Telephone exchange
Centralita telefónica
- Date
- 1878 · confidence high
- Place
- New Haven, Connecticut, United States
- Credited to
- George W. Coy (District Telephone Company); Tivadar Puskás (concept)
- People
- 👤 Tivadar Puskás1844–1893
- Field
- Communication
What it is
The first commercial switching exchange, connecting any subscriber to any other. It transformed the telephone from a point-to-point link into a network.
Puskás proposed the idea to Edison in 1877; Coy opened the first commercial exchange in January 1878.
What it led to
- The network effect: the value of the telephone grows with the number of subscribers
- Mass female employment as switchboard operators
- Strowger automatic switching (1891) and telephone numbering
Built on
Made possible
- Strowger automatic switch
- National telephone network
- Electronic switching