Quote:
Originally Posted by Racal Zonal
Scott
This has nothing to do with your original question but may interest you
from an historical and geographical viewpoint (last paragraph)
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Doesn't see to mention (unless on later pages) that Daniel Sinclair who was the District Engineer for the National Telephone Company's Glasgow District in the 1880's having been a Telegraph engineer previously with the North British Railway. He then moved to London as Engineer-in Chief in 1892 but when the Nat Tel Co were told in 1902 that they to be nationalised in ten years time he left to become General Manager to British Insulated Helsby Cables at their Helsby Works in Cheshire. It was he that persuaded BIHC (formerly Helsby Cables and originally the Telegraph Manufacturing Company founded in 1997) to acquire the UK and Commonwealth rights to the 'Strowger' automatic telephone system. BIHC were still producing telephones and manual switchboards both at Helsby Works and their factory at Edge Lane in Liverpool. BIHC were dabbling in automatic systems by 1909/10 as in the minute book of the Institution of Post Office Electrical Engineers for that time, there is mention of a talk to their Manchester Branch on 'Automatic Telephony' by W Lawson illustrated by slides and that 'through the kindness of Mr Aitken of the British Insulated Coy, a sample Line Switch and Connector were on view'. Early in 1911, the GPO had approached BIHC to provide automatic exchanges for Epsom and another 'Headquarters' PABX. It was at the BIHC Board meeting in early November 1911 that BIHC decided to form a separate company to 'look after' the automatic side of the telephony products and hence 'The Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company' came into being on the 1st of January 1912 taking over the running of the Edge Lane Works in Liverpool which became known as 'Strowger Works'. But manual telephone switchboards and telephones continued to be produced at Helsby. Dane Sinclair became a Director of BIHC (later BICC) and eventually Chairman of the Company until his death in 1930. When ATM was formed he was appointed Managing Director of ATM in addition to his job as General Manager of BIHC. I used to look after an ancient PAX at the BIHC Helsby works and an old guy who had worked there since 1919 used to come and chat about its history as he had interviewed in about 1921, people who had worked there since early 1887 and he recorded it all word for word! Great to have spoken to folk who went back to the early days of the telephone.
Incidentally, the was an internal automatic system installed by Andrew Carnigie at his Skibo Castle around 1906 and there were said to be other earlier systems but little has been found out about them