Editing Strowger switch (section)

== History ==
Strowger, an [[Funeral director|undertaker]], was motivated to invent an automatic telephone exchange after becoming convinced that the [[Telephone exchange#Manual service exchanges|manual telephone exchange]] operators were deliberately interfering with his calls, leading to loss of business. According to the local [[Bell Telephone Company]] manager Herman Ritterhoff, Strowger swore to "get even" with the telephone operators and "put every last one of them out of a job." Ritterhoff claimed in 1913 that the real cause of Strowger's difficulties was a metal sign hung on his wall over his telephone, causing an intermittent short circuit when blown by the wind.<ref name="SiouxCityJournal-Ritterhoff">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111684147/originator-sought-revenge/ | title=Originator Sought Revenge | work=Sioux City Journal | date=19 March 1913 | accessdate=20 October 2022 | pages=11}}</ref>   

Strowger conceived his invention in 1888, and was awarded a patent for an [[Telephone exchange#Early automatic exchanges|automatic telephone exchange]] in 1891. The initial model was made from a round collar box and some straight pins.<ref name="KansasCityStart-Ritterhoff">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111684614/the-automatic-phone-sprang-from-a-collar/ | title=The Automatic Phone Sprang From a Collar Box | work=The Kansas City Star | date=27 May 1928 | accessdate=20 October 2022 | pages=71}}</ref>

While Almon Strowger devised the initial concept, he was not alone in his endeavors and sought the assistance of his brother Arnold, nephew William, and others with a knowledge of electricity and financing to realize the concept. The [[Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company]] was founded in 1891.<ref name="MemphisAppealAvalanche">{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111681710/the-telephone-girl-must-go/ | title=The Telephone Girl Must Go | work=The Memphis Appeal-Avalanche | date=31 October 1891 | accessdate=20 October 2022 | pages=8}}</ref> In the original design patent, four keys were added near the telephone, one each for thousands, hundreds, tens and units, with each key having an additional wire connection to the central exchange. Each key had to be tapped the correct number of times to step the switch and make the desired connection. To connect to number 1256, the user would press the first key once, the second key twice, the third key five times and the final key six times.<ref name="AkronDD-Dialling">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111694973/how-it-connects-telephones/ | title=How It Connects Telephones | work=Akron Daily Democrat | date=5 November 1892 | accessdate=20 October 2022 | pages=3}}</ref>

The company installed and opened the first commercial exchange in his then-home town of [[La Porte, Indiana]] on November 3, 1892.<ref name="EconomicHistory-GoodbyeOperator">{{cite journal | url=https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/econ_focus/2019/q4/economic_history | title=Goodbye, Operator | author=Price, David A. | journal=Econ Focus | date=Fourth Quarter 2019 | pages=18–20}}</ref><ref name="TelEngMgr-TTY">{{cite journal | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A3293717/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=69f0c3af | title=Telecommunications through the years | journal=Telephone Engineer & Management | date=June 1984 | volume=88 | pages=244}}</ref> The exchange had around 75 subscribers. The installation followed the original patented design, with four keys and four additional line wires connected to the exchange, but not all of the keys were used.

Early advertising called the new invention the "girl-less, cuss-less, out-of-order-less, wait-less telephone".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P7frHugG1SQC&dq=girl-less+cuss-less+telephone&pg=PT76 Rochester's Remarkable Past] By Donovan A. Shilling, Pancoast Publishing, 2011</ref>

In 1896 the company patented a finger-wheel dial as an improvement to the existing four-key design.<ref name="BellLabRecord-Hill">{{cite journal | title=The Early Years of the Strowger System | author=Hill, R. B. | journal=Bell Laboratories Record | date=March 1953 | pages=95–103}}</ref> 

The Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company became the [[Automatic Electric Company]], which Strowger was involved in founding, although Strowger himself seems not to have been involved in further developments. The Strowger patents were exclusively licensed to the Automatic Electric Company. Strowger sold his patents in 1896 for US{{Inflation|US-GDP|1,800|1896|fmt=eq|orig=yes|r=-3}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}} and sold his share in Automatic Electric in 1898 for {{Inflation|US-GDP|10,000|1898|fmt=eq|orig=yes|r=-4}}.{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}} His patents subsequently sold for {{Inflation|US-GDP|2,500,000|1916|fmt=eq|orig=yes|r=-6}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}} in 1916. Company engineers continued development of the Strowger designs and submitted several patents in the names of its employees.

Stowger systems were widespread through most of the 20th century, being gradually relegated to small community service, and replaced by new technology more cost-effective for large-city installations, such as the [[Panel switch]] in the United States, and the [[Rotary system]] outside the US, and by the late 1930s by the [[crossbar switch]], and the [[electronic switching system]]s starting in the 1960s.

===British deployment===
[[File:Strowger switch Milton Keynes Museum.jpg|thumb|British SXS two-motion contact bank]]
From 1912, the British [[General Post Office]], which also operated the British telephone system, installed several automatic telephone exchanges from several vendors in trials at Darlington on 10 October 1914 and Dudley on 9 September 1916 ([[rotary system]]), Fleetwood (relay exchange from Sweden), Grimsby (Siemens), Hereford (Lorimer) and Leeds (Strowger).<ref>[http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/BTsHistory/1912to1968/1927.htm Events in Telecommunications History – 1927] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622215413/http://btplc.com/Thegroup/BTsHistory/1912to1968/1927.htm |date=2016-06-22 }} BT Archives</ref> The GPO selected the Strowger switches for small and medium-sized cities and towns. The selection of switching systems for [[London]] and other large cities was not decided until the 1920s, when the [[Director telephone system]] was adopted. The Director systems used SXS switches for destination routing and number translation facilities similar to the register used in common-control exchanges. Using similar equipment as in the rest of the network was deemed beneficial and the equipment could be manufactured in Britain.