Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!purdue!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone Message-ID:Date: 14 Aug 89 05:24:00 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 33 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us Sunday, August 13 marked the 100th anniversary of the invention of the pay phone. In 1889, William Gray obtained United States Patent # 408,709 for his invention, "A Coin Controlled Apparatus for Telephones". The first payphone was installed in January, 1890 at the Hartford Bank, in Hartford, CT. Today, a century later, there are an estimated two million payphones throughout the United States. So the story goes, Gray's inspiration came of necessity. He had asked someone to allow him to use their phone to make an urgent call to his sick wife, and they refused, even when he offered to pay for the call. He had a hard time convincing people that his invention would be useful or profitable. When Grand Central Terminal in New York City placed its first order in the early nineties, the management was only willing to purchase one instrument, and then only a consignment basis, after Gray offered to take it back with no obligation in two months if the new type phone did not prove itself. Now there are payphones everywhere. There are payphones in the White House, and payphones in the middle of Death Valley, CA. Until the middle 1950's one might still see a very old "Gray Electric Company" payphone in service somewhere. The price has changed as well: For the first 59 years, until 1948, a local call cost a nickle. In that year, most telcos raised their price for a call to a dime. Some, like New Orleans, LA, remained at the five cent rate for several more years. In the late sixties, most payphones were charging fifteen or twenty cents per call. The price has been twenty-five cents in most places now for several years. Happy Birthday! Patrick Townson