General engineering problems of the Bell System

Note: This paper, read before the Bell System Educational Conference, Chicago, June 22–27, 1925, discusses the character and scope of the important problems involved in caring for the growth and operation of the Bell System. The plant extensions necessary to meet service requirements and the necessity of advanced planning are first taken up. The uses of the “Commercial Survey,” the “Fundamental Plan” and engineering cost studies are analyzed to illustrate how an engineer attacks the problem of furnishing satisfactory telephone service to the public. A discussion of the New York-Chicago toll cable and the telephone problem in New York City, as illustrative of specific engineering problems, concludes the paper.