A character-metered transatlantic switching system

In addition to offering public telegram services over transatlantic facilities, cable and radio carriers today offer various forms of temporary, switched teleprinter interconnections between correspondents, upon request of a calling party, in a manner and through means characteristic of long-distance telephone calls. Regardless of forms of the national teleprinter exchanges involved, the international portion of the haul is usually between manual boards at central offices. The placement of a specific call over a particular idle two-way trunk among those at the moment available is controlled by concerted action of the two operators guided by information exchanged over a parallel order circuit or “bid channel” connecting them.