August 1949 Popular Science
[Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early
electronics. See articles from
Popular
Science, published 1872-2021. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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If you remember watching
movies and television shows up through the 1970s or so, you have probably seen
scenes (see what I did there?) where someone struggled desperately to place and
keep connected telephone calls to, from, or within foreign countries (outside
the U.S., that is). Our Bell Telephone Company was well known and respected for
the widespread, reliable, and quality network it built out across the land. A
continual effort to improve the system while containing costs to make telephony
affordable to most people is what did the job. Beginning with manually (or more
accurately, womanually) operated switchboards, then graduating to automated
electromechanical circuit switching centers, it eventually evolved to the
computer controlled and optimized solid state networking circuits of today.
Unlike the multitude of telecommunications companies today, Bell really had no
competition, so government oversight combined with the company's desire to
invoke good will amongst its customers helped keep things in check.
Self-promotions like this full-page 1949 Popular Science magazine
appearance were common.
Bell Telephone Laboratories Ad
The Future Holds Great Promise
Neither chance nor mere good fortune has brought this nation the finest telephone
service in the world. The service Americans enjoy in such abundance is directly
the product of their own imagination, enterprise and common sense.
The people of America have put billions of dollars of their savings into building
their telephone system. They have learned more and more ways to use the telephone
to advantage, and have continuously encouraged invention and initiative to find
new paths toward new horizons.
They have made the rendering of telephone service a public trust; at the same
time, they have given the telephone companies, under regulation, the freedom and
resources they must have to do their job as well as possible.
In this climate of freedom and responsibility, the Bell System has provided service
of steadily increasing value to more and more people. Our policy, often stated,
is to give the best possible service at the lowest cost consistent with financial
safety and fair treatment of employees. We are organized as we are in order to carry
that policy out.
Bell Telephone Laboratories lead the world in improving communication device§
and techniques.
Western Electric Company provides the Bell operating companies with telephone
equipment of the highest quality at reasonable prices, and can always be counted
on in emergencies to deliver the goods whenever and wherever needed.
The operating telephone companies and the parent company work together so that
improvements in one place may spread quickly to others. Because all units of the
System have the same service goals, great benefits flow to the public.
Similarly, the financial good health of the Bell System over a period of many
years has been to the advantage of the public no less than the stockholders and
employees.
It is equally essential and in the public interest that telephone rates and earnings
now and in the future be adequate to continue to pay good wages, protect the billions
of dollars of savings invested in the System, and attract the new capital needed
to meet the service opportunities and responsibilities ahead.
There is a tremendous amount of work to be done in the near future and the System's
technical and human resources to do it have never been better. Our physical equipment
is the best in history, though still heavily loaded, and we have many new and improved
facilities to incorporate in the plant. Employees are competent and courteous. The
long-standing Bell System policy of making promotions from the ranks assures the
continuing vigor of the organization.
With these assets, with the traditional spirit of service to get the message
through, and with confidence that the American people understand the need for maintaining
on a sound financial basis the essential public services performed by the Bell System,
we look forward to providing a service better and more valuable in the future than
at any time in the past. We pledge our utmost efforts to that end.
Leroy A. Wilson, President American Telephone and Telegraph Company. (From the
1948 Annual Report.)
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Exploring and inventing, devising and perfecting, for continued improvements
and economies in telephone service
Posted April 11, 2024
Bell Telephone
Laboratories Infomercials |
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