More information on “Advances in Automation”

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No. 1 Electronic Switching Station, Succasunna, NJ, 1965.

No. 4 Toll Crossbar at Western Electric, Kearny, NJ, 1941.

Mayor Frank Osborn of Alameda, CA (pictured) receives the first direct-dial long distance call from Englewood, NJ Mayor M. Leslie Denning, 1951.

Flying Spot Store Program Plate belonging to Charles Wilson Hoover, Jr., c. 1958.

No. 1 ESS Memory Plane.

No. 1 Electronic Switching Station, Succasunna, NJ, 1965.

The first Electronic Switching Station (ESS) was on Route 10 in Succasunna, NJ and was inaugurated by a ceremonial call from Governor Richard Hughes who was living at Morven. The ESS went into public service two days later on May 30, 1965

According to the June 1965 Bell Labs Record, this marked “the culmination of the largest single development project ever undertaken by Bell Laboratories for the Bell System.” This was the first of many commercial ESS stations to be deployed throughout the country.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

No. 4 Toll Crossbar at Western Electric, Kearny, NJ, 1941.

Crossbars of the 1930s made local connections, but the No. 4A was the first designed for long distance. It allowed operators to dial long-distance directly which made for faster switching, and “boosted” the sound quality. Connections were made with contact springs, arranged in horizontal and vertical bars, thus giving the name “crossbar.” The machine searched for an electrical pathway through which to route the call. The 4A Toll Crossbar went into service in 1943.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Mayor Frank Osborn of Alameda, CA (pictured) receives the first direct-dial long distance call from Englewood, NJ Mayor M. Leslie Denning, 1951.

The first direct dial long-distance call came from Englewood, NJ in 1951. It also marked the beginning of automated billing. Dialing a 10-digit phone number would connect Englewood subscribers to one of 11 million possible recipients.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Flying Spot Store Program Plate belonging to Charles Wilson Hoover, Jr., c. 1958.

A note on the back of this plate reads, “The stored program on this plate was used to establish the first telephone call through the Pre-Morris ESS on March 19, 1958.” Prototypes for the Electronic Switching System (ESS) station were built in Whippany in 1954, prior to field trials in Morris, Illinois. Charles Hoover designed the flying spot store (FSS), a type of memory storage.

Learn more about Erna Schneider Hoover in Gallery 4.

Collection of Erna Schneider Hoover.

No. 1 ESS Memory Plane.

Memory planes like this one housed the software program that made the entire switching system run faster and more cost-efficiently. The software, among the first ever patented, was created by Erna Schneider Hoover and Barry Eckhart. The electronic system was flexible. Changes could be made by switching out a memory plane instead of rewiring a new configuration. Visit Gallery 4 to learn more about Erna Hoover.

Learn more about Erna Schneider Hoover in Gallery 4.

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.