Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 38, Number 276, 27 September 1913 — Page 38

PAGE SIX

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM, SATURDAY, SEPT. 27, 1913

STARR FACTORIES WERE OHJl EIGHTH George Trayser Founded the Concern With James Starr in 1872.

Operation of Richmond's Automatic Telephone Plant Very Interesting

George L.. TrayHer, who with Mr.

James Starr organized the Starr Pi-)

ano company here in 1872, was an Alsatian by birth, having served his apprenticeship in the piano factories of Germany before coming to this

ano industry was thorough as indi

cated by the many successful instruments which he was later able to manufacture. The first pianos made by this firm were made In the building now occupied by the McCarthy Grocery company on the corner of North Eighth and Elm streets, although the facilities here soon proved inadequate and the plant was moved to the site of the present factories. The growth, while not rapid for the first several years, was steady, and under the management of Benjamin Starr, who later became the active head of the institution, it gradually assumed a position of national importance. Affect Reorganization. In 1893 a half interest in the organization was purchased by Henry Gennett and John Lumsden, who reorganized the company, extending the sales affiliations. Mr. I-umsdon was elected president; Henry Gennett, vice president; and Mr. Starr, secretary and treasurer, and general inanacer of the manufacturing end. Un

der Mr. Starr, Harry Gennett, now vice president of the company, was apprenticed, and through him the ideals and efforts of Mr. Starr were carried on to the present day. At the death of Mr. Lumsden in 1897, Henry Gennett was elected president; Harry Gennett, vice president; Mr. Starr continuing as secretary and treasur- . er. Later at the death of Mr. Starr in 1904, the officers were again changed, the present staff being Henry Gennett, president; Harry Gennett, vice president; Fred Gennett, secretary; and Clarence Gennett, treasurer. This organization is one of the largest In the country devoted exclusively to the manufacture of high grade pianos and player-pianos, and has been developed from a small factory with an output of a half dozen pianos yearly to one of the largest in the country, whose annual shipments will average fifteen thousand. Every device contributing to the economical manufacture of pianos and player pianos has been installed and throughout, the factory is a model of scientific efficiency. Salesrooms are operated in practically all the large cities of the United States and from them are conducted agancies in every section Foreign Shipments Good. The foreign shipments from this company are rapidly becoming very extended and as rapidly as the manufacturing conditions will permit these goods are being exploited in the foreign fields. South American shipments have always been a big factor In the affairs of this firm for the durability of construction has made them particularly valuable in the hot and moist countries. This is one of the firms which has been foremost in placing Richmond on the commercial map of the country. There are more than eight hundred men on the weekly Starr pay roll in Richmond alone, while in the sales organization there are almost as many more. The factory has not closed operation nor have there been labor troubles in the history of the organisation. The working men of this factory are the leading members of the church and social life of the city, and have been instrumental in developing Richmond into one of the foremost cities of the Central West.

ONE OF ERIN'S FAIRIES.

A Tricky Chap Is Ireland's Little Old Man, the Leprechaun. The story of the boy who was exhibited throughout Scotland as a genuine Irish leprechaun leads one to ask what exactly a leprechaun Is, for, of course, each variety of fairy has Us special characteristics. The leprechaun is peculiar to Ireland and is In the form of a little old mnn. by profession a maker of brogues. He Is only discovered by the sound of the hammering of his brogues, and any one capturing him can induce him by threats to reveal where hla wealth Is hidden. But no one yet has laid hands on that wealth, for if you take your eye off the leprechaun for as much as a second he has the power of vanishing, however tight you may hold him. And his Ingenuity In making you glance away Is always successful. Only once did that ingenuity fail, a'nd even then the treasure escaped unpillnged. A careful peasant, proof against all temptations, kept his eye on the lfttle brogue maker until the money was revealed in a field of ragwort. But be had no bag. So he tied his garter round the particular plant under which the money was hid and went to fetch one, only to find on his return that every ragwort in thejield was adorned with a red garter. London Chronicle.

In the spring of 1907 the Richmond Home Telephone company commenced rebuilding its open wire plant prior to the installation of the modern switchboard and it has now practically an all cable plant. During the early part of the spring 120,000 duct feet of underground conduit was installed and all cables were pulled in shortly after. For the past seven years the Home company had been giving service with a Magneto Board, but it had outlived its day of usefulness and the company decided to install an up-to-date switchboard. The Automatic Electric company, Chicago, received the contract to build an automatic telephone exchange of the divided board or sub-station system. All of the sub-stations are absolutely fireproof. The main office is an elegant twostory concrete building of the Colonial style of architecture. The first floor contains the general offices of the company with the chief inspector's room and a small work-shop in the rear. The large and spacious switch room is located on the second floor as also is the toll room and the power room. Thus it will be seen that the entire central office equipment is contained on one floor which fact enables the attendant to have all the apparatus under direct supervision. The three sub-station buildings are identical with one another in construction, the inside dimensions being 14 feet square, and have an ultimate capacity of 600 main lines. They are built entirely of brick' and concrete and consist of one room with a small

brick enclosure for the battery. Fig. 1 also shows the exact distance between the main ofice and each of its subs. Nearly all of the trunk cables between Main and the sub-stations ate underground and that which is aerial has been strung on concrete poles, which are something new in pole line construction; the concrete head which carries the sub-station No. 1 trunk cable across the Whitewater river bottom is an exceptionally fine piece of work. This lead consists entirely of 60 foot poles. All the concrete poles in Richmond were constructed Dy the American Concrete

Pole company. In laying out the Richmond plant the engineers aimed to locate the sub-stations in the outlying residence section of the city in order to realize the large saving in cable construction to the Main office which this system makes possible. With this end in view sub-station No 1 was located on the West Side and two line switch units (No. 3000 and 31000) were installed in it to handle all traffic in that section; sub-station No. 2 was built on 'the North Side of the city with one line switch unit installed (No. 34000) and on the East Side substation No. 3 is located with two line switch units (No. 3600 and No. 3700) installed. The main office is situated in the central down-town district and contains apparatus for serving subscribers located on the South Side and in the business districts. Here is also found the equipment which operates in conjunction with the sub-station apparatus. By the term "line switch unit" is meant a complete one hundred line switch-board. A line switch unit consists of one hundred so-called "line switches" and ten connector switches. These line switches correspond to the line relays of a manual switch

board and further contain a simple step-by-step device so arranged as to automatically select the first nonbusy trunk of the ten outgoing trunk lines leading from each group of 100 to the main office; the ten incoming trunks to the unit terminate in the ten so-called "connector syitches," which are mounted around the base of the switch-board. These "connector

switches" are used to handle all incoming calls to the one hundred sub

scribers terminating on each unit. Only twenty-five pair are necessary between each line switch unit of one hundred subscribers and the main office switch-board, thereby making an actual saving of 75 per cent in the cable construction from the outlking districts to the main office. In addition to the line switch units there is also installed in each sub-station a small 46 volt Chloride Accumulator Storage Battery, one No. 10 Cook's Cross Connecting Frame and a Supervisory Power Panel. The three sub-station batteries are charged from the main ofice over the regular incoming trunks so that no extra charging circuits are needed for this purpose. The busy test and ringing current is also fed out to the substations from the main office. S,ince there are no attendants on duty at the sub-stations a very ingenious supervisory and tell-tale circuit was installed between each substation and the main office in order that the switchboard man at main of

fice would have complete supervision over each sub. The; circuit consists of only one wire per sub-station and is wired in such a way that the blowing of a fuse or heat coils or in fact any irregularity of the mechanism will

give an audible and visual signal at the main office. The beating of the sub-stations also had to be regulated in some manner and this was done by placing an ordinary 16 c. P., 110 volf lamp on the inside of each line switch unit so that when the dust proof covers are let down the heat from this lamp will be

retained within the boards and the

apparatus kept in an even temperature. These lamps are controlled automatically by means of a termostat located within each board. Another interesting feature in connection with the sub-stations is the wire chiefs test circuit. The tenth incoming trunk or connector switch on each line switch unit is wired for testing any subscribers' lines and

these trunks appear in the wire chief's desk in the main office so that he can plug in on any sub-station board, call the desired number with his calling device and proceed with the standard wire chief's tests. As stated above the entire main office equipment is in-stalk-d on one floor of the building thus making a most modern plant All the trunk switches for main office and the sub-stations are mounted on boards located on the left of the line switch units. Space for future growth has also been provided for these boards. To the left of the power-board is located the supervisory board for the entire plant. On this board is mounted in separate groups the tell-tale and alarm lamps for each office and also the relays used in connection with

the charging and supervision of the sub-stations. All the power wiring both at the sub-stations and main office is done in iron conduits laid under the floor of the building and according to fHe Underwriters' rules The wire chief's desk, which is located near the distributing board, is a two position desk, one position equipped . Besides the standard instruments and keys for making tests there is also installed in this desk special circuits for testing the substation subscribers' lines. In the space between the two-positions there has been installed ten rows of lamps and answering packs which are in multiple with the outgoing trunks from the sub-stations. If for any reason a trunk line should be in trouble the supervisory lamp representing that particular trunk will glow and the wire chief will then- plug in by means of the answering jacks and locate the trouble. This part of the desk is very similar to a monitor desk in the manual exchange. The toll and farmer line board and also the trouble and information desk were manufactured and installed by the Automatic Electric company. The toll and farmer line board is a two section, four-position multiple board, the woodwork being finished in golden oak. Only one farmer line position is used at present, the second being blank but both toll positions are fully equipped.

PROVERBIAL CORNER DRUG STORE BUSY Emergency Cases Treated at So-called "First Aid" Headquarters. In probably no line of mercantile or professional endeavor is there the variety it being a miniature department store and its existence so seemingly an absolute necessity as the proverbial corner "Drug Store." As applied

to Richmond's eighteen pharmacies j there is no exception to this rule for j at the apothecary in this city can be j found Uncle Sam's postage stamps, a free telephone that is used by the pub-. lie more than all other business phones ;

combined, a free city directory, all in- j formation regarding .outgoing and in-1 coming trains, interurban and city j

street cars, a rest room and waiting station. In emergency cases and minor ailments such as bandaging cuts and burns, the pharmacy is quickly sought as "first aid" headquarters. To legally operate a drug store the present day Indiana druggistsnust be what the state terms a full registered pharmacy. The laws of the state require that to become a full registered pharmacist, a state board examination must be successfully passed which means that previous to this the successful pharmacist has had the required years of study and practical drug store experience and in most cases having successfully passed a rigid college of pharmacy examination. Among the drug stores In the city are: Conkey, Fosler, Sixth and Main; Fosler, Richmond avenue; Dickinson, Fihe, Luken, Magaw, McDonnell, J. A. Quigley, M. J. Quigley, Ross, SudhofT, Thistlethwaite, South Eighth; Thistlethwaite, North Eighth and Thistlethwaite, Sixth and Main, Toler and Westcott.

The special feature of this board is the mounthing of all relays, excepting those used in the cord circuits on a separate relay rack mounted in the toll room. Provision was also made so that during hours of light traffic all the information-, trouble and recording toll trunks can be switched onto the farmer line position thereby making it possible for one operator to handle all the calls. The automatic

subscribers call all farmer lines by !

means of automatic switches but the connection from farmer to farmer and toll to farmer are made at the party line position. A fire alarm circuit was installed in the information and trouble clerk's desk so that when an automatic subscriber sends in an alar mby calling the main engine house No. 1234, the operator will also receive the report and be ready to give the location to subscriber's calling for same. This circuit can also be switched onto the farmer line position during light traffic.

Westcott Hotel Among the. Best Hostelries in the Middle West

The Warden-Westcott hotel 1s one of the inest and most modern hotels In the middle west The lot and hotel building cost $150,000. It has 110 rooms, each provided with hot and cold water and tele

phone. Forty-seven of these are provided with individual baths. This hotel is operated on the American plan and special arrangements have been made to accommodate large automobile parties from in and out of the city.

T. G. Warden Is president of tht Warden-Westcott Hotel company. Tht company is capitalized for $48,000.O. H. Barrows, manager .jd! . lh Westcott. has had many years .expert ence- In the management of terse ho tels. and is well known throughout th country.

A party of forty-five girls left Van couvcr for Montreal recently, but onlj five of thera reached their destination the other forty having got married oi the way. ,

SOMETHING

EVERYBODY

PIPE

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Chain and Belt Drive, Single or Twin Cylinder, prices $165.00 to $250.00. two slightly used machines, which we will sell cheap.

We also have

POPE BICYCLES $26.00 to $40.00 with Coaster Brakes, and fully equipped. POPE QUALITY HAS NEVER BEEN QUESTIONED ELECTRIC FLASHLIGHTS AND NOVELTIES

We have the most complete line of Flashlights, Batteries, Small Motors, Engines, and Automobile Lamps in the city. SPALDING SPORTING GOODS We are closing out our entire line of this well known make of Sporting Goods at Cost, and have some bargains to offer. UMBRELLAS AT ALL PRICES If you have a good handle we can put it on a new base. We also re-cover and repair umbrellas. SOME OF THE THINGS WE REPAIR: Bicycles, Umbrellas, Locks, Typewriters, Adding Machines, Etc! We also Re-tire Go-Carts

Established Over 25 Years Ago

43 North 8th Street

FATHER OF ALL HOT SPRINGS.

Its

PRESIDENT OF HOME BUILDERS' COMPANY

Carlsbad's Famous Sprude? and

White Robed Priestesses. The Sprudel is the most ancient of all Carlsbad's fountains, the father of all hot springs, and still pours forth the greatest flood of all.

It rises like a geyser in its basin, a J

steaming, spouting column an inch and a half thick and from six to thirteen feet high. Around it stand priestesses, the spring girls, dressed in lovely white waterproof uniforms. They fix the drinking cups at the ends of poles and catch the water as it comes fresh from the earth's heart. The geologists call Carlsbad's fountains virgin or volcanic water. They have their sources in no rainfall sinking to fill subterranean reservoirs. Created in those glowing inner laboratories of mother earth, the water here leaps to light and air for the first time. Pagan memories seem to stir in one at the thought. It becomes easy to believe that the springs bring from recesses where it has lurked hidden since creation some magic, unspoiled, primeval energy and that the cheerful, smiling CJerman peasant girls who toil so tirelessly are captive woodland creatures serving forces more ancient than tb md. Hner' ilattxinow

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PHONE 1040

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Meet our meat once and we're sure you'll eat it always. We have installed a brand new refrigerator, one which will keep our meat in first-class condition, always fresh for you. Newfixtures have also been added. A clean, sanitary shop.

ED KEMPER.

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We have at all times a complete stock of fresh meats. All choice cuts, etc., 'are cut by an experienced butcher.

See

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Smoked

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GAM

IN SEASON

Use Our Own

CURED BACON

"That Satisfying Taste"

Po

y

We can furnish your table with any desirable size chicken. We have them

Pressed and

Undressed

Our own and Cincinnati sausage always on hand.

Phone No. I040

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