blouses is, illmois HERE’S YOUR PARTYwSStuder-t Ray Wechman puts through the call as he takes over the switchboard from day operator Mrs. Eleanor Stake. By Jim Gewartowski After leaving one of those “simple” quizzes last week, your reporter was in somewhat of a stupor. With integral signs and force vectors still flowing through his brain, he descended the steps to the MC basement “lounge” and saw before him the outline of a door. He opened it and en- tered the room. To his surprise he heard female voices; one asked him what he wanted. - Now, in such a position your re- porter had one of two choices~ admitting his error which would probably cause speculation about whether or not he had just come from a BON meeting, or making the excuse that he was a Tech- nology News reporter which might save him embarrassment. Chaos. ing the latter, he took out his notebook and began asking for telephone numbers. This, however, was a miscal~ culation, or rather a “Mrs.” calculation, for all three girls . there were married. The only number available was CAlu— met 5-9600. A large switch- board took up the space on one side of the room, and suddenly your reporter caught oil—this was the nerve center of illi- nois chh’s telephone system, and these girls were the cam; pus operators. Mrs. Eleanor Stake, the head operator, gave a few details about the switchboard. It seems that it came to the HT campus on Janu— ary 17, 1948, and took over a job that four separate switchboards had previously done. Before this time there were switchboards in Main, IGT building, and in the ARF Main and Engineering build- ings. The present switchboard is a three-operator board and has 500 terminals. Already 425 are being used, each one representing a tele— phone on the HT campus. A About 3500 incoming calls per day are handled from 8 to 6. At 6 the female voice disappears and a male voice says: “Technology Center.” Ray Wechman and Howard Kobayashi handle the board until 8 pm. when each of the 24 incoming trunk lines is con- nected to a certain telephone on campus. The present switchboard is the type and size used by a town of 4,000 people. Hearing a constant clicking sound your reporter asked if they were bothered by ter- mites. This sound turned out to be the campus dial system in action. The opening of the door to an auxiliary room dis~ closed the complex mechanism by which one person on cam— pus calls another without bothering the operators. One of the marvels of the board is the fact that five different parties can talk together at the same time on a so—called “confer- ence circuit.” A. microphone is handy by which the operators can page people in the Armour Re- search building. Here are a few suggestions from the operator. After dialing “9” for an outside call, be sure to wait for the second buzzing tone be- fore starting to dial your number. When you wish to contact the operator while speaking on the phone press the lever up and down about twice a second for the quickest attention of the operator. Dial FIR for fire to get the oper- ator’s immediate attention so that she can quickly relay emergency messages quickly. According to J. H. Schlichting, IIT’s assistant busi- ness manager, who has charge of the board, Technology Center of the future will see the switchboard grow to a 1500 terminal, 12 opera- tor board. hhwmmramu pmnthrnwmi ammmamfim l’hil S. Shurrager, chairman of the department of psychology and education, has been awarded a $5,— 000 extension on a grant by the U. S. Public Health service to con— tinue his research on learning in the central nervous system. Dr. Shurl'ager, who was given a $6,000 grant last year, will be as- sisted by his Wife, Dr. Harriett C. Slim-roger. They comprise a hus— band-wife teaching and research team in lllinois Tech’s psychology department. “forking with dog's, .the Shurragers have measured the rate of learning of a single nerve cell. Their research work has centered around how and at what location the nor- vous system learns. . The extension of the grant will enable them to continue their lat— est project, the walking behavior of a spinal, or paraplegic animal. They will investigate, further, the learning in a single cell and then attempt to relate this smallest ele— ment to total learned behavior. call Ext. see Rates: 5 cents per word—one issue; 4 cents per word—two issues: 3 cents per word—three issues; 10 cents addi- tional for blind advertisements. except Fri. and Sat Rhodes. MUSXC—Three-piece band. On or off campus. RA 3-2312. TYPINGAThemes, term papers, etc. Speedy service. Elaine & Monica WE 6—5845. FOUND—Sum of money in Chapin Hall before Thanksgiving. H. J. Curtis. 321C. WANTED—Jurors for Night of January 16th. See add on page 4 FOR SAI.E——Black, 4-1211". Buick. Good shape. 3-8819. FOUND—Gloves 1'ch Nov, 23, Can CR 7—8028. ’38 Century $195. Call AV trait stress to plot; By Alan Plait in! One usually'thinks of a steam plant as a maze of pipes and wires. Well, IIT’s new plant is rapidly beginning to look like just that. Most of the piping on the ground floor has been installed and the coal pulverizer leading from the hopper has been tested. The dust hasn’t settled yet. Asbestos installators move along as soon as new piping circuits are completed. The main job, and big— gest one, has been the: insulation of the large tanks throughout the plant. Many of the gratings that will be used as flooring have already been set into place. There remain a few galleries that are being installed at this time. The gas and water mains coming into the building from 35th street are all that are in the way of fine ishing the ramp for trucks that will extend to the rear of the structure’s south side. Sidewalks have already been laid except for a small strip at the northeast cor- ner, where steam lines, that have been harassing students, enter the wall. The view from several van~ tage points in the building is impressive to say the least. Massive piping seems to run around in an obstacle course. when rile learned of tire Deml’owcr Mainspring in firearms that are so beautiful they won mid WEEWAWEEWE Willflllmld the Fashion Academy litmm’! The boiler and huge coal hop- per dominate the entire scene, however. With the completion of tube installation in the bottom of the boiler, it will be fired up and tested for leaks. This will be done within a few weeks. It will be nec- essary to load coal by hand into the pulverizer until the tracks to the retaining hopper have been laid down. Work on this project will start as soon as the retaining wall to 35th street is completed. The dust collector and the air compression unit that leads to the smokestack will operate soon. Elec— tricians are working at a fever pace to get the motors running. An additional one story struc- ture is being prepared at the south side of the smokestack. This will be the gas booster station. its pur- pose is to keep gas pressure on an even keel throughout the mains. It doesn’t \iook like a long time before students will be sweltering in the heat of the classrooms that the power plant will supply with steam. that will make you most happy. For Elgin style won the Gold Medal Award. of the Fashion Academy.And only Elgin has the miracle DuraPower Mainspring. No other watch in the world be; Jar/9 dependable power for czrmmte timekeeping! just pass the word around with the family that jewelers are now featuring Elgins in a wide range of prices. flare/m ' / , Lord and Lady Elgim are priced from $67.50 to s5,ooo. Elgifiz De LNXE from $47.50 to $67.50. Other Elgim from $29.75. All prim include Federal Tax. momerhndp A new honorary is being or. ganized on campus to fulfill a long felt need. This organization, to be known as Nu Chi Sigma, will have for its purpose “. . . to in- still and maintain college spirit among students, to insure the preservation of humor upon cam- pus, and to designate in a fitting manner those who have shown non- conformalism.” Founded by five men inter» ested in promoting the above policy, Nu Chi Sigma will start its first pledge program next week. The “Foundng Fathers,” Frank Curtis, Mel Friedlandcr, Henry Holmes, .lolm' Scunncl has promised to provide a novel pledging pro- gram for the interest and amusement for everyone. Pledge duties promise to be any— thing; but a burden. Aspirants will carry distinguishing devices, as is the case with other groups on the campus, but the equipment will vary from day to day. The entire proceedings will be in keeping with Nu Chi’s motto, “Anything for a laugh.” Selected by the Fashion Academy 0/ New York as "All-American Best-Dresser! Woman" . . . ELIZABETH TAYLOR is co-smrrcd in Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer's “CONSPIRATOR” “MED TO THE SYARSE The genial" of America to wear on year waist