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| Agnes Rogers, From Man to Machine, A Pictorial History of Invention, Little, Brown and Co. 1941 |
The telephone was patented in 1876. It caught on quick, by the mid eighties, telephone lines were strung everywhere.
By 1885, Boston and New York were connected, by 1892, Chicago to New York. New York to San Francisco took a little longer, that occurred in 1915. There were 47,900 telephones in use in the USA in 1900.
"47,900 telephones" -- each with its own dedicated line, looks like. No wonder that copper mining paid so well.*
ReplyDelete* The owners, that is, hardly the miners. See here --
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Country_strike_of_1913–1914
-- and follow the link therein to "Italian Hall Disaster."
Yes, initially when you bought a telephone,, you bought two with the wire to connect the two! Phones got much more useful after switchboards were invented.
ReplyDeleteIs there a date and location for this photo? Thanks.
ReplyDelete"Telephone wires over New York, 1887"
ReplyDeletealamy.com/stock-photo-telephone-wires-over-new-york-1887-38133194.html
I was born in 1949. One of my aunts lived in a rural area and had a party line. Once while visiting her the 'phone rang. Since I was next to it, I quickly picked it up, but the call was for a neighbor, not my aunt. My aunt took the 'phone and apologized to the caller and told them to try again. My aunt explained to me that I had to listen to the rings, like a slow Morse code, and only pick up when it was her code.
ReplyDeleteNowadays I often get over a half a dozen telemarketing/spam calls a day; it's hard to imagine party lines.
Jack from Illinois