News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Now the Story Can be Told - 1949 WECo 500 Set

Started by Dan/Panther, March 20, 2010, 11:08:11 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Dan/Panther

I was reading through the following document about the placement of graphics, and the dots on the new dialface, and it hit me that the logic of the dots wasn't right. Can anyone else see what I'm thinking ?
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Dan/Panther

#316
Adding the dots only works if you are right directly looking at the dialface. So for the new dial to function as mentioned, you need to be in the same position you had to be in to use the old Dial.
From where my phone sits right now, I can only see the top half of dots 8 and 9.
I think the human brain is a little more advanced than to need a dot to point at, to insure you will hit the proper finger hole.
Below is a photo of my phone as I see it when I dial. I don't think the dots are a factor at all.
D/P.

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

bwanna

dan, where did that typed information come from? it does seem to be somewhat contradictory.
donna

Dan/Panther

It came from a BSP from bell Labs about the design of the new 500 phone. Presented at a conference May 1949 I think it said.
It's posted somewhere in this thread I'll see if i can find it. I downloaded it from the link I think Jim posted ?
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

paul-f

The typed material is from "Notes of the Discussions at the Conference of Bell System Lecturers, May 1949 pages 93-94.  The link was posted earlier.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

rp2813

Yes, I saved a copy of that document and there is a link to it earlier in this thread.

I may only be speaking for myself, but the 500 on my desk is situated in a way that allows me to see only the dots related to numerals 5 through 0.  I don't need to get right on top of the phone to make sure I'm dialing 1 through 4 correctly, even though I can't see the dots for those.  I use the number adjacent to the hole in the fingerwheel to plan my next move, not the dots inside the holes.  They aren't numbered.

I doubt they ever considered putting the digits where the dots are and only leaving the letters outside.  It would make dialing more difficult and would have been a step backward to the dials of previous generations.  So I have a hard time seeing where adding the dots made that much of a difference, but seeing a 500 without them would, some 60 years after its introduction, look weird.

Regardless, the final configuration adopted for the 500 dial didn't put an end to the "Mr. Bumble" ads Ma Bell used to run on TV, so there were still plenty of WNO's (Bellspeak for "wrong number") being dialed after the number of 500's in service was higher than that of the 302's still out there.
Ralph

paul-f

#321
Do the dots make a difference?

I read somewhere that the Bell System did a lot of statistical research on dials and the human factors of dialing, using many groups of people over the years.  The focus was on identifying factors that could be improved to increase dialing speed and accuracy.

The main motivation was to improve utilization of equipment in the CO.  A small increase in speed or accuracy translated into millions of dollars in annual operating expenses.  This influenced the 500's design goals and was watched closely.

The 1977 Dreyfuss book claims "that adding the 'aiming dots' decreased dialing time by seven-tenths of one second."

When the colored 500s came out, further research was done on the contrast between the set color and the letter/number color on the dial plate to optimize these factors.  For example, that resulted in rose beige sets having white letters while the later light beige sets have black letters. (Some of the early research is referenced on page 98 of the 1949 document.)

[These factors were important for decades.  They were used as a primary justification for the expense of going to touch tone dialing many years later.]
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

Dan/Panther

#322
People routinely use Keyboards and calculators without looking at the figures. I don't think it too much of a stretch to imagine that the brain could figure out the numbers by looking at 10 circles laid out with numbers beside them.
I love the dialplate layout on the 500, and I can't imagine it being any other was. I just found the comment to be rather like Bwanna said, contradictory. I know that corporations spend untold millions on profiling users of their products, and apparently it is a science and it works. It sometimes defies logic.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

bwanna

maybe it made a difference back in the day. when this phone stuff was new fangled business. we have been accustomed to the 500 type dial our entire lives.  those of us over 40 that is.
donna

paul-f

#324
Dan,

I believe the key word in your post is "routinely."  In those days, heavy keyboard and calculator users were mainly typists or in accounting departments using mechanical adding machines.

The average phone user probably only dialed a few numbers a day, so never got up the learning curve.  Long distance was still a luxury.

The dots weren't for "power-dialers" anyway.  Who cares if you saved 10% of their dialing time?  The goal was to speed up the novice dialer, who misdialed and was slow -- having to think about each digit dialed and perfrom advanced mental gymnastics such as figuring out which letters of the exchange name to dial.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

Dan/Panther

#325
What you say makes a lot of sense now, people were simpler then, everything was relatively new, industrial revolution was barely a generation new. It's like trying to explain email to a senior, or teaching your Mom how to use a remote.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

paul-f

Ouch!  Those are our parents and grandparents  you're talking about.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

Dan/Panther

#327
Won't be much longer I'll be talking about us....
I never really put it in that perspective. can you imagine some teenager in the late twenties saying; "Gheez Dad, all ya have to do is put your finger in the number you want and turn the dial how much easier can it get".
Dad; "Yeah I know you said that before, but I keep getting the wrong person, Damned new things, why can't they just leave well enough alone, what's wrong with an operator getting me the number I want. NO SOONER GET USED TO ONE THING AND THEY GOTTA GO CHANGING THINGS ON YA.?"
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Kenny C

i am still young (although there has been some debate from my friends)
In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

paul-f

Quote from: Dan/Panther on March 31, 2010, 04:05:12 PM
Won't be much longer I'll be talking about us....
I never really put it in that perspective. can you imagine some teenager in the late twenties saying; "Gheez Dad, all ya have to do is put your finger in the number you want and turn the dial how much easier can it get".
Dad; "Yeah I know you said that before, but I keep getting the wrong person, Damned new things, why can't they just leave well enough alone, what's wrong with an operator getting me the number I want. NO SOONER GET USED TO ONE THING AND THEY GOTTA GO CHANGING THINGS ON YA.?"
D/P

It might look a lot like this...
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zjlLb0tqGs&feature=related

(Pardon if this has been posted elsewhere.)

A higher resolution version is in the Prelinger Archives at archive.org.


Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.