atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems REAL TRIVIA

Here's some obscure, it don't matter, but what the heck, trivia.
Graybar was originally part of Western Electric, spun off as a seperate entity about 1920.
Who is/was Western Electric? They either made or bought almost everything the 'Bell' operating companies used/installed.
What happened to them? Absorbed by AT&T at the unbundling that began in 1980.
I believe that ITT was the main supplier to the United Telphone companies, now Sprint or NOW Embarq.
And I think Stromberg-Carlson,modern day GTE, as in 'Gee, No, GTE', was the main supplier to General Telephone operating companies.

John C.

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Never knew Grabar was part of Western Electric. Western Electric became Lucent, when AT&T spun them off. That's about it for me.

Nope, John. Automatic Electric was the supply arm of GTE. Stromberg-Carlson (later Comdial) was a "floater". It supplied equipment to really independent independents. Of course, they also supplied to United, etc. and the government.

Yes, ITT was a big supplier to United/Sprint/Embarq, but so was North Electric (a mirror of Western Electric). Their products were identical to Western Electric, but expensive. That's why most of UTS's equipment came from ITT. Low bidder in my opinion.

Bill, Graybar was the product of Gray and Barton, two people who were very heavily involved in the race to the patent for the telephone. When they gave up fighting the fact that Bell won, they decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". While their company wasn't the sole source of supply to the Bell System, they were very instrumental in bridging the gap between Bell and independent companies with regard to supply.

Yes, they manufactured fans, toasters and irons like Western did.

Gray & Barton (Graybar) produced equipment for Bell after the big patent suit. It was part of what became Western Electric, which became ------------- and on it gos.

Ken.

So then, did North Electric become North Supply? And then NS started handling ITT material, (like graybar, lincoln Supply and just about anybody else in the Telco field. North supply has pulled in their horns and closed a few warehouses. Are they going back to just supplying operating companies, or going out of business? Company I work for now did very little business with them. Previous employer bought just about everything from them! They had everything! And their sales people either knew about 'it' or knew where to find 'it'!
What happened to AE? For that matter, what happened to SC?
Re Western Electric. I was raised and lived in KC,MO 'til I was 40. When the big change happened, the manufacturing plant in Lees Summit (outside KC) eventually got sold. And the repair center in Overland Park shut down. Don't know what finally happened to the repair center. I believe it was at 67th and I35.
You know, I'm thinking that the unbundling happened right at retirement point for a LOT of Telco employees. That was when most companies retired people after 30 years, and that would have been a second major turnover point based on Telcos doing serious hiring about 1920.

John C.

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

John, you'd cry ----

I-35 and 67th St. is a vacant lot the last time I was by --- I believe they are going to build an auto dealership.

Lee Summit's has been handled by various leasing companies, it has data centers, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, just a little of everything.

North Supply / Embarq, as best as I can tell is selling to only themselves. Their main warehouse is about 40 miles from me, at Gardner (New Century), the "Queen Mary of the Prairie".
It is a real ghost town.

KLD

Yes, John. SNS is staying in business, but under the name Embarq Logistics and yes, they are only supplying operating telcos, broadband and cellular carriers.

Yes, North Supply and North Electric were related, but I don't remember the relationship.

As for Automatic Electric, I really don't know what happened. I am sure they were sold off after Verizon took GTE over.

Stromberg-Carlson became Comdial for systems and their central office switch manufacturing was sold off to a European company. Comdial has now become Vertical.

This is what really happend....

Chaulk full of nuts took over maxwellhouse coffee
and then bought out a texstile plant for the string and merged with a food cannnery in Boston to invent communications.

SS, I love it! Best laugh I've had in a couple of weeks! Thanks, John C.
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Im always having fun in this business. The fun part is how I hack and slash my way through it. An old timer once said to me, "You can be a hacker or a slasher what do you want to be"? I did not answer him he was a prick who was the installation manager of the Lynn, MA. Garage. His name was Bill Butner. His boss, and mine was Al Daley and John Lynch. Oh, this makes it more funny John Lynch tried to sue Judge Greene over the break-up.