Ten years' experience in maintenance of rotary automatic equipment in Spain

The authors detail the telephone situation as it existed prior to the granting of the concession to the Telephone Company. Figures as to the increase in the number of automatic exchanges from 1924, when the concession was put into operation, up to 1935 are given. The development work also embraced the installation of repeater stations, of underground distribution systems, of submarine cables and of radio telephone stations connecting the network of the peninsula with cities in N. Africa, the Balearic and Canary Islands and S. America. Systematic maintenance instruction was commenced and the paper gives details of this. The following programme was put into operation when the care and maintenance of the newly installed exchanges were undertaken: ( a) daily routine test of each and every apparatus unit; ( b) continuous attention to all register holdovers; ( c) checking of interoffice junctions every two hours; ( d) 100 spot calls daily in each exchange; ( e) daily service observation of 200 calls; ( f) systematic inspection to insure the cleaning of each unit every two months and checking of adjustment of each unit against manufacturer's specifications every three months or every six months depending upon the apparatus. The paper concludes with tables analysing the character of the faults which were revealed and the steps taken to prevent recurrences.