrive the electrical devices and circuits that an individual subscriber may call the central office for a connection in the usual manner, he answered by the central oflice, and the usual attemptbe made at the central office to secure the desired connection without operating the register, which latter is not operated until the called subscriber has been put in connection with the calling subscriber and not then until the connection thus made has been broken by the act of the operator at the central office in removing the answering-plu g. The arrangement is such that only the first step toward the operationof the registering device is taken when the connection between the two subscribers is completed, the registration itself being completed only when that connection is broken. This is accomplished by means of a polarized relay operating in connection with each of the electromagnetic registers (one for each subscriber) and a reversing-relay in each of the cord-circuits at the central office in conjunction with the usual circuits and instruments now commonlyin use, and herein consists the invention, generally stated.

The accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, shows in diagramlnatic form the invention in connection with a central station and two subscribers telephones.

In said drawing, A represents what we may suppose to be a calling-subscribers telephone and the electrical and mechanical apparatus there situated.

B,in like manner, represents what may be supposed to be the telephone of the called subscriber.

All the other circuits and apparatus shown Serial No. 62,878. on, 51011 1.)

on the diagram may be supposed to be located at the central station. 1

In order to distinguish more clearly the devices and parts and circuits which are now commonly in use from those which have been changed or added in furtherance of the presentinvention, the latter have been marked upon the diagram in dotted lines, while the former or' old parts and circuits are shown in full lines. With reference to the well-known parts shown in the diagram it will be sufficient to state that a represents the callingsubscribers transmitter; a, his receiver; a his call'bell; a his condenser, and a a the two parts of his line-wire, while I), 6, b b b and b are corresponding parts of the receiving-subscribers apparatus, and in like manner at the central station 0 is the operators transmitter; c, the operators receiver; 0 the ringing-generator, and c the operators condenser.

D is the usual ringing-switch; D, the usual listening-switch; E and E, the usual supervisory relays; F, the repeating-coil; G G, the call-signal lights; H H, the supervisory-signal lights; J, the answering-plug, and J the connecting-plug.

K K are the answering-jacks for receiving the answering-plug, and-L L" are the connecting-jacks for receiving the connecting-plug.

M M are the cut-elf relays, and N N the call-relays.

O is the battery.

Thus far described the apparatus is precisely such as is in common and general use in many telephone systems now in operation.

Referring now to the parts which have 'been added and which are shown in dotted lines, P is a reversing-relaythat is to say, an electromagnet which when energized operates a switch or switches in such manner as to reverse the direction of the current through the line controlled by said switch or switches,

Q is a polarized relay, the current through which is controlled by the reversing-relay above mentioned.

R is the registering-magnet, the armature R of which is connected to the mechanism of the register S.

T is an extra contact-point at the cut-off relay for closing the circuit through the registering-magnet R when the cut-off relay is energized.

U is a contact device for the armature R- of the register-magnet, which is closed when the register-magnet is energizedand the register operated for cutting out the operation of the polarized relay.

The operation of the circuit and apparatus is as follows: Suppose the subscriber at sta tion A removes his receiver from its hook and by that act closes the circuit through his main line to the central oiiice. The circuit will then pass through the call-relay N, which will close the circuit through the call-signal light G, whereby the operator at the central office is warned of the call. The central operator will then insert the answering-plug J into the answering-jack K, which energizes the cut-off relay M and by causing the movement in its armature closes contact'at the contact-point T.- At the same time and by the same energy the cut-off relay disconnects in the usual manner, as will be seen, the circuit to the call-signal light G. The central operator is now in position to talk to the calling subscriber, as will be readily understood,

and, having ascertained, for example, that a connection with thesubscriber B is required, inserts the connecting-plug J in the connectinggi'aek L, and at the same time closes the ringing switch D, which signals the subscriber B by ringing his bell; Now when the subscriber B takes down his telephone, and thus closes his circuit, shu nting his condenser b the effect is to energize the supervisory relay E, and thus close the circuit through the reversing-relay P, which reverses the circuit through the polarized relayQand causes it to swing its armature and close contact at contact-point q, whereby the circuit is closed through the register-magnet R, and its armature R is thus broughtinto contact with the contact-point U, so that the circuit will be maintained through the register-magnet R thereafter, even though it shall be broken through the polarized relay, and will continue thus so long as the contact remains unbroken at the contact-point T. This is important, because it may happen that the operator at the central station or the subscriber at either of the subscribers stations may break the circuit by moving the telephone-hook or by the central operator at thecentral station by removing the connectingplug J, any of which things may be done in this arrangement and under such circumstances without deenergizing the registermagnet R. However, when the subscribers are through talking and one or both of their receivers are hung up and their circuit'thus broken and the central operator finally removes the answering-plug J the contact at the contact-point T is thus broken and the register-magnet R thus thrown out of circuit completely or denergized, and the armaturespring 3 then comes into action and withdraws the armature R, to which is connected the rod 3', which enters the register S and operates the same mechanically to move the register-wheels, and thus register an additional number or unit. It will not be necessary to describe the, mechanism inclosed in the register, as any well-known counting mechanism operated by a single mechanical impulse may i be employed. 7

From the foregoing it will be seen that each complete connection had by any one sub scriber with anyother is automatically registered without any special or unusual action of either the calling or called subscriber being required and that this takes place only after the connection has been completely made at .the centraloffice'and finally broken at the central office, and, moreover, requires no special manipulation on the part of the operator at the central office beyond the usual manipulations now required, and, furthermore, in no way interferes with the operation of the usual signaling devices now commonly employed, so, that the register will indicate, and only indicate, completed calls where the calling and called subscribers have been in actual communication, and such registration cannot be produced or brought about by any act'of the subscriber or subscribers alone nor by any act of the operator at the central office alone, but requires the joint action of the operator at the central oiiice and two subscribers, so that perfect assurance is given that the register will indicate automatically exactly what is desired shall be registered, and all of this without any special manipulation on the part of the subscriber or of the central operator, and all of this, too, notwithstanding any attempt that may be made by either subscriber or operator, to signal each other or the central office by manipulating the telephone-hook.

In the central upper portion of the diagram three unlettered resistance-coils are shown. This is an old device already in use in conjunction with supervisory-signal lights, such as H and H, which have been heretofore used in a similar relation. Such signal-lights are commonly constructed to burn on a difierence of potential of twelve volts. The battery of the exchange is ordinarily constructed to supply about twice that voltage. Now the two upper unlettered resistance-coils in the diagram are connected, it will be seen, in series with the lamps, and thus deliver the proper current to the signal-lights when said signallights are burning. Now when -the supervisory relay E is energized and its armature drawn up the lowermost one of the three unlettered resistance -coils is brought into a shunt-circuit around the lamp H, so that a portion of the current to said lamp is thereby diverted from said lamp and the lamp thereby dimmed or nearly extinguished. The coil on the reversing-relay P serves as a similar resistance for dimming the signal-lamp H when the supervisory relay E is energized. The general purpose of this arrangement is to enable the operation of the two signal lights after the plugs J or J are inserted in their respective jacks without breaking the circuit through said plugs-in other words,

to enable the operation of the signal-lights as required and at thesame time maintain the circuit through the plugs. I do not claim to have invented this arrangement, which is a well-known one, but merely insert this description so that the construction illustrated in the diagram maybe understood.

I claim- 1. In a telephone system consisting of a central office and two or more subscribers telephone-stations, the combination with the in-.

struments and circuits thereof, of a mechanical registering device, a register-magnet for operating the same, a polarized relay which controls the register-magnet, and a reversingrelay which controls the polarized relay, subtral office and two or more subscribers telephone-stations, the combination with the instruments and circuits thereof, of a mechanical registering device, a register-magnet for operating the same, a polarized relay which controls the register-magnet, a reversing-relay which controls the polarized relay, anda circuit closed by the armature of the registermagnet, whereby after said register-magnet has acted a reversal or interruption of the circuit through the polarized relay cannot break the circuit through the register-magnet, substantially as specified.

4. In a telephone system consisting of a central office and two or more subscribers tele phone-stations, the combination with the instruments'and circuits thereof, of a mechanical registering device, a register-magnet for operating the same, a polarized relay which controls the register-magnet, a reversing-relay which controls the polarized relay, and a switch in the line to the register-magnet, as for example the armature of the cut-off relay, which magnetis controlled by the answeringplug of the central operator, whereby the removal of said answering plug will break the circuit throughthe register-magnet and permit the registration to take place, substantially as specified.

H. M. MUNDAY EDWARD S. EVARTS.

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