Volume Ii Part 14 (1/2)
Total Time Consumed by Operator in Handling Calls on Automanual System
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First 100 Calls
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Longest Individual Period 12.40 seconds
Average five longest Individual Periods 7.44 seconds
Average ten longest Individual Periods 6.34 seconds
Shortest Individual Period 1.60 seconds
Average five shortest Individual Periods 1.92 seconds
Average ten shortest Individual Periods 1.96 seconds
Average Entire 100 Calls 3.396 seconds
Hourly Rate at which calls were being handled 1060
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Second 100 Calls
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Longest Individual Period 7.60 seconds
Average five longest Individual Periods 5.52 seconds
Average ten longest Individual Periods 5.34 seconds
Shortest Individual Period 2.00 seconds
Average five shortest Individual Periods 2.04 seconds
Average ten shortest Individual Periods 2.18 seconds
Average Entire 100 Calls 3.374 seconds
Hourly Rate at which calls were being handled 1067
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Third 100 Calls
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Longest Individual Period 5.40 seconds
Average five longest Individual Periods 5.32 seconds
Average ten longest Individual Periods 4.44 seconds
Shortest Individual Period 1.60 seconds
Average five shortest Individual Periods 1.65 seconds
Average ten shortest Individual Periods 1.80 seconds
Average Entire 100 Calls 3.160 seconds
Hourly Rate at which calls were being handled 1139
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Owing to the difficulty of securing accurate traffic data by means of a stop watch, an automatic, electrical timing device, capable of registering seconds and hundredths of a second, has been used in studying the performance of this system in regular operation at Ashtabula Harbor. The operators were not informed that the records were being taken, and the data tabulated represents the work of two operators in handling regular subscribers' calls. The figures in Table XI are given by C. H. North as representing the total time consumed by the operator from the time her line lamp was lighted until her work in connection with the call was finished, and it included, therefore, the pressing of the listening b.u.t.ton, the receiving of the number from the subscriber, repeating it back to him, setting up the connection on the keys, and pressing the starting key.
It will be seen that the average time for each 100 calls is quite uniform and is slightly over three seconds. The considerable variation in the individual calls, ranging from a maximum of 12.40 seconds down to a minimum of 1.60 seconds, is due almost entirely to the difference between the subscribers in the speed with which they can give their numbers. These figures indicate that, in each of the tests, calls were being handled at the rate of more than one thousand per hour by each operator.
The test of the subscriber's waiting time, _i. e._, the time that he waited for the operator to answer, for one hundred calls made without the knowledge of the operator, showed the results as given in Table XII, in which a split second stop watch was used in making the observations.
TABLE XII
Subscribers' Waiting Time
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Number of Calls Tested 100
Longest Individual Period 5.20 seconds
Average 5 Longest Individual Periods 4.64 seconds
Average 10 Longest Individual Periods 3.80 seconds