Joe Tibiletti wrote:
PAT retorted:
That's what I thought.
I don't believe that eight-digit numbers have ever been used anywhere in the NANP. W. H. Nunn, writing in the September 1952 PSTJ, [*] notes the wide variety in numbering plans that then existed in the United States, and explains how they were all to become NPA+7D in the form NPA+NNX+XXXX. He cites several examples of the "different types of numbering plans" that existed in 1952, before conversion:
Philadelphia, PA (2L+5D) Example: LOcust 4-5678
Los Angeles, CA (2L+4D and 2L+5D) Example: PArkway 2345 and REpublic 2-3456
Indianapolis, IN (2D+4L) Example: MArket 6789
El Paso, TX (2L+5D and 5D) Example: PRospect 2-3456 and 5-5678
San Diego, CA (1L+5D and 1L+4D) Example: Franklin 9-2345 Franklin 6789
Des Moines, IA (5D and 6D) Example: 4-1234 and 62-2345
Binghamton, NY (5D) Example: 2-5678
Manchester, CT (4D and 5D) Example: 5678 and 2-2345
Winchester, VA (4D) Example: 3456
Ayer, MA (3D and 4D) Example: 629 and 2345
Jamesport, NY (3D) Example: 325
Nunn doesn't mention New York or Chicago. I assume that by 1952, these cities had already been converted from 3L+4D to 2L+5D.
Joe Tibiletti: can you provide a citation for your statement eight-digit numbers existed in Chicago?
[*] W. H. Nunn. "Nationwide Numbering Plan." Bell System Technical Journal, September 1952, 851-59. Manuscript received May 15, 1952.Neal McLain
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I will have to stand corrected on this. Chicago was entirely manual until about 1938 or so. In those times, numbers might have been _less_ than seven digits (and letters), but they were never _more_ than seven. In other words, 'Sheldrake - 1' would have been legitimate (telco did not 'force' filler or leading zeros until automation started). When automation finally started, in 1938, Illinois Bell started printing all numbers (dialable or still manual) in the telephone directory as names plus FOUR digits, using leading zeros as required to complete the string. At that point in time, SHEldrake -1 became SHEldrake 0001, etc. Telco said the rationale for this was to 'begin educating the public' on the new automated system being installed. Telco also stressed at that time that '17' was 'one-seven' rather than 'seventeen', and that as another example, '0700' was 'oh seven hundred' and not 'zero seven zero zero' nor 'zero seven hundred' but you would think to be consistent if 'seventeen' was verbotin language that likewise 'seven hundred' would be verbotin. But not as telco thought about those things, and we all know that in every instance, Ma Bell always knew best. Zeros in the first (thousands) position were always 'oh' and whenever they appeared in the other three positions when non-repetitive they were also 'oh'. When they repeated in the two final positions, they were to be pronounced 'hundred'. If the second, third and fourth positions were all zeros then they were pronounced 'thousand'. Although Chicago and a few select suburbs began converting to dial in 1938, in early 1942 Western Electric Company was nationalized by the federal government 'for the duration' and that brought a screaming halt to any further dial conversion. So from 1938 until 1946 Chicago was about 20-50 percent dial and the same amount manual. PAT]