Lowe High School - Towers Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

Page 54 text:

56 The Windsor-Walkerville Technical School Year Book Switchboard and Dictaphone j Commercial the switchboard We have, recently, installed one of the latest and most modern Switchboards in our school, and to the knowledge of the Bell Telephone Company, this is the first school in America that has ever given lessons on the switchboard. This, we feel, is something to be proud of. The Switchboard has two trunk lines connecting with Central, and eight local stations or telephones throughout the school. It is operated by our day stud¬ ents for several days at a time, from nine o’clock to three, and then for several nights. Help is given, during the day, by the secretaries who have been pre¬ viously instructed by the supervisor of the Bell Telephone Company. In the ev¬ ening, however, the pupils are not help¬ ed, as they are by this time accustomed to the work.. The evening class consists of twenty pupils who are instructed by Mrs. Jess- op, loaned to us by the Bell Telephone Company for these classes. ™ ™ ' ! ,nr - - Y Department ! — Practice Makes Perfect — This practice is obtained by the co-op¬ eration of the day classes with the night classes. Five of the local stations in the school are occupied by day pupils from seven-thirty until nine-thirty o n the evening of the classes, and while the pupils are working on comptometers, typewriters, and the dictaphone, they have the privilege of calling their friends or some other student in the school. These calls, which the pupils put through the Switchboard, give practice to the ev¬ ening class, as well as additional pract¬ ice on the telephone for themselves. It is surprising to note that there are over one hundred switchboards in the Border Cities operated by office assist¬ ants along with their stenography and other duties. Will not, therefore, the graduates of our day and evening classes who have had this switchbord practice, be better prepared to meet the require¬ ments of the business world they will , soon enter ?

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The Windsor-Walkerville Technical School Year Book On the day on which I visited the school, one of the girls was pos¬ ing. The Art Teacher told me they were taking figure drawing. It is an absorbing study, and the girls use it for their work in one of the other departments of this very busy place. All the pupils were in¬ tensely interested because art les¬ sons are so fascinating. There are some good drawings produced on the third floor of the “Tech”, and the Department is ap¬ preciated by the whole school. . NORMA GLEDHILL. Sewing Room

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The Windsor-Walkerville Technical School Year Book 57 OUR DICTAPHONE The Dictaphone was purchased by the school in September, 1927. vt present only the Fourth Year Commercial students are able to make use of this new and in¬ teresting modern device, and it is indeed a pleasure to be given the opportunity of becoming acquaint¬ ed with this machine before enter¬ ing the business world which is be¬ coming more and more aware of the efficiency of the Dictaphone. 10 gain successful results, we must Jiave the three machines, one to dictate to, one to reproduce, and one to shave the cylinder after it has been used. The first one, the Dictaphone proper, is used by the teacher. She or he dictates to the machine, and the letters are record¬ ed on a cylinder. Learning how to operate and dictate to this mach¬ ine is very interesting, and it is worth one’s while to know how to do it. The second machine, or the reproducer, is the one mostly used by the pupils. The cylinder is plac¬ ed on the machine, the hearing tubes placed in the ears, and with the foot-control, the letters are typed. One advantage of this ma¬ chine is that you can make it op¬ erate quickly or slowly, loudly or softly. After examining the indica¬ tor (a paper having the same scale marked on it as the machine), you can tell the length of the letter, the number of corrections and what the corrections are. You can, with this information, place the letter ac¬ curately on the page. If by any chance you miss a word, you can move your foot over to the right where there is a reverse pedal and press it until it goes back to re¬ peat the missing word. The letters on these cylinder may be used a number of times, but with constant use they wear off. This is where the shaving machine play s its part. Shaving requires care, but is such a simple process that any boy or girl can undertake it after a few instructions. The ma¬ chine is equipped with a knife of sapphire which shaves the cylinder so that it may be used again and again. By the use of the Dictaphone, the secretary is freed from the nerve- racking strain under which she is put when taking correspondence or data, by the interruption of the tel¬ ephone, and business calls of every description. Shorthand, though still an important factor in commercial life, is being rapidly superseded by its accurate and more efficient ri¬ val—none other than that recent acquisition to our up-to-date school —the Dictaphone. DRAFTING—THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE There are many peoples, as many tongues, and a greater number of dialects. This condition makes in¬ tercourse with individuals of a for¬ eign land difficult. One language, however, is univ¬ ersal and readily understood by all, and this is the graphic language in which we convey our ideas by drawings. The making of drawings is call¬ ed Drafting. Naturally there are many kinds of Drafting since there are many industries and operations involved in the production of the articles which are commonplace to¬ day. Most people who are engaged in these processes sooner or later