The Panel Machine Switching System is a type of automatic telephone exchange for urban service that was used in the Bell System in the United States for seven decades. The first semi-mechanical types of this design were installed in 1915 in Newark, New Jersey, and the last were retired in the same city in 1983.
Panel switch district selector frame at the Connections Museum in Seattle
1948 Western Electric 302 telephone set that was installed near Newark airport, and connected to a line of the Newark exchange "BIgelow", the last existing Panel office when it was dismantled in 1983.
Panel ground-cut-off (GCO) line finder brushes
Closeup of all-relay type sender
A telephone exchange, also known as a telephone switch or central office, is a crucial component in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or large enterprise telecommunications systems. It facilitates the interconnection of telephone subscriber lines or digital system virtual circuits, enabling telephone calls between subscribers.
A telephone operator manually connecting calls with cord pairs at a telephone switchboard
A modern central office, equipped with voice communication and broadband data capabilities
Tivadar Puskás
1922 diagram of 1877 Boston exchange
