Back in the day,
Bell Telephone Labs' name was synonymous with cutting edge technology and
brainiac scientists and
engineers, similar to IBM (International Business Machines), Boeing, Chevrolet,
Westinghouse, and Hewlett Packard, amongst others. Bell Labs often ran full-page
promotions in electronics magazines like this one in a 1955 issue of Radio &
Television News that spotlighted a method they developed for inspecting relay
contacts without having to remove it from the circuit. Prior to solid state switches,
electromechanical relays did the circuit routing for the millions of calls crossing
the United States (prior to that, ladies sitting in front of switchboards used cables
and plugs to route calls manually). Those relays opened and closed thousands of
times each day, so they were subject to a lot of wear and tear. Bell Telephone invested
a lot of time and money into designing high quality relays that would stand up to
the usage. They also developed this method for inspecting the health of relays to
assist in improving the design.
Bell Telephone Laboratories Ad
He's "fingerprinting" a relay contact.
Bell Laboratories microchemists have perfected an ingenious new technique for
"fingerprinting" relay contacts, the tiny switches on which a dial telephone system
critically depends.
Using a portable test set, a chemist makes a plastic print of a contact. On-the-spot
examination of the print with a microscope and chemical reagents quickly reveals
the effects, if any, of arcing, friction, dust or corrosive vapor. While the chemist
studies the print, urgently needed contacts continue in service. Findings point
the way to improve relay performance.
This is another example of how Bell Telephone Laboratories research helps to
keep your telephone system the world's best.
Above, Bell Laboratories microchemist applies plastic disc in heated clamp to
relay contact. Imprint reveals contours of surface and picks up contaminants, if
any. Part of portable test set is shown on table. Contacts, shown in small sketches,
are of precious metal fused to base metal.
Preparing disc for microscopic examination. On-the-spot examination may reveal
acid, alkali, sulfur, soot or other polluting agents peculiar to an area.
A microscopic look at disc often provides lead to nature of trouble. Unlike actual
contact, print can be examined with transmitted light and high magnification.
Here the plastic disc has picked up microscopic lint that insulates contact,
stops current. (Picture enlarged 200 times.) Traces of contaminants are identified
in microgram quantities. Inert plastic resists test chemicals that would damage
contact.
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Improving telephone service for America provides careers for creative men in
scientific and technical fields
Posted July 15, 2020
Bell Telephone
Laboratories Infomercials |
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Bell Telephone Laboratories - Time Domain Reflectometry - December 1948 Popular
Science
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The Future Holds Great Promise - August 1949 Popular Science
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Waveguide: 7/47 Popular Mechanics
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Wire Wrapping - 10/1953 Popular Science
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X-Rays, 4/60 Radio-electronics
- The Battle of
the Atoms, 4/1948 Radio News
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The Transistor, 6/1952 Radio-Electronics
- 90-Mile Laboratory
for Telephone and Television, 6/1945 Radio News
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Wire-Wrap, 10/53 Radio-Electronics
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EDT Crystals, 10/47 Radio-Craft
- Germanium Refining,
5/54 Radio & TV News
- Crystal Timekeeping,
1/46 Radio News
- Transatlantic
Cable, 11/56 Radio & Television News
- Pipe Circuits,
11/48 Radio & Television News
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Coaxial
Electron Tube, 6/54 Radio & Television News
- Thermocompression
Wire Bonding, 3/58 Radio News
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Radio Relay Stations, 8/52 Radio & Television News
- Isolators,
6/56 Radio & Television News
- Punch
Cards, 3/55 Radio & Television News
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Over-the-Horizon
Communications, 10/55 Radio & Television News
- Memory
Devices, 2/58 Radio & TV News
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Adventure in Silicon, 5/55 Radio & Television News
- Pipes of Progress,
6/55 Radio & Television News
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Project Echo, 11/60 Electronics World
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Testing Phones - November 1947 Popular Science
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Jacques Bernoulli, February 1960 Radio-Electronics
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Type-O Carrier System, October 1952 Radio-Electronics
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Electron Microscope, 4/1952 Radio-Electronics
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Thermistor, 11/1946 Radio-Craft
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Germanium Crystal, 1/1954 Radio-Electronics
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Lens
Antenna, 5/46 Radio-Craft
- Quality Control, 6/46
Radio News Article
- Transcontinental
Radio-Relay, 10/51 Radio & TV News
- Solar
Battery, 7/54 Radio & Television News
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Germanium Transistors, 1/54 Radio & Television News
- Cavity
Magnetron, 10/45 Radio News
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The Cableman, 10/49 Radio & Television News
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Coaxial Cable, 12/49 Radio & Television News
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Tin
Whiskers, 12/55 Radio & Television News
- Relay
Contact Inspection, 7/55 Radio & Television News
- Transistor's
10th Anniversary, 6/58 Radio & Television News
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Wire
Wrapping, 10/53 Radio & Television News
- Junction
Diode Amplifier, 11/58 Radio News
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Nobel Prize Winners, 2/57 Radio & Television News
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Diode Speeds Voices, 8/58 Popular Electronics
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Microwave Relays, 7/59 Electronics World
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