Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: In Defense of GTE and their Apparatus Message-ID: Date: 13 Sep 89 13:42:17 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: AT&T ISL Lincroft NJ USA Lines: 18 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 373, message 7 of 11 > Telephone Exchange Co., which was formed in 1891 by Almon B. Strowger. > Strowger was the inventor of the first practicable telephone switching > system, commonly referred to as step-by-step (SxS). > > [... And an old story has it that the > inventor did so because he was paranoid about the operators diverting > profitable business calls from him to one of his competitors. Any > truth to that? PT] Yes there is truth to that story. A. B. Strowger was an undertaker in Kansas City, Mo. When a close relative of his chief competitor (I think it was a sister-in-law) became the operator, Mr. Strowger noticed a sharp decline in the calls he received from customers. To combat this, Mr. Strowger invented the SXS switch. Kevin L. Blatter AT&T - Bell Labs Standard Disclaimer