Relay computers

[Gordon JC Pearce]

Tony Duell wrote:
>>And slugged relays, with a big metal ring in the coil.  These either 
>>delay opening or closing, but I can't remember which way round it works. 
> 
> 
> I believe (without running upstairs to look in 'Telephony' [1]) that you 
> can arrange for either a slow make or a slow release

Yes, but I can't remember which end you put the slug at for which action

> [1] A great 2-volume set on the UK telephone system, mine is the 1933 
> edition IIRC. They contain _complete_ schematics for telephone exchanges 
> (Well, OK, the circuit for each line is drawn once, not <n> times, but 
> you know what I mean). They were the books that finally let me understand 
> how telephgone exchanges work, and proved to me the dangers of giving a 
> simplified explanation (in that I'd read plenty of simplified books on 
> how telephone systems work and couldn't make any sense of them).

Now, somewhere I have a very old book on telephony and telegraphy that 
sounds very similar to that.  At least, I hope I still have - after my 
father went silent-key around 10 years ago, it seems that a few people 
had some novel ideas about what belonged to them (his Bob Dylan lp 
collection is long gone, for one thing).  It had diagrams of the various 
sections of the exchange, slightly simplified, and then another diagram 
detailing how they go together (line finders, call routing, stuff like 
that).

Gordon.